Creating products: Equipment (part 2)

Let's get back to our look at equipment! 

Mixers: There's always this great debate about mixers - do we go with a stick blender, hand mixer, Kitchenaid, or whisking by hand? Yes.

I went into a little detail in this post about mixers, and you can use any of those mixers listed above when making lotions. If you're making a large batch (say 4 kg), the Kitchenaid is an appropriate mixer. If you're making a small batch - say 100 grams - then not so much. 

I have purchased mixers that were too powerful - I want my first setting to be a leisurely mixing, not some crazy, can't hold on to the mixer, things are spewing everywhere kind of power - and I've used ones that weren't powerful enough, but those tended to be of the "my mom got this as an inappropriate Christmas gift instead of diamonds" variety from the 1970's. I think any mixer you buy these days will be more than powerful enough. 

If you can, I suggest getting one with a whisk attachment, as those come in very handy for making whipped butters and sugar scrubs, as well as icing for bath bombs (and regular cupcakes, come to think of it.)

If you want to know a little more about thickening and shear rates, click here! 

As a note, you know you make too many bath and body products and not enough real food when you see a stick blender on the Food Network and think, "You can use those for food?" Or when you mix a few pounds of icing in your Kitchenaid for a craft group, and instead of tasting it, I rubbed it on my hand! 

Spoons: Wooden, metal, plastic - spoons have such an important place in our workshop, but we don't talk about them much! I think I mentioned it in the past, but I went to a restaurant supply place and bought 25 for $5 so I always have a clean one nearby. The nice thing about buying cheap spoons? You can throw them out when they start to get bendy or tarnished! 

Forks: Forks also have a place in our workshop! A study found that it was more effective to stir coffee with a fork in a back and forth motion, rather than a stirring motion, so I do this with surfactant based products to integrate the water and surfactants better. I have a large wooden fork, and I bought 25 forks for $5.00 at HY Louie.

Oops, look at the time! I better get ready for work and craft group tonight! The final post on your equipment tomorrow!