The History of Glitter

One of our Facebook fans came up with this topic.  :)  Thanks Kelly!

During my research on the history of glitter, I found this cool video that I must share...

The glitter that was used by ancient Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks, Romans was what is known today as mica.  Mica is a Latin word which means "a crumb".  It comes from the earth in the forms of crystals, flakes and sheets and is ground up into fine, shimmery powder.  It was used to decorate pottery, jazz up cave paintings and add sparkle to their makeup.

Mica is in widespread use today and is used in the painting and drilling industries, for example.  It even helps to reinforce drywall (who knew?).   And of course it is found in lots of cosmetic products.  Eyeshadow, lotions, nail polish...do your kids use sparkly toothpaste?  Mica!  I often use mica in my bath and body products, too.

The glitter that we use in arts and crafts like scrap booking, school projects and party decorations was actually invented sometime in the 1930s by a New Jersey cattle farmer named Henry Ruschmann.  In his spare time he managed to figure out a way to cut brightly colored plastic film so precisely and finely that he produced glitter.  He went on to found his own glitter supplying company which is still in business today.  Why am I not working there? 

My personal history with glitter goes back further than I can remember.  As a teeny little girl, it caught my eye everywhere I went - my mum's sugary diamond ring, my Barbie doll's clothes, the sparkly paint on my tricycle...and when I ran fast enough, the ground glittered on my way to school (must have been those mica flakes).

But my favourite glittery ritual is when I put my little one to bed, we put fairy dust in our hands, close our eyes, rub our hands together while making a wish and then sprinkle the glitter over her pillow.  She has sweet, glittery dreams every time!  :)


What is your favourite use for glitter?

When Bath Bombs Go Wrong...and Right!

Look at this, would you?  May I introduce to you the world's ugliest bath bombs?

Sad, but unfortunately true.  Cracked, crumbly, warty.  What happened?  Let's take a look...

Your basic bath bomb recipe is:
2 parts baking soda
1 part citric acid
Distilled water in a spray bottle. 

Yep.  That's it.  Mix that together and you get a lovely, strong bath bomb that fizzes like an insanely effervescent mega Alka Seltzer but that's as exciting as it gets.  No fragrance, no skin-loving oils, no pretty colors.  NO GLITTER.  Can you say boring?  BORING!

So, I went ahead an added a bunch of stuff.  Coconut oil to moisturize the skin.  Colorant to make it pretty.  Vitamin E and yummy skin-happy Juniper Aloe fragrance oil.  Glitter, of course!!  And spritzed with distilled water to make it all stick together.  I mixed it all up to a nice damp-sand texture.  I got out my handy-dandy stainless steel bath bomb molds and started molding.

As I put them one by one on the table to dry and set, I noticed some weird little bumps growing on the surface.  What on earth...?  I tried pushing them back in with my finger. 

Nope, that didn't help.  I left them alone but eventually they totally bottomed out. They went flat and smooshy.  I wish I had a photo for you, but I couldn't look at them any longer.  So...let's get to the point.  What went wrong?

The ingredients themselves were not the problem.  The problem was...too much liquid.  I sprayed way too much distilled water into the dry ingredients and it set off the fizzing action prematurely.  It was fizzing in there as it was drying.  Eek!  The other issue was not enough pressure.  My wimpy little arms just couldn't do the job.  Without resorting to buying expensive equipment, I got the next best thing.  My husband graciously offered to make my bath bombs for me from now on.  Trooper!   

Here we go.  Round Two.  This is how bath bombs are supposed to look.  Smooth.  Round.  Un-warty.

Wanna know what we did with the ugly ones?  3 mins, 41 secs of super glittery fizzing power!! 

Flattery.com.au

I have to introduce you to Tracey of Flattery.com.au.  Tracey was introduced to me via a mutual friend in Australia (Hi Lara!) and she asked Fairy Cute to design lip balms for her business.  Check out what she does!  She makes the most amazingly gorgeous, earth friendly cloth nappies/diapers.  Good for baby, good for the planet.  Looky...this one has to be my favorite!

And for baby boys...

And this one is called Fairy Floss!

Tracey gives her Flattery labelled lip balms as a free gift to every diaper customer.  I hear they are quite the hit with some folks trying to collect-them-all!  We have some really fun new flavors in the works for her this year and her fans have been trying to guess the new flavours on her Facebook page.  Who knows?  Maybe there's something extra in it for the winners?   

So if you are a new mum or know someone who is, be sure to pop on over to Flattery for beautifully handcrafted, colourful, earth-friendly nappies...and a free lip balm! 

P.S.  I tried my best to use Aussie spellings throughout this post.  It's been 11 years since I lived there...it's not habit for me anymore!  :(