Welcome to March, the month of spring and flowers and showers and maybe some cherry blossoms?
February 28 is the official anniversary of this blog as Point of Interest, which started its life in 2008 as a way to share handouts and tutorials with the youth in our Rated T for Teen crafting program (on hiatus for the pandemic). I wanted to do something to celebrate National Craft Month in March 2009, so I thought I’d share my love of cosmetic chemistry by sharing some basics about bath & body products on February 28th, then my first formula for a facial toner on March 1. At the end of the month, I decided to keep going as I was having so much fun, and here we are, 13 years later.
13 years?!?
Every year I think I should do something to celebrate the anniversary of the blog, but honestly, I think the best celebration is the fact that I’m still here, writing every day and sharing what I love with you, my awesome readers. I don’t need to look back and reflect on what I’ve learned as it’s all here on this site – all 4,518 posts and formulas – along with countless notebooks filled with so much information, I’ve had to create a massive master table of contents for topics and for formulas.
You can see my journey from February 28, 2009, for yourself by checking out the archives!
Why SwiftCraftyMonkey? I wanted to create a Blogspot account, and both Swift and SwiftMonkey were taken, so I figured I’m kinda crafty, so I tried that name. Bingpot! We have a blog!
What does it mean? I like Jonathan Swift – the writer – and monkeys – the mammals – and crafting, so it seemed like a natural choice for a silly name that I really do love.
Again, thank you for continuing to join me on this awesome journey through the world of cosmetic chemistry. Thank you for making my formulas, sharing your thoughts, and giving me the opportunity to do the best job in the world, one that makes me smile every single day.
An update on my health: I’m still struggling with pain in my arms, which makes it hard to type, hold a pen, and do other things necessary for creating posts and e-books, but the good news is that I’ve found a great physiatrist, who injected my arms with anaesthetic, which has been amazing, and found an exercise plan – aquafit with some stationary bike thrown in weekly – that’s also making things better.
The final pillar of this pain reduction plan is to take this medication that I lovingly call my “drunk-y pill” because it makes me feel a bit tipsy after I’ve taken it with all the fun things that come with that, like poor motor skills and my brain not working very well as it slows down the messages from my brain to my body. I’m going from two doses a day – afternoon and bedtime – to three doses, which means there’s an early dose that might interfere with my morning schedule of writing, researching, or formulating in the workshop. It took me about a week to get accustomed to the afternoon dose – I feel like I’m “one drink drunk” now, but as a three-drink-drunk, that’s still pretty buzzed! – so I’m thinking it might take the same for the morning tablet. All of this is to say that I might not be posting much over the next week.
Quick summary on my health: I’m taking new pills that might interfere with my ability to write, so I might not be posting as much this upcoming week.
What’s going on around the blog?
Honestly, I’m not sure yet. I always have some series on the go – still working on that one on conditioners and some duplications – but there’s always some shiny thing lurking in the workshop to draw my attention away from the things I’m doing to something new and exciting, so you might see some new oils, a new hair conditioning ingredient, some new surfactants, and more. I’m just not sure yet.
As I mentioned last month, I’ve been playing with a number of new ingredients I’m hoping to share with you – ClearHance HC (cationic conditioner), Plantasil Micro (conditioner), amla oil, buruti oil, prickly pear extract, cranberry butter, jojoba butter, olive butter, a few other butters, and more proteins like quinoa and vegetable collagen.
I’m still working on the series on triglycerides and emollients, and it might see the light of day in October. It’s a big one – on par with the combining emollients or combining surfactants series – and answers a lot of questions, like “why do coconut oil and shea butter not play well together?”.
And I can’t wait to share with you what I learned in the designing lamellar gel networks course I took in early February from the American Oil Chemists’ Society – honestly, it’ll blow your mind like it did mine! It’s all about how to create more stable lotions and delivering actives to our skin using thickeners in combination with emulsifiers, which is great!
As we do every month on the blog…
If you’re in need of supplies, $10 subscribers to the month have five discount coupons this month for Formulator Sample Shop, Lotioncrafter, Voyageur Soap & Candle, and Windy Point Soap Making Supplies. Thank you for this lovely gift out of the goodness of your hearts, lovely suppliers!
If you’re a $3 subscriber or higher, click here to see the duplication request post!
Please note that requests for duplication are only considered if they’re posted in the duplication section as this is part of the $3 and up subscribers benefits. I cannot possibly re-create every single formula suggested as this blog would be nothing but duplicated products, and how boring is that? I can only choose so many, and I go into detail about my process for choosing formulas in both the duplication request post and in this post. Thank you for continuing to share them in that post. I have been getting loads of ideas from it the last few months, and there will be more to come soon, I hope.
And don’t forget that you have access to the formula directory! The formula directory is constantly being updated to include even more formulas from around the blog, so if you’re looking for a formula, you’ll find it in the formula directory!
Also check out the latest addition to the monthly posts – Ingredient substitution ideas post ($3 and up)! Because it’s getting harder to find supplies thanks to shortages and shipping issues, if you have an ingredient you’re trying to find or need help substituting for in a formula, please share your thoughts over there!
If you’re a $5 subscriber or higher, click here to see the month’s Q&A post!
And don’t forget about the monthly Super happy fun member-to-member post for March 2022! It’s more important than ever that we connect with other people during this awful time, so please feel free to share your thoughts on this post or others on the blog!
You can always find the links to these monthly posts in the pinned post section, which is found to the right of just about every page on the blog on desktop and most mobile, or the bottom of every page for the odd mobile device. Or do a search for “Q&A” or “duplication” to find them. I’m afraid I don’t have time to do searches for you if you write to me as I’m swamped and my arms and hands are still in minor spasm, so doing one of those two things will find you those posts very quickly.
If you’re a $10 subscriber or higher, you’ll get the e-zine for the month – which is generally issued on the 27th or later. I’m never sure what the topic will be until I start reviewing outlines, notes, formulas and everything else, but there are – as always – a few different ones on the go. Watch for this post towards the end of March 2022 for the e-book for the month.
Last month, we issued the e-book Surfactants: Milder combinations for gentler products, which you would have received it as part of your $10 subscription! (You can still buy it in the shop by clicking the link!)
If you missed one for a month during which you were a subscriber, please click here to see those coupon codes. (Please download them as soon as you can as these links can expire after a year or so.)
Thank you so much for joining us in the new year, continuing to support the site with your subscriptions! You’re the reason this site isn’t cluttered with really annoying pop ups, ads, affiliate links, and sponsored content! Thank you for 13 awesome years, and thanks for joining us for the month of March!