Steel Drum Beat

Drum Island!  We make sweet music with our drums. We tap out the rhythm of American Made Products every day here in Wisconsin.  The song of Industry rings out from the sound of the steel drums in use.  We cool them, we heat them, we save them, we savor them.  They store all the secret and not so secret ingredients of our stock in trade.

The Pied Piper

What flavor are your lips?

I was sorting through some lip balms at my desk and ran across these two that were done for a client to be given away at a state fair.  And I go to thinking about the various flavor lip balms we have done lately.
Beer, Butter, Cream Puff, Pecan Pie, Pickle, Vodka, Pine Tree, Tea Tree, Mint, Peppermint, Tangerine, Vanilla, Blarney, Bacon, Chocolate, Milk Chocolate Orange Truffle, Cocoa Noir, White Chocolate Chai Tea, Plain, Banana Cream Pie, Cherry, Mango, Passion Fruit,Strawberry, Cranberry, Lemon Twist, Root Beer, Green Apple, Blueberry, Hibiscus, Grapefruit, Blackberry, Watermelon, Margarita, Mustard and Ketchup are just a few of the flavors that have been cooking around here.

The fine art of finding your personal taste in lips is always a work in progress!  Let me know what you would like to taste!  Yesterday someone wanted Buffalo Sauce lip balm...and so it will be!

The Pied Piper.

Caught Red Handed!

This is our batching area and you can see the tank in front with the red on the edge.  This is a fresh batch of red Face Paints that are being filled this week to put into stock.

A separate batch will be made for all of these colors.  As a new product introduction this year it has far surpassed our expectations!  So when the next big event happens-be ready.  So far these paints in the small .1oz tubes have been used by grade schools, middle schools, high schools and colleges.  They have been used by summer camps, parades and as giveaways for a variety of events.

Need Paint?  Send me a note and I will direct you to one of the suppliers that carry it...
The Pied Piper

I know you have been saving your lips for me!

This is the mighty cluttered desk top of the Pied Piper.  The place where lip rescue 911 starts.  Among the items laying there are the sunscreen products for the USGA Woman's Championship being played right now in the 100 degree heat up the road in Kohler, Wisconsin.  There is also some of our blue wonder cream, pet conditioner, soap, hand sanitizer and a plethora of lip balms.

Note the highly sophisticated system of note organization, the symmetry of the carefully placed pens and highlighters and the strategic placement of the OUTDOOR show print out.  Salt Lake City in August...the Pied Piper will be there!

Steamy and sunny conditions lead to chapped and stressed lips.  Keep them puckerable, use some spf lip balm!

The Pied Piper

A vast vat bath

As I wandered back into the batching area before the heat of the day kicked in I saw Chris heating up the area anyway.  Steam in the air and steaming soapy water pouring out of one of the tanks as clean up was underway.  Cleanliness is next to Godliness!

It is vital to have equipment total clean and able to pass inspection before they put another group of ingredients into the tanks and vats.  It is what you do on a Friday morning at 6:00 AM.

The Pied Piper

Avid golfer, Undisclosed handicap.

Saukville, Wisconsin,1/27/12

USGA Woman’s  Open, Blackwolf Run and Alliance Packaging Group take sun exposure seriously!

Alliance Packaging Group is the authorized manufacturer of SPF Lip Balm, SPF Sunscreen and SPF face Stick for the USGA Woman’s Open at Blackwolf Run,the Kohler, Wisconsin golf course.  APG an FDA approved high quality Lab and manufacturer is pleased to be the providing these logoed items for the tournament.  The host club, the USGA and authorized vendors will be selling the collectable items at the event, July 5-8, 2012.

Alliance Packaging Group is a premier manufacturer of lip balm, body and skin care products specializing in formulation and private label products, Alliance Packaging Groups CEO Linda Kamal , an avid golfer with an undisclosed handicap, said “we are so pleased to have been allowed to make our products for this premier event, especially as it is so close to our manufacturing facility.  The hands free face stick will certainly be favored by the players as a way to apply needed sunscreen without using their hands.”

