Our signature cobalt glass jars are the result of weeks of searching not just this continent but the whole world for just the right containers. It's not easy to find good containers in eastern Canada; most people give up and use clear plastic. But when you're using essential oils and vegetable carrier oils, you want to keep them as strong as possible for as long as possible. Essential oils keep their useful qualities when you keep them from the light, and we already knew that glass isn't going to leach chemicals into products the way plastics do. So we went out of our way to find lovely, thick, dark glass jars for our water-free Bee Serious and Bee Balm and our Bee Cool lip balm too. They cost a little more, but they're worth it. Recyclable, beautiful and safe, our cobalt jars are one example of how when compromising would have been easier, we stuck to our plan. If you're gonna do it, do it right.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Welcome to The Studios at Key West!
Photos from our candle shop and herb garden. Photos by Mike Bienstock...
Black currant in bloom...
Melting beeswax for candlemaking
Lady's mantle, muscari and dandelion...
Tapers...
Spearmint, wild fruit mint and creeping Charlie
Purple and white violets and essential oils.
Votive candles
Tapers...
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Bee Serious is for Seriously Sensitive Skin
Most people don't realize that hand creams are waaay over-engineered. Who knows why companies put so much junk in their products? A tiny pot of hand cream can have 25 or 30 ingredients!
The problems with having a lot of ingredients are several: for one thing, the more ingredients, the more likely there will be interactions between the various components, which may be irritating to delicate skin.
Another problem with lots of ingredients is that the useful or "active" ingredients can be present in teeny amounts and the manufacturer can list them on the packaging, even though their effects are nonexistent. So you'll see lotions or creams advertised "with aloe" or "with Vitamin E", but there's not enough to do you any good. Such products are "filled" with chemicals, additives, preservatives and usually the main ingredient, water.
A third problem is that the more ingredients, the more likely people with sensitivities will be sensitive to one or more ingredients. Some of us can't use "ordinary" ingredients like lanolin, alcohol or aromatics like camphor, which is cooling and smells nice, but can be irritating.
So we've created Bee Serious salve. Partly out of selfishness--the creator struggled with sensitive, cracked and painful hands for 30 years. Bee Serious cured her. Her hands are smooth and soft and healed. Bee Serious has an oil, a wax and essential oils. That's it. It works. If your hands overreact to soaps, dust, housework or gardening, if your skin cracks and hurts, try Bee Serious. Seriously.
The problems with having a lot of ingredients are several: for one thing, the more ingredients, the more likely there will be interactions between the various components, which may be irritating to delicate skin.
Another problem with lots of ingredients is that the useful or "active" ingredients can be present in teeny amounts and the manufacturer can list them on the packaging, even though their effects are nonexistent. So you'll see lotions or creams advertised "with aloe" or "with Vitamin E", but there's not enough to do you any good. Such products are "filled" with chemicals, additives, preservatives and usually the main ingredient, water.
A third problem is that the more ingredients, the more likely people with sensitivities will be sensitive to one or more ingredients. Some of us can't use "ordinary" ingredients like lanolin, alcohol or aromatics like camphor, which is cooling and smells nice, but can be irritating.
So we've created Bee Serious salve. Partly out of selfishness--the creator struggled with sensitive, cracked and painful hands for 30 years. Bee Serious cured her. Her hands are smooth and soft and healed. Bee Serious has an oil, a wax and essential oils. That's it. It works. If your hands overreact to soaps, dust, housework or gardening, if your skin cracks and hurts, try Bee Serious. Seriously.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Medway Candle Bath Salts
If you're looking for a last-minute gift that's personal but not presumptuous, bath salts scented with essential oils are inexpensive, thoughtful and gorgeous. We put 'em in embroidered satin and organza bags; you can have them in the ever-popular lavender or orange, with bergamot and petitgrain. You'll see them at the Nova Scotia farmers' markets in Lunenburg, Mahone Bay and Hubbards--and at occasional fund-raisers like the one we did Saturday at the Chester Area Middle School (CAMS).
