Treasure

I've been doing a bit of bookwork and whatnot for a friend, and she paid me with this:


It's a Turkish brazier, used for burning coals to keep the home warm, like a primitive portable space heater. It is meant to go into the Thurifercorum when I set up shop and we'll be burning incense in it, as I've already done a time or three.






It's quite large, as evidenced by this nickel-sized coin I placed on the rim to indicate the, um, size.


I think it was once in pieces and someone had to put it back together, the handles and the finial on top, because one of the handles is upside down. I'm hoping the screw and nut haven't rusted so I can remove them and turn the handle right side up. It looks kind of old, but I haven't had much luck figuring out exactly how old, or what it's worth. I know what it's worth to me as a piece to use in my shop, but I don't know it's true value monetarily.

I've been going through more thoroughly all the boxes I have here full of perfumer's stuff, and I'm discovering things that I thought were gone (as is the norm with me). It's probably fairly apparent I don't do inventory well. I've made a decent bit of cash selling off my perfumer's treasures, but again, I've barely scraped the surface. The closer I get to the books, the more anxious I become. Getting rid of the books is going to be the hardest thing I will be doing, but it must be done in order to move on from this rut and to where I want to be. I can't help but think about the next time I move and how much lighter it will be. When this is over, the culling of the perfumer's wares, I'm going to take some time off to think about the future. I feel the last year has been like riding in a car with no steering, things just happen and the car careens along without my consent (images of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride). I understand, the Universe doesn't require my consent, but sometimes, just once, I'd like to have my hands on the wheel for a little while. And I want to write more. Some fiction. Some semi-fiction. I just finished up a booklet for Kyphi making primarily to hand out at the Kyphi class on August 30, but I've also put it up on Amazon for sale. It isn't much yet, but as I teach and gather more diverse materials and work with their spirits, and I have cleared space in my head (the cull), I will bulk up the booklet into a book with much more research work and theories and try to present something that's special, and perhaps necessary -- and information gleaned from seeing into the hearts of the students whose hands mold the Kyphi, because, as I've said time and again, making Kyphi moves a person's soul into a place they've never been before. A transcendence commences.

I'm looking forward to focusing more on what my heart wants to do, rather than what I've trained my brain to do. My creative skills are much more eclectic, and standing staunchly with alcohol-based perfumery has revealed itself to be a mistake. Yes. I said it. A mistake. I've learned a lot, taught a lot, tried to help people and move them forward, but all the while I was doing this, I was spinning my wheels. This is, perhaps, a character flaw that I have, that I will bend over backward, put myself out, and generally work for someone else's benefit while allowing my interests to falter.

Before I got side-tracked by perfumery, I had a booming skin care business. Some of you might remember that. I let all of it go by the wayside when I started working in perfumery because it's what I wanted to do at the time. I had found a new love and wanted to spend as much time with 'him' as I could. As the years progressed, I realized that what I loved most about perfumery was the raw materials. I loved evaluating, formulating accords, finding out if this would work with that, and then building upon it. When it came to production, I sucked. Still suck. My perfumes are good, they really are, I just suck at marketing, public image (as this post can attest), and consistency.

Right now, I feel like I've come full circle. I've learned what the perfume had to teach me, and while I may produce a perfume once a year, or once every two years, I won't be wracking my brain 24-7 trying to come up with formulations to please myself or anyone else.  I'm going to work with Kyphi, soap, simple oil-based perfumes, body oils, body butters, sugar scrubs -- basically the lovely skin care I used to make, only mo' bett'a because I've got a solid decade of perfume practice under my belt. This should be fun.


Comments

Popular Posts