Alliance Packaging Is also celebrating State of Wisconsin recognition as an official Woman Business Enterprise.

The Pied Piper

Protection racket exposed!

Sunburn is no fun!

A couple of quick facts for you today.  Getting sunburned 5 times results in a dramatically increased risk for skin cancer.  Not 5 times per week, not 5 times per month, not 5 times per summer but 5 times in your life.

Wearing a hat is great but that only controls the amount of sun you get hit with from directly overhead.  Reflected sun is a greater danger.

And did you know that SPF 30 blocks 97% of the UVB rays?  You don't really benefit from higher SPF ratings., SPF 50 has 1% more blocking power.

Knowledge is power. Protect yourself. Use broadband sunscreen.

The Pied Piper

Face that Paint

Puddy is the Devil-Sienfeld

 

Why is face paint becoming so popular?

Check this:

7700 College and Universities (with teams and clubs galore)

140,000 Schools (with teams and clubs galore)

1089 Heritage festivals (What does your flag look like)

5752 Professional or Semi Professional sport teams (Wear your colors proudly)

8,000,000 High schoolers involved in sports (who is rooting for who)

311,591,917 US population –(how many teams do they each support)

THE OLYMPICS

Now toss in art and crafts at camps and in schools.  Add high holidays like St.Pats and 4^th of July.  Include causes like breast cancer awareness.

What do you have?  Unbelievable opportunity!

The Pied Piper

Calorie free strawberry cheesecake

 

One of the good/bad things about our little enterprise is the wonderful smells that permeate the  atmosphere on some days.  Yesterday it was Chris and Lee making up some strawberry cheesecake lip balm for a client.  Good part was a whole day of a wonderful scent floating around.  Bad part is that it literally ignited everybody's  taste buds and I am sure more food was consumed than was necessary!

If you want to make your own wonderful smells, here is a nice recipe for actual strawberry cheesecake and not lip balm..

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
• 2/3 cup evaporated milk
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• 9-inch graham cracker crust, baked

Preparation:

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs until thick and light yellow. Add 1/2 cup of sugar and the flour, beating until blended. Pour the egg mixture into a measuring cup. In the same bowl, beat cream cheese with a small amount of the evaporated milk until smooth. Add remaining milk, the lemon juice, and the grated lemon peel; beat until smooth and well blended. Pour egg mixture into the cream cheese mixture; beat just until blended.
Pour mixture into the graham cracker crust. Bake at 325° for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
Strawberry Glaze

• 1 pint fresh strawberries, washed and hulled
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
• few drops red food coloring, optional

Cut 10 to 12 strawberries in half; arrange in a single layer, cut side down, over the cooled cheesecake. Crush enough remaining strawberries to make 1/3 cup; put in saucepan. Stir in 1/3 cup water and heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Press through a strainer to make 1/2 cup of puree. Return the 1/2 cup puree to the saucepan. Mix together the sugar and cornstarch and stir into the puree in saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Continue cooking and stirring until thickened and clear. Add food coloring, if desired. Cool slightly; spoon evenly over strawberries on cheesecake. Cool and store, covered, in refrigerator.

Golf is coming! A few facts..

Golf is thought of highly here at APG. Mike, one of our quality guys, is already pushing for a game.  Reed, who runs our back end, has tee times set.  Snow just left yesterday, only 36 degrees today, but everybody seems ready.
There are 25 million golfers here in the USA.  Over 500 million rounds of golf will be played.  There are over 450,000 outings and events.  With over 118 Professional golf tournaments between Men, Ladies and Seniors-which gives us 18,000,000-20,000,000 spectators.

And what are all these people doing?????  Sitting, standing, walking, laying, squatting, stretching, and facing into the sun.

