Moving again

I've moved to sapunablog.

Back from travelling La Via del Profumo

I've just returned from AbdesSalam Attar's natural perfumery course in Italy.

I've found my calling. I'm turning in my resignation at the shop Monday.

Boss, I'm joking.:-)

The session was held at the beautiful Il Germano Reale, which is ringed by a botanical festival: cypress trees, lavender and rosemary bushes. Salam even snagged a peach for me off a tree and introduced me to giuggiole (jujubes), which were hanging low from their trees.

We discussed 'perfumetherapy,' olfactory psychology and 'the way of scent (japanese kodo).' We also worked on categorizing scents, smelling each one and applying characteristics to it.

If you have even just a passing interest in perfume and psychology, or natural perfume in general, you must absolutely get a cup of tea, sit in front of your computer, and spend a few hours on Salam's site. It's huge, but it is a must.

Another task was to make a perfume for a fellow attendee. If you make perfume only for yourself, you will wind up making what's basically the same scent over and over again.

I gave my 'customer' a selection of scents and told her to smell each one. I grouped the ones she liked, and then had her select from those for the main accord (bergamot, ylang ylang, rosewood). Then I went from there.

Making a scent for another person forces you to drop your ego (at least that's what it did for me). It forces you to get over feeling hurt if the person doesn't like the way a scent is going. You don't have time to feel hurt. You must focus on getting it right.

This is a life lesson.

The perfume made for me contained rose absolute, ylang ylang and cedarwood. (I hope my office mates won't mind.:-))

I'm beat. But inspired.

Now if I could just get going on making that perfumer's organ.

What the heck do I have here?

I usually use "trinkalcohol" or "feinsprit" (ethanol) for my perfumes. But when I went yesterday to buy "trinkalcohol" from the pharmacy the apothekerin recommended "Aro-alcohol" to me.

The bottle says "Feinsprit vebilligt ARO" or something like that. She said that it was cheaper than the trinkalcohol and could be used for perfumemaking. I tried asking her exactly what this was (the conversation was in German). She told me that *this* was ethanol. I asked the INCI name and she said that there wasn't one, that it was just "ethanol."

I'm confused because the bottle said "verbilligt," which I think means "cut" or "diluted." So what is this cut with?

I posed the question to the man whose life I want to live, Andy Tauer of Tauer Perfumes. He recommended that I just get my alcohol from the alcohol board here, which I will most likely do.

But until then, would anyone know what this "Aro-alcohol" is? Is it perfumer's alcohol?

There's something soothing about mixing lye and oil.

Watching magic take place. Observing the blending of a caustic substance with one that is generally used for making things smooth and supple.

Short bursts of the mixer, then stir.

More bursts.

Stir.

Then, it happens.

Alchemy.

What was two liquids fighting to understand each other has now morphed into this thick, rich paste.

Like I said, magic.

Just testing