Hmm

Not to be dramatic, or anything like that, but I'm really, truly taking a bit of time off. You may have noticed that I already have. Life is up in the air for me right now, so I don't know when or where I'll land. I may add a few delicious items on my Etsy site, but aside from that, I'm out'a here.

Story Time

Being busy helps cut through the mundane bore of the daily grind, and I've always managed to find things to occupy my time, which is how I fell into soapmaking, and subsequently, natural botanical perfumery. I learned most of what I know about busy-ness while living in the wilds of Northern California, with sketchy electric, party line phones, and PBS as the only option on the television. Baking served its purpose for quite some time, with berry and apple and stone fruit pies filling the pie safe; bread baked to perfection after the 200th time trying, and making delicious bran muffins without a recipe. I learned about hanging dressed wild game in the pump house to "age" before cutting pieces for dinner, how to sew and mend clothes, when to pick blackberries and gooseberries, and how to make elderberry wine. You'd think that this would be where I'd learn to make soap, but that wasn't until years later, when I was back down here in the flatlands, in civilization. One of my favorite things to do was to make pine cone fireballs for the holidays. I'd gather the fattest, roundest pine cones I could find all during the months of Fall, then in late November I'd doll them up with spices from the cupboard and a precious bottle clove oil and some vanilla extract. The process was never the same, but the results usually were ~ delicious smelling resinous pine cones tossed into the fireplace (with the fire screen firmly in place) to crackle and scent the whole house. No aromatherapy candle or room spray could ever compete with that scent. And I've made a few this year ~ with more essential oils and loads more spice and they've turned out beautifully! Though, I have no fireplace to toss them into. But I do have an oven . . .

Pine Cone Fireballs

10-12 slightly larger than fist-sized pine cones, rinsed and dried

2 TBLS star anise powder

1 TBLS allspice powder

5 TBLS cinnamon bark powder

4 tsp green mandarin eo

6 tsp pink grapefruit eo

2 tsp cinnamon leaf eo

1 tsp clove bud eo

water

OPTIONAL: frankincense hydrosol (or a few drops of frankincense eo in a little water, shaken well)

Mix dry ingredients into a bowl and set aside; blend the essential oils together and pour by teaspoonfuls onto each pine cone until the eo's are gone and the cones are nice and stinky; lightly spray each cone with water or hydrosol, then dust the dry spice blend over the cones until completely covered; spray with water or hydrosol again and let the mess dry. Store in plastic bags until ready to use ~ just toss one in the fireplace, but watch out for the popping and crackling of the resins in the cones. Put a firescreen up.

Butters, Butters 'n More Butters!

Been blending up butters like a crazed fiend over here ~ adding them to the Etsy site at the rate of about one per day. I love this new formula I've come up with -- it makes the perfect massage butter, not to mention it feels really nice and doesn't leave you greasy or sticky feeling.

Yeah, I'm gonna make some more patchouli butters, but in bigger tins. The patch stuff goes fast.

I'm having so much fun :)

Sweet Leaf

Yeah, I know what some of you old Sabbath heads are thinking, and you'd better stop. The sweet leaf I'm talking about is patchouli. Just finished distilling up a batch of hydrosol, and surprisingly, got a lot of essential oil. I'm not sure I'm going to separate the oil from the hydro, kind'a like the way the little greyish blobs float around in the water, like a stinky lava lamp doing its thing. It's so cold (that's California cold, not REAL cold, like Montana or North Dakota cold) that most of the oil produced during distillation is sticking like glue to the inside of the receiver. I may have to run the receiver under warm water to release the oil back into the hydro . . . thinking out loud here. Oops! That's blah, blah, blah! Okay, so now it's a waiting game -- waiting for those naughty still notes to fly away. It's kind of funny, all still notes smell the same. I've used different receivers for each batch of hydro, and every single batch has the same weird, metallic smell to it in the beginning. It could be the copper.

