Friday, May 6, 2016

DIY "Old Fashioned" Furniture Polish ~ A Tittlemouse Tutorial


"Next morning she got up very early and began a spring cleaning which lasted a fortnight... She swept, and scrubbed, and dusted; and she rubbed up the furniture with beeswax..."

~ Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse

{Welcome to another edition of "Fun Friday" this spring with Beatrix Potter!}

Dear Mrs. Tittlemouse is quite the cleaner and has quite the repertoire of cleaning recipes! Today she wanted to share a few old fashioned tutorials for making furniture polish. Being she always kept a supply of beeswax in her cottage, this of course was the base for many of her charming "all natural" recipes. As we know her feelings on the subject (she is quite the candid creature), "she is no lab rat" and everything in her home is safe for proper mouse society!


"Good-day, Babbitty Bumble; I should be glad to buy some beeswax. But what are you doing down here? Why do you always come in at a window, and say Zizz, Bizz, Bizzz?" Mrs. Tittlemouse began to get cross."
~ Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse


Basic "Old Fashioned" Furniture Polish ~ Recipe #1

{recipe can be halved or doubled}

*Mrs. Tittlemouse uses lemon essential oil as the most frugal choice for this project. However, you can also replace it with lavender or woodsy oils such as cedarwood and sandalwood.


1. If you have a double boiler, you may use it to melt together the beeswax and oil. If you don’t, you can make your own by placing a small saucepan filled 1/3 of the way with water on the stove.

2. Pour your olive oil into a heatproof item such as a glass-measuring cup (or a recycled tin food can that you may throw out afterward with no need to clean up -- I gleaned this nifty tip here) and place that inside your “water bath” on the stove. Begin heating the water until it simmers.

3. Add the beeswax into your warmed oil. Let this sit a minute and stir until combined. Once mixture has melted together, remove it from the pan and carefully place it on a potholder to cool slightly.

4. After a few minutes, add the essential oil drops and stir for another minute. The reason for the wait is that if the oil mixture is too hot, the essential oil may evaporate.

5. Pour your polish into a small glass jar or lidded tin. It will firm up in an hour or so. Once completely cooled and hardened, you may label your product and it is ready to use.


"Old Fashioned" Furniture Polish ~ Recipe #2

{NOT shown in photos} {recipe can be halved or doubled}

1. Place your beeswax in a small glass jar.

2. Pour 1/2 cup of turpentine over the wax and screw on your lid.

3. Let this mixture sit a few days and give it a few stirs. Let it sit for another three days and stir until it is finally smooth and creamy.

4. Add 20 drops of lemon essential oil and stir again until combined.

5. The polish is now ready to label and use.


How to Use:

Apply the furniture polishes sparingly using a clean soft cloth (you can make your own soft cloths here). Let it sit for five minutes and then buff down with another clean soft cloth.


How Often to Apply:

“Once a piece of furniture has been sealed with polish, it need only be reapplied occasionally. The National Trust in England wax polishes the furniture in its stately homes only once or twice a year; the rest of the time , dusting or buffing suffices. According to the experts, polish does not “feed” the wood; rather it applies a protective coating that can build up and actually dull the surface if applied too frequently.”
~ Excerpt from Household Wisdom by Stephanie Donaldson


You will find our printable "old fashioned furniture polish" recipe and labels HERE. Perhaps you would like to place it in Mrs. Tittlemouse's "Manual of Household Hints and Delights"? This is simply a safe place you can store all of her homemaking printables to have them handy until you are ready to use them. You will find the free download here if you are interested. The cover page is designed to slide into the front of the binder as a title page insert. The tabs are best printed on card stock, affixed with glue to card stock and staggered as you attach them. It is just a bit of extra fun!


We hope you have enjoyed this tutorial by Mrs. Tittlemouse. If so, you may also be interested in her DIY bug spray, her "un-paper" towel tutorial and/or her free printable “cottage rose” pantry labels. Happy Friday to you dear friends!

17 comments:

  1. Mrs. Tittlemouse had outdone herself worth these furniture polish recipes. And the labels are really adorable. Thank you ever so much!
    Have a wonderful weekend!

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    1. Thank you Toni! I will pass that on to her ;)

      Have a lovely weekend yourself! :)

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    2. Ha, I shouldn't leave comments from my phone. It betrays me every time. Good you can translate gibberish though.

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    3. Yes, no worries! I dabble in being a linguist in my spare time :0

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  2. I LOVE Mrs. Tittlemouse! Thank you for the recipe; I have a block of beeswax I've been wondering what to do with. And I do need to get our printer fixed/repaired so I can print out some labels. Thank you!

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    1. How fun! Thank you for sharing Deborah! We also have a recipe for lip balm that is a great use for beeswax too! :) Happy kitchen crafting!

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  3. Dearest Mrs.Tittlemouse, I love you and your so precious suggestions, your recipes are gems to me !
    I'm taking note of both the recipes, I so love them all, thank you !

    Sending blessings of joy on the end of your week, wonderful friend of mine,
    with so much gratitude

    Dany

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    1. Thank you Dany! I will send word to her... Her cottage is just down the lane :)

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  4. Hi Jes,
    Another wonderful and helpful post. I am truly enjoying Mrs Tittlemouse and her household recipes and tips.
    Thank you.

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    1. Thank you Glenda. These are lighthearted and fun to prepare. A very nice therapy for me :)

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  5. Thank you for sharing this! It's just what I've been needing. :) I love how you share your wisdom!

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    1. Wonderful! I hope you enjoy making it and applying it! It does give one an old fashioned feeling to use a polish like this :)

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  6. Very interesting. I may just try this when I run out of my current polish supply.

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  7. Hi - I have been reading and subscribing to your blog for quite a while and have become enchanted with your Beatrix Potter tutorials and posts. For my birthday I bought myself The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse. Thank you for all this good old fashioned fun!

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    1. Oh, that makes me smile! Aren't the illustrations just adorable? I can't get enough of the cottage charm that Beatrix potter created. Thank you for sharing Mrs. Bill! Glad to know others out there enjoy this kind of "stuff" too! Have a lovely week! :)

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  8. Hello,
    This above represented post is defining all about Furniture polish. Good points you have shared. Thank you too much.......

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