Amanita muscaria inspired perfume

After listening to a very magical story about the relationship between the Amanita muscaria mushroom, reindeer and Santa Claus by Paul Stamets