Since we sell a lot of SPF 30 Sunscreen lotion, SPF 30 face stick and hands fee sunscreen balms and SPF 15 and 30 lip balms amongst other things...that is another reason why we like golf.  Keep your elbow straight, read the greens from three angles, shift your weight as you swing and liberally apply sun screen.  Our best advice.

The Pied Piper

Talking Tubas and cork grease

Tubas are on my mind today for three reasons.

 Reason number one is the fact that we make cork grease and package it for clients and the fact is, it is damn fine cork grease!

 The second reason is my son plays the Tuba and has his solo and ensemble performances this weekend.  It should be a fine time for all the musicians in the area.  If you have not done so, go to one of these judged performances.  You will be amazed at the sheer number of nice and even great musicians.

The third reason is that I caught an article not long ago that reported the Tuba is on the must steal list for thieves.  In California it seems they steel them and probably sell for scrap not knowing what the real value is!

I do love the marching Tubas of the University of Wisconsin.  Go to a Badger football game and watch them as they march the stands in the fifth quarter!

In big breath,
The Pied Piper.

Sheep Grease

BAAAAAAAAA...
Sheep Grease is also know as LANOLIN!  I was in back with Chris and Lee, our Chefs du Jour, and there was a rather pungent odor coming off a barrel in the blending area.  Pure barnyard.  And Chris told me it was Sheep Grease.  Which is of course, lanolin.

The history of lanolin dates back to 8000 years when people first began to use the substance derived from sheep wool. Going by ancient Egyptian history, we find that the primeval Egyptians placed blocks of lanolin on their head. When this lanolin melted in the sun and spread over the face, it made the skin soft. Several therapeutic and pharmaceutical texts written during the last 2000 years offer us valuable information and guidelines regarding the use of lanolin. In fact, the term lanolin is derived from the Latin words ‘lana’ meaning wool and ‘oleum’ denoting oil. However, chemically, lanolin is not oil, but a kind of wax. To be precise, lanolin is secreted by the sebaceous glands in sheep and shields their coat from rain and other natural elements.
Lanolin is derived from the wool after shearing the fleece of sheep and it is interesting to note that extraction of lanolin does not cause any harm to these animals. Normally, 100 pounds of wool or fleece from sheep produce merely two to four pounds of lanolin. The best thing about lanolin is that the substance is a replenishing natural resource and not a synthetic compound produced artificially.

And we use lanolin in a variety of our products.

So how much shearing goes on to fill a 55 gallon drum?  How about 12,000 lbs of wool!  That is over 1600 sheep's worth of fine waterproofing..

The Pied Piper

Ever Hear of Tea Tree?

I wandered back into production and asked what the heck they were making.  My nose knows smells and this was a very unusual odor.  Jeff, our GM, told me it was Tea Tree lip balm for a client.  Very different from the usual oils we add.  So what is tea tree?  I had to dive into Wikipedia to find out. And most of you will be learning it first here!

The indigenous Bundjalung people of eastern Australia use “tea trees” as a traditional medicine by inhaling the oils from the crushed leaves to treat coughs and colds. They also sprinkle leaves on wounds, after which a poultice is applied. In addition, tea tree leaves are soaked to make an infusion to treat sore throats or skin ailments.^[2][3]
Use of the oil itself, as opposed to the unextracted plant material, did not become common practice until researcher Arthur Penfold published the first reports of its antimicrobial activity in a series of papers in the 1920s and 1930s. In evaluating the antimicrobial activity of M. alternifolia, tea tree oil was rated as 11 times more active than phenol.^[4]
The commercial tea tree oil industry was born after the medicinal properties of the oil were first reported by Penfold in the 1920s. It was produced from natural bush stands of M. alternifolia that produced oil with the appropriate chemotype. The plant material was hand cut and often distilled on the spot in makeshift, mobile, wood-fired bush stills.
Production ebbed after World War II, as demand for the oil declined, presumably due to the development of effective antibiotics and the waning image of natural products. Interest in the oil was rekindled in the 1970s as part of the general renaissance of interest in natural products. Commercial plantations were established in the 1970s and 1980s, which led to mechanization and large-scale production of a consistent essential oil product.^[5]
Among over 98 compounds contained in the oil, terpinen-4-ol is responsible for most of the antimicrobial activity.^[6]
Although tea tree oil normally is extracted from Melaleuca alternifolia commercially, it can also be extracted from Melaleuca dissitiflora and Melaleuca linariifolia. Tea tree oil is defined by international standard ISO 4730 (2004) ("Oil of Melaleuca, Terpinen-4-ol type"), which specifies levels of 15 components which are needed to define the oil as "tea tree oil."