On another note altogether, I contacted a producer of organic grape alcohol (who shall remain nameless) and received a phone call back from a very confused person who went on and on about how he had no idea how to answer my question (a chemists take on standardizing alcohol content in wine). "We don't employ chemists here," he said. "Really?" I asked, confused because, well, who is there to make sure the alcohol produced at their plant is the same year after year? His answer? Very interesting, indeed. "We grow the best organic grapes anywhere, whereas the other companies who provide this service use grape concentrates from all over the grape growing regions" (I'm assuming this is in the US?), "so our product is the same year in and year out." It is? What about temperature and rainfall and other environmental factors? I'm not trying to pull someone's card here, but WTF? I just don't believe the guy understood what I was asking. I think the word 'chemist' threw him off. I'm going to have to hit up the chemists at the state college down the road. They grow grapes for wine and teach up-and-coming vintners how to standardize alcohol content in wine. Maybe I should just take the freakin' class, eh?

Crushed Velvet & Roses Perfumes

You can find 'em here!

Made by long-time aromatherapist, a former student of the Grande Dame, Jeanne Rose, and editor of the Jeanne Rose newsletter, Ms. Bella Ayers, there is sure to be something amongst her well-planned and well-executed wares to fulfill your olfactory needs.

How can you go wrong with a perfume named Lulu Honeyvamp? Or a collection called Pretty Poisons? Or a lovely aromatherapy remedy called Bitch Balm? Really?

Head on over and take a look. And buy some balm for your mother in law. Ha!

Cost of Smelling Beautiful

Marketing in this economy is tough. Everyone is holding onto their money with a tighter fist than in years past. Economists have predicted that the way people shop is changing, customers are looking for more value-added products rather than just reaching for what's readily available, but not always the best or least expensive. Luxury items are becoming even more of a luxury with fewer people spending the kind of money that they have in the past -- luxury items are shrinking, along with the price, making those extravagant purchases even more precious. Estee Lauder knew what she was doing back in the 50's when she introduced Youth Dew in bath oil form as a means of luring cash conscious housewives. We Natural Botanical Perfumers should be looking toward that horizon as well, offering smaller packaging options with smaller prices attached, alternative scent systems, i.e. soaps, body butters, balms, and yes, bath oils.

Not only have our customers and clients stopped spending exorbitant amounts of money on non-essential luxury items due to cost factors, perfumers too have stopped spending as much on raw materials -- in some places, the raw materials which are utilized to create soap have doubled in price, not to mention the outrageous shipping costs no matter which provider is chosen. For example, I just bought 15 bottles, the cost of the bottles was $18.75, the shipping on those bottles? Ten dollars and change. So a $19 purchase is now staring into the backside of a $30 purchase. Up goes the price on your product! Lye for soap at the hardware store went from $7.49 for 2 lbs in January to $12.49 just three weeks ago. Again, up goes the price of that soap.

It's tough for all of us. Just know that I don't like charging $11 for a 3.5 oz tin of body butter today that you may have bought from me a year ago for $8. But I also don't like spending twice, sometimes three times more for raw materials than I did last year or the year before. It's especially hard on those of us who pack a lot of quality ingredients and technique into a product and have to accept a smaller profit margin because of tough times. I still want y'all to enjoy my stuff without breaking the bank, and I want to be able to have something to put into my bank!

Writer's Guidelines ~

Accepting articles from writers on the subject of natural botanical perfumery, the use of natural botanical perfume in skincare and art for paper publication ~ contact ohtrueapothecary@yahoo.com for further details.

Life Is But a Dream, Sweetheart!

Been working on some projects here, scheduling visits and such with different West Coast perfumers . . . working on something grand, my friends. You'll love what comes of this, and I love that I have such super amazing friends who are generous and open-hearted and willing to stick their bums out a bit -- for me! Not being on the internet so much has been a bit of a revelation. First, I found that I don't have to work so hard to get things done because my time isn't tied up with keeping up; second, I found that my creative spark has ignited to an inferno! Who'd have thunk it, eh? But I do miss you all. Miss the private notes and phone chats. Which is why I'm scheduling visits! I want to see you in your element, preserve the time forever. The ultimate goal of all these visits, the reward, is going to be so -- so -- so spectacular!