Epsom salts help restore levels of magnesium and do all kinds of good things for your body, because they're absorbed through the skin when you bathe. For the whole scoop, check out this link to the Epsom Salts Council
http://www.epsomsaltcouncil.org/about_better_health_through_soaking.htm
Epsom salts help restore levels of magnesium and do all kinds of good things for your body, because they're absorbed through the skin when you bathe. For the whole scoop, check out this link to the Epsom Salts Council
http://www.epsomsaltcouncil.org/about_better_health_through_soaking.htm
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Our 100% Pure Beeswax Candles
Medway Candle beeswax candle are all-beeswax, and that's a big deal. Candles with as little as 10% beeswax can be labeled "beeswax"--and too often are! If your "beeswax" candles aren't labeled "100% beeswax" they may contain large amounts of other waxes. Candles that aren't all-beeswax burn faster, drip and smoke. 100% pure beeswax candles should burn 4-5 times slower than paraffin.
We also use 100% cotton or paper wicks (depending on the type of candle), ordered from a reputable supplier. Our beeswax comes from a large honey producer whose harvest includes golden blocks of filtered beeswax. Mike hand-dips 7, 8 and 9-inch tapers (and other sizes by custom order), working late into the night by the heat of a Black Bear woodstove while he listens to jazz.
Votives, tea lights, hearts in two sizes and pillars are poured by hand into metal molds, allowed to cool, then removed from the molds and hand-finished. For ordering information or price lists, send us a comment on this blog; we'll get back to you within a day.
Breaking News: Our website is coming soon!
We also use 100% cotton or paper wicks (depending on the type of candle), ordered from a reputable supplier. Our beeswax comes from a large honey producer whose harvest includes golden blocks of filtered beeswax. Mike hand-dips 7, 8 and 9-inch tapers (and other sizes by custom order), working late into the night by the heat of a Black Bear woodstove while he listens to jazz.
Votives, tea lights, hearts in two sizes and pillars are poured by hand into metal molds, allowed to cool, then removed from the molds and hand-finished. For ordering information or price lists, send us a comment on this blog; we'll get back to you within a day.
Breaking News: Our website is coming soon!
Monday, March 28, 2011
All-Natural Preservative Herbal-Active Hits Medway Candle Essentials!
Our water-free hand creams were created because we couldn't find a safe, natural, cruelty-free preservative that would allow us to put water in our products. (Without preservatives, water-based products are an open invitation to microbes...) Salves, which contain no water, are unwelcoming to bacteria, so we started with them.
But after much investigation, we've found a natural, vegetarian, cruelty-free preservative! It arrived last week, in an unassuming brown paper envelope.
Herbal Active is extracted from star anise, by Vic Cherikoff, in Australia. It's a broad-spectrum preservative being used in food and cosmetics, effective in teensy concentrations. We plan to use it in our water-based creams, which are currently under construction!
But after much investigation, we've found a natural, vegetarian, cruelty-free preservative! It arrived last week, in an unassuming brown paper envelope.
Herbal Active is extracted from star anise, by Vic Cherikoff, in Australia. It's a broad-spectrum preservative being used in food and cosmetics, effective in teensy concentrations. We plan to use it in our water-based creams, which are currently under construction!
Medway Candle Bee Serious Balm
Bee Serious has been around for awhile now. It's based on the realization that the more ingredients a product has, the more likely someone will have a sensitivity to it. For example, some of us can't use products with glycerin, lanolin or borax--all ingredients common in hand creams.
Since I was 17, my hands crack at the least exposure to dish soap, dirt, metal and dust. A latex allergy makes most gloves useless, too. Over the years, the skin became thin; peeling an egg was hazardous duty!
People with sensitive hands know how painful it can be to do even simple things like cooking, sewing or brushing your hair. And most products only make it worse. So what's a seriously sensitive gal to do?
Make her own hand cream, of course. Bee Serious has four ingredients; an oil, two waxes and a drop of essential oil. Grapeseed oil, beeswax, soy wax, lavender. It works. My hands are smooth and whole; healed. They don't hurt anymore. It only took 29 years...
Since I was 17, my hands crack at the least exposure to dish soap, dirt, metal and dust. A latex allergy makes most gloves useless, too. Over the years, the skin became thin; peeling an egg was hazardous duty!
People with sensitive hands know how painful it can be to do even simple things like cooking, sewing or brushing your hair. And most products only make it worse. So what's a seriously sensitive gal to do?
Make her own hand cream, of course. Bee Serious has four ingredients; an oil, two waxes and a drop of essential oil. Grapeseed oil, beeswax, soy wax, lavender. It works. My hands are smooth and whole; healed. They don't hurt anymore. It only took 29 years...
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