Tea tree oil composition,
as per ISO 4730 (2004)

Component	Concentration
terpinen-4-ol	30–48%
γ-terpinene	10–28%
α-terpinene	5–13%
1,8-Cineole	0–15%
α-terpinolene	1.5–5%
α-terpineol	1.5–8%
α-pinene	1–6%
p-cymene	0.5–8%

Tea tree oil has been scientifically investigated only recently. Some sources suggest beneficial medical properties when applied topically, including antiviral,^[7] antibacterial, antifungal, and antiseptic qualities. It also has beneficial cosmetic properties.^[8]
Tea tree oil is active against Staphylococcus aureus, including MRSA.^[9] Tea tree oil is less successful for application in the nose.^[10] Also, there is clinical evidence that topical dermatological preparations containing tea tree oil may be more effective than conventional antibiotics in preventing transmission of CA-MRSA.^[11]
Recent studies support a role for the topical application of tea tree oil in skin care and for the treatment of various diseases and conditions. Tea tree oil appears to be effective against bacteria, viruses, fungal infections, mites such as scabies, and lice such as head lice. A 2008 study of in vitro toxicity showed a tea tree oil preparation was more effective against head lice than permethrin, a popular pharmaceutical remedy.^[12]
In the treatment of moderate common acne, topical application of 5% tea tree oil has shown an effect comparable to 5%. benzoyl peroxide Albeit with slower onset of action, patients who use tea tree oil experience less side effects than those that use benzoyl peroxide treatments. ^[13]

The right lubricant can take a painful situation...

and make everything glide and slide with ease.  That is why our all purpose silicone lubricant is so special.  Wood, metal and many other substrates are the destination points for our lubricant.  In the old days

you got what was available.  Today you can use WD-40 ( not a lubricant but a dissolving solution), shop oil or our true blue American made home and shop lubricant.  A little silicone, mineral oil, paraffin and petro.  It is simple clean and effective.  Stops squeaks, makes drawers slide smooth, helps rollers roll, all of which allow you to reduce your stress, find your center and enter the land of calm. Ours is small and handy.

A little dab will do ya!

The Pied Piper

SoCal and the Pied Piper

Southern California, land of sun, fun and grid lock.  I took my traveling show to the LA area and met some great people and ate some great food.  I ate some pizza at the next big thing in pizza franchising, Pieology in Fullerton.  Watch for that concept in the coming years!  And if you have not been to Matador Cantina, you are missing out on the best appetizer I have had in some time...bacon wrapped street dogs with roasted peppers, onions and mustard...outrageous!

While I was gone, the lab cooked up a new pet balm that has stolen the hearts of some of our staff members.  Look for that soon.  And the Aloe Gel after sun spray was a big hit in LA.  Ready to go now!
I learned that even if the sun is shining, it is hard to gain tranquility in bumper to bumper traffic.  Who are all these people and where are they going?
The Pied Piper

Official Lip Balm of the USGA Championship in Kohler 2012

Head to the pro shop during the US Women's Open in  2012 and pick up some of our wonderful sunscreen lip balm, sunscreen lotion and sun screen face stick.  Always happy to keep the rays at bay.

US Women's Open

The pied piper