Oh, and about that labdanum review, back-and-forth thing -- I have no idea when that's going to happen. My big labdanum shipment is floating off the coast of Crete, apparently, and nobody knows exactly where . . . I guess. Anyway, when it gets here, I promise a write-up!

XO to my besties --->

Update on Things and Such

Working very hard over here in my little lab of wonders. Making delicious soap, and happily packaging and shipping the results of my labor all over the world. This is the best job ever! I'm getting ready to distill a few things -- patchouli for hydrosol, sandalwood chips for more hydrosol. Lemons will be coming in again soon, so I'll be under the tree gathering lemon blossoms, lemons, leaves and twigs and making a tri-quad- or whatever distillation soon. Now that the cooler weather has commenced, the al-embic will be put to use again. I had it up at Intermountain during the festival and people commented on the age of my little al-embic. Some guessed it an antique because it was dirty and patinaed and banged up -- but no, she's a baby, in both age and size, but she serves me well, and hopefully, if you purchase my wares, she'll serve you too. Good things usually come out of beautiful containers.

Hola, my friends!

It's been a while. And I did promise no more 'blah, blah, blah'.

Just back from the highly anticipated Intermountain Nursery's Harvest Arts and Peace Festival, a two-day event packed with great local music, organic, Demeter certified produce, wonderful food booths featuring locally grown organic tomatoes and peppers, art and hand-crafted items. Saturday was crazy busy with the parking lot (a couple of acres of field) full to overflowing -- cars had to be diverted to private property to accommodate. Sales were brisk and the booth we set up attracted a lot of attention. The al-embic made the trip and was part of a display and demonstration table with antique perfume bottles, antique and vintage labware, bottles and vials of tinctures and extracts. Several professional photographers snapped shots of the display, one said he was using the photos for post cards! The set-up garnered a lot of attention to the rest of the booth, which was equally beautiful. I'd post pictures if I were on my own computer right now . . .

Sunday proved to be a challenge. Sales and attendance dropped off dramatically at around 12:30. It was a finger thrumming game of watching dust devils swirling past and anticipating the next plunking sound on the top of the booth canopy as heavy leaves dropped from the trees above. A real yawner. But all in all, it was a good weekend. And the best part is that all those lovely unbought soaps that were prepped for this show will be going up for sale at The Scented Djinn Etsy Apothecary. There won't be any pictures of the product there, either, but I can tell you that they're wrapped quite nicely -- white parchment paper tied with thin twine and stamped with sealing wax with the letter "D", y'know, for "Djinn". Yeah. They're cute.

Packaging Porn

Diminishing Presence

I've decided to spend less time on the 'net. Since this time last year, I've spent an exorbitant amount of time networking, making connections, teaching the course, blogging like a fiend. I've met some really great people throughout the years, and it could have only been possible with this box and its access to the world. I've also met some real sh*ts. Following the politics, attempting to stay out of the politics, and then getting sucked back into the politics ~ it's exhausting. I have enough of a real life not to depend on the 'net for all my social networking, and I don't care enough about what some people are doing to try to keep up. My best education opportunity is right here, in this studio. And maybe in France ~ jus' a little. Just recently, someone not in my home showed concern for my well being because she noticed how much time I was devoting to keeping this ball rolling. My problems with the 'net are two-fold; one, I'm an information freak. If it weren't the 'net, it'd be the newspaper or a political magazine, and two, I like to know what my friends and colleagues are up to and support them in any way I can, and it appears this "need" has turned into an obsession. The information I can live without, supporting people who sometimes go unnoticed, I can't. I'll be able to devote more time to building up Le Parfumeur Rebelle, my own business, and teaching real, live classes, as I've wanted to do all along. I want to spend more time with my family and friends, spend more time getting real, valuable perfume work done. I want my studio in order. I want to devote time to creating spectacular perfume, beautiful soap, fabulous scrubs and elixirs, to finish up on my books, get some other artistic ideas out of my head and into the world ~ basically, I don't want to do this anymore.

I'll still be around. Checking emails, writing an occasional blog post, splashing an ad on Facebook. And that labdanum project I told y'all about a few weeks ago, that's still going to happen, as will other evaluative type projects, specific perfume-related stuff. But the blah-blah-blah, like this post, not gonna happen anymore.

