Calendula salve

I've been wanting to make up a batch of this healing salve for some time now. What do I use it for? Mostly for cuts and scratches, but also I've been putting it on insect bites too. Might not stop the itching that well but I figure it can help the skin! Actually I found out from researching remedies for insect bites that ice is the best home remedy.

Anyway, back to the salve. Fortunately I had sufficient calendula flowers in the garden:

It was very easy to make. I used my slow cooker to infuse 2 cups of petals with 1 cup of olive oil for a couple of hours. Then I strained this through some muslin into another container. I melted 1/4 cup beeswax pellets using a double boiler, then checked the temperature of the wax and heated the oil up (gently) a wee bit more so they were roughly the same temp. Then I added the oil to the beeswax and whisked it up, added 10 drops of lavender oil and poured into clean, dry pots. This quantity of ingredients made 5 little pots. It sets fairly quickly, putting it in the fridge helps to solidify even more.

I'm storing them in the fridge too, although I guess you could just keep them somewhere cool - has been quite hot here as we are at the end of our Summer and we don't really have anywhere that's very cool!