[Herbalist] Iasmin's Wax and Oil ratios for basic ointment base

[Gaylin Walli]

Making ointment base is perhaps the hardest part of making ointment.
Getting it to harden to your liking is daunting and most people don't
want to waste ingredients. Trial and error work well, but can be
tedious. The best I can offer you is what I worked out for my
ointments that consist of nothing more than infused oil and wax. If
you're recreating a period ointment you may need to adjust the
hardening agent (or eliminate it) to get the recipe workable.

Keep in mind that sometimes additional ingredients can radically
affect the texture and feel. Take, for example, flour or eggs. Both
will change the feel of your ointment and affect how the wax hardens
it and both were used in period. The oil or fat itself will alter the
behavior of your ointment. Lard tends to make an ointment greasier.
Olive oil makes it a little silkier. Butter makes it a little
stickier (and makes the cat want to clean you repeatedly *grin*). The
type of wax you use (some late-period and out-of-period recipes call
specifically for white wax, not beeswax) will make a slight
difference as well.

Don't let all this babbling stop you!

I've worked out a table of oil and wax ratios that works for me and
included it below. As I said before, this table is for only infused
oil and wax combinations. I realize the table might not turn out very
well on some email programs. This is the table I use for my balm
creations. It's a little oilier than some people like, I think, but I
also think they're used to things like commercial Tiger Balm which is
rock hard.
This table is for how I make it for my home use for my husband. When
I make it for my friends, or for specific purposes (like hot-weather
use) I up the amount of wax to harden it a teeny bit more.

IMPORTANT NOTE: These are suggested beeswax and oil amounts to
combine for a medium-hard balm. Teaspoons amounts in the wax column
are given if you wish to melt your beeswax and then measure. Ounce
amounts in that same column, on the other hand, are given for the
unmelted wax. For comparison, about 6 teaspoons melted wax fills one
slot in a standard-sized American ice cube tray.

If you'd like a PDF of the file instead of this text, let me know.


How Much Oil You Have		How Much Wax You Add
cups	ounces	teaspoons		tblspns	teaspoons	ounces
1/8	1	6		2	1/2	0.1
1/4	2	12		4	1	0.2
3/8	3	18		6	1 1/2	0.3
1/2	4	24		8	2	0.4
5/8	5	30		10	2 1/2	0.5
3/4	6	36		12	3	0.6
7/8	7	42		14	3 1/2	0.7
1	8	48		16	4	0.8
1 1/8	9	54		18	4 1/2	0.9
1 1/4	10	60		20	5	1.0
1 3/8	11	66		22	5 1/2	1.1
1 1/2	12	72		24	6	1.2
1 5/8	13	78		26	6 1/2	1.3
1 3/4	14	84		28	7	1.4
1 7/8	15	90		30	7 1/2	1.5
2	16	96		32	8	1.6