Love ya.

Floracopeia on LPR

Floracopeia ~ read the great review written by Tonie Silver at Le Parfumeur Rebelle!

Soap Giveaway and . . . Stuff

There is a soap giveaway on my business blog for two bars of really great soap ~ I wouldn't say that if I didn't believe it. I'm not a big horn tooter, I'm just saying . . . (I really hate it when people say that). Basically what I'm saying is, go enter to win this soap. If you win, you won't regret it. I promise the soap is great. Pinkie promise.



Today is a busy day. Orders to fill, more soap to make, labels -- ah! Labels are the bane of my existence-- unfortunately, so are lots of things ~ ha! Putting the final touches on that report thingy, getting it printed and bound and mailed off to La-La Land. Clearing off the drying tables in the studio for the soap fest to come. And today I'm supposed to go in for weight training, but I don't think I'm going to make it. Too much to do. Plus housework, which never ends. It's Grand Central Station over here and people just leave their crap everywhere. Even the flippin' cats. We have three now; Ms. Kit-Kat, Ms. Chloe, and the shit-heel of the bunch, Olive. Olive finds a piece of paper and it's on ~ within minutes the paper is shredded down to molecules and spread from one end of the house to the other. Kit-Kat and Chloe are darlings, little furry balls of purring love, but that Olive . . .

Formulating perfume will have to wait a while. I do have two very solid ideas to work on, but I've yet to work out the bones. Getting antsy.

So that's it for today, what else is there to say? In the famous words of Jason Mraz, "Be love."

Yesterday went as expected ~ controlled chaos, as usual. Who in their correct mind reserves a table at a public park on the same day as the well-advertised and well-attended annual Scottish Games when they have a perfectly beautiful, nearly 1 acre plot of lush gardens and lawn just steps from their front door? Well, at least there were a lot of great looking legs to stare at :)

I have this really gorgeous combination of orris root tincture and antique orris resin that I'm just itching to use ~ the orris root has been tincturing, and has also been zippy zapped, for the better part of a year now; the orris resin is a recent addition and meant to boost the scent of the tincture ~ and boost it has! I have the sneaking suspicion it won't take much of this tincture to make a significant impact in a formulation. It's sweet, verging on honey-like, with a lot of blond tobacco notes, smells a little animalic, like slightly urinic fur ~ that doesn't sound very pleasant, really, but I assure you, the sweetness and the hovering violet notes completely obliterate that nastiness. As it dries on skin, it takes on more of those violet notes, soft and almost-not-quite-there, but then you get another big whiff and it all comes back again. It's intoxicating. I smell a little piece of boronia in there, without the fruity raspberry notes ~ I really love it. I'm almost afraid to use the stuff!

I have this little vintage looking box with a hook latch that I keep all these special treasures in -- all those resins I purchased and a few that were gifted, diluted down and, through the magic of dilution, expanded and expressed, true to nature. It has always amazed me how naturals expand like that when they're diluted. I remember years back people saying that diluting rose brought it to it's natural strength, sort of the less is more theory in play. One of my online course students has a copy of Gattefosse in French, which she's diligently translating, and she discovered that Gattefosse has perfected the art of dilution, creating charts with each essence and its highest concentration of dilution in various percentages of alcohol. It sounds much more complicated than it is, but the information she found served to support my assertions that diluting is important, that it definitely doesn't take anything away from their compositions, that it instead adds to the quality of the work each perfumer does. I get this a lot from these students, and from other students, too, this question of dilution, why we do it, how does it work, how can it work? It has taken some convincing to get some of these students to believe that diluting is the way to go. There was also a bit of confusion when grading perfumes ~ how can it be a parfum if all the materials are diluted? The proof came with the experimentation in dilutions. No amount of verbal or written explanation can clearly illuminate the theory the way that hands-on experimentation does. Study your materials in several dilutions ~ for example, take your precious jasmine sambac and dilute a portion to 1%, then dilute another portion to 5%, and another to 10%, and if you're feeling adventurous, dilute another to 15 or 20%, and evaluate away.