BIRTHDAY AND FIRESTARTERS
- Dusty Santos
- Aug 23
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 2
It's my birthday this week! I celebrated by going brewery hopping with my husband.
42
Yep, in my 40s.
When I turned 40 I had a bit if a mid-life crisis. I was a mother of 4 and homemaker. As awesome as that is, I wanted to do something for me.
When I walked into my local maker space Lowell Makes, my whole world opened up. So many possibilities!
As I celebrate my 42nd birthday, I don't feel 'crisisy' anymore. I look back on these years and see all my accomplishments.
Selling at the Lowell Folk Festival, Getting my products on a store shelf, making lots of connections, and holding something in my hands I made.
The future is full of success! I've got a great thing going with Red Antler Apothecary. Lot's of projects are almost done. I've even made a new one this week...
Upcoming Events: Christ Church United - Yard Sale September 20th 8:00 - 1:00 Rain Check on Sep 27th |  |
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First let's touch on the projects I'm working on.
Soap Holder - Shawn Ashe, who is the head of the CNC shop at Lowell Makes, is helping me with the shapes I need to properly glue the kerf bent wood. It should be ready after this weekend.
Enclosed Shelf - Shelves are 'on the shelf' for now.
Dynamic Designs - Added a strip of Cherry Wood to the bottom of the design. Also added magnets and finally connected a design for the first time. I'll put it together next week.
Now for my new project, Fire Starters!
Why start a new project when I have so much other stuff going on? Because I can make these at home. They are easy to make and look, smell, and work great.
Lets get into it.
Using the saw dust chunks from the table saw at Lowell Makes and candle wax, I made and tested my first fire starters. The whole process is shown on my TikTok page - https://www.tiktok.com/@home.free.hen
It burned for 20 minutes! Down side, they looked like candles, not fire starters. I wanted something cleaner burning.
My husband found Bees Wax! It burns clean, smells sweet, and comes in a rustic natural color.
Then I tried adding coffee grounds and nuts to get a scented variety. It did not work as I thought.
I could not smell the coffee!
Turns out that fire itself is so hot, it destroys the coffee aroma. But I did discover a different use.
The coffee grounds really bump up the burn time.
I think I have the recipe down now. Bees Wax, Wood Shavings, and a little bit of Coffee Grounds.
Do you want to know how much of each?
Ha Ha You're Funny :)
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