my original salve - Original.
At first it was just called Wunder Budder.
That was the name of the salve.
Wunder Budder super soft salve.
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| Original calendula salve |
Time went on, and I as kept making new stuff, the name Wunder Budder slowly became the name of my business and my original salve, no longer with it's own name, became Original. Original calendula salve. Sometimes I think it fades into the background because of it's name, but it is one of my favorite things that exist in this whole world.
Really.
The Whole World.
I'm not exaggerating.
Sometimes I forget... I get so distracted with the new stuff I make that Original might sit in a bag for days, all alone.
And then I see it, pick it up, put it on my lips and massage it into my hands.
Those words aren't even right... I don't just "put it on" or "massage it in"... I see it, feel it, smell it... I experience it.
It's so soft that sometimes I can't even believe it.
And the smell... the beautiful beeswax aroma... a little calendula, a little apricot kernel oil, but mostly just the sweet smell of beeswax.
bright
yellow
beeswax
Someday I will raise my own bees.
I think about where I was when I first started making it... a cold dry New Mexican winter at first, and then the snowiest Massachusettes winter I had ever remembered when it became official. I think about picking out the tins... flat tins... they just feel better
I think about designing the labels, teaching myself how to use Illustrator. What did I want it to look like? What did I want to see when I looked at that little tin filled with soft yellow magic?
I experimented a lot...
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| A few of my favorites. |
Stars! It needed stars... and my favorite color? Orange? Or is it green?... both! Add a little blue, just the right color blue...
And the back?
From the very beginning, the labelling laws from the FDA plagued me... the font size of the weight or volume had to be bigger than the ingredients! Ok, it doesn't have to be that way, but in the case of the small label needed for a Wunder Budder tin, it did. I spent so long on the front, getting it exactly as I wanted it, that I didn't want to interrupt it with the contents measurements.
I got it to fit on the back, with the ingredients, the original Wunder Budder quote "Don't forget to smile", and a short description: "A soft smooth salve to moisturize and protect your skin and lips. Apply whenever needed".
It seems simple, right? But it wasn't! It still isn't!
Trying to fit everything I want to say about my stuff never fits on a label.
I also wanted to add something else... how to use it... what it was good for... I was familiar with salves, but now still, 8 years later, I meet many people who don't know what they are or what to use them for. So, I needed to add some guidance... "A little goes a long way!" followed by the words, in a ring around the edge of the label:
hands lips cheeks elbows soles hair legs friends fingers knees toes
My dorkiness still makes me smile.
It's still my favorite thing to make. And don't get me wrong... there's nothing but love going into everything I make... it's what I do... it's what I love. But Original is still my favorite.
Infusing the golden calendula flowers into a special blend of the even more golden jojoba and apricot kernel oils... it's liquid sunshine... not like
Sunshine... a different liquid sunshine.
I guess I say that a lot.
I think of vegetables as crunchy sunshine.
...
The melting of the beeswax...
really, I just love beeswax!
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| Makin' Original |
But my favorite part... cleaning up after! Really! It's like making a cake and licking the spoon. Only, there's no eating involved.... I love to scrape the melting pot and take globs of the slightly warm amazing goodness and spreading it over my skin... it's true that a little goes a long way, so it's these moments, and I think it's these moments only, that I'm happy I have no furry friends to go home to.
I'm in love.
XoXo,
Lisa, proud owner and lover of Wunder Budder
