Creating products: Assembling your ingredients - preparing your space

I'm not an organized woman, but I think I'm doing okay in the workshop. I have all my ingredients organized into different bins. If you look at at this picture, on the bottom row (from left to right) I have boxes of surfactants, oils, extracts and hydrosols, other ingredients, and powdered ingredients that aren't salts (they are in the box on the second to last row on the right). On the second shelf from the top I have my box of solid oils (babassu, coconut, virgin coconut oil) and my box of butters (shea, cocoa, mango, and so on). This organization might make sense only to me, but I'm the only one who has to know where everything is! (I have a few other boxes and those consist of things I just bought, things I want to use, and things I want to keep in my line of sight because otherwise I'll forget to use them, and a cupboard of fragrances and colours!)

The other shelves are really messy because I have a ton of Pyrex jugs and plastic jugs and wooden spoons and molds and other supplies I use for craft group, but otherwise everything has a home.

When you get into your working space, make it clean and tidy. Get the things you need close by - paper towels, spoons, mixing devices, scale, pipettes, thermometers - and make sure you have your notebook open and a pen right next to it.

For cleaning, some people insist on an as-close-to-sterile as possible workspace. This means cleaning the counter and equipment with alcohol and ensuring all the utensils and containers are newly washed. For some people, using a finger to scrape things off a spoon into a tin can is adequate (click here for video - and no, I don't know what bee's oil might be! Whatever you see in this video, do the exact opposite in your own workshop and you'll be just fine!) Wearing plastic gloves is always a good idea and goggles can be very useful as well. A lovely apron or lab coat will protect your clothes, but I always make a point of wearing an old shirt and shorts as well as my apron because at some point, I will get greasy! (Yes, I buy Spray & Wash and OxyClean in bulk!)

I've put down some spare pieces of laminate flooring on my workbench to make it easier to clean, and I have a glass cutting board on top of that (easier to clean up!). I've got one of those anti-fatigue mats on the floor, so I can remove it and clean it off when it gets covered in those inevitable spills!

Cleanliness is essential, but tidiness isn't. I've found, though, that having your workspace organized and free of clutter is a good thing. You'll find fewer things are knocked over, and you'll have more space to do everything you want to do! I might be the Queen of Clutterdom, but I can't stand having my wonderful and useful counter space taken up with stuff! 

My mom is laughing as I write this as I really am the reigning monarch of messiness. I'm a flat surface abuser who tends to be more floor-ganized than organized, and I'm telling you about the dangers of clutter! I think I might have to find her some kind of medication because she's rolling around the floor now, holding her sides, trying to breathe as she does that thing with her hands that women always do when we're laughing really hard saying, "Stop, stop. Too much!" Wow, I didn't think she'd find it THIS funny! 

Create a cool down and filling space. We don't think or talk about this part of making products much, but when you've finished one project and want to get into a second one, that 8 cup Pyrex jug of lotion will get in your way! Find a flat clean space, and put your product there to cool with a dishcloth or other fabric thing loosely draped over the top. (I don't use plastic wrap because I don't want condensation plus I really hate plastic wrap! It's never easy to get off the roll and it clings to itself. Nope, I use a nice clean towel that I can use again and again!) Don't put your product into the fridge when it's warm as you run the risk of heating up your fridge! Clean this space, if necessary.

Prepare this space as well. Get your bottles ready with funnels or other filling things nearby, and make sure you have paper towels handy. Make sure the space is easy to wipe down if/when you spill.

Join me tomorrow for some helpful hints on the weighing and measuring of our ingredients!