Ask the Perfumer - Sunday, March 11, 2012

-
It's a late start today, not just because of the time change in the USA, but I'm just feeling lazy - which is much better than feeling stressed!  Ask away until 10 PM EST, USA, I'll be here on and off throughout the day to answer your perfumery questions.

Comments

  1. Matthew3/11/2012 2:46 PM

    Dear Anya:

    I remember something about a blending software you were working on. I forget the details, but it seemed intriguing. Can you tell me more?

    Mathew in Arcadia

    ReplyDelete
  2. Annette3/11/2012 9:19 PM

    When I tinctured frankincense it came out all sticky. Can you help with some advise?

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnyasGardenPerfumes3/11/2012 11:19 PM

    Dear Matthew:

    It's part of the Intermediate Study syllabus of my courses. Beta testing needs to be done and the program polished. It'll then be a subscription-based offering of the Institute.

    Anya

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnyasGardenPerfumes3/11/2012 11:19 PM

    Dear Annette:

    Pour off the top titration, leaving as much 'goo' in the jar. The top titration won't be too sticky when blended with other aromatics and alcohol.

    xoxo,
    Anya

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Boxgasm - for perfumers, aromatherapists, bath and body manufacturers, chandlers. What the heck is a boxgasm? Well, read below and you may have one.

-
Image
Project Boxgasm Announcement: If you are an artisan who makes perfume, bath & body products, aromatherapy products, candles - you can now make your own custom boxes! The Natural Perfumers Guild wishes to share this discovery with everyone, so please share the link to this blog with other groups, forums and chat places you may frequent.  The more the merrier - let's upgrade our products to the next level, with lovely, custom boxes!  I am the President of the Guild, and I like to roam social media sites and check out, and "like" the various projects and announcements of the Guild members.  Little did I dream when I visited a Facebook page of one of our members, a page that only had 21 followers, since it's new, that I'd discover something that can help all artisan small business owners. But there it was, an iconic image out of South Africa - custom perfume boxes! When I called some members of the Natural Perfumers Guild and told them about the discovery th...
Read more

Rangoon Creeper - a new flower for perfumery

-
Image
Last year Trygve of Enfleurage asked me if I was growing Quisqualis in my fragrant garden.  She knew I grew and harvested fragrant flowers leaves and roots for scent extraction.  The distillations, tinctures and enfleurage washes are made from my garden bounty and find their way into my perfumes.  At first the name didn't register, then I remembered Rangoon Creeper, a vine that is almost a weed here in South Florida. It can spread aggressively, covering trees and buildings! I decided to give it a try, on a length of fence on the far side of my property, a place that doesn't get any supplemental irrigation.  Within one year, the vine is about 25' long, and is setting out spreader branches in several directions.  I'll prune it to keep in check, and in the meantime, I'm enjoy the nighttime/early morning fragrance of the thousands of flowers blooming.  I'm growing the single-flowers variety, and there is a double-flowered variety available.  The double-f...
Read more

Ask the Perfumer Sunday Oct 21, 2012

-
Image
Ask the Perfumer - and an Ambergris hypothesis Guild member Lisa Coburn posted a link on Facebook that took me to a video on how cephalopods--squid, cuttlefish and octopus, are masters of disguise.  As I watched it, I made a perfume connection, straight to the elusive, mysterious, rare and valued ambergris, a gorgeous material used in perfumery. Photo of the famed 'Yeti' chunk of ambergris. Ambergris is produced by the stomach/intestinal secretions of the sperm whale to protect its insides from the sharp beaks of the squid and cuttlefish, two main items in its diet.  The whale evacuates the chunk of ambergris when it becomes large enough to be an irritant on its own, albeit a softer, rounder irritant compared to the beak and cartilage of the squid or cuttlefish.  As a perfumer, I often have to gently remind excitable newbies ;-)  that the scent of the ambergris is secondary to its major contribution to a perfume, which is its ability to 'marry' and a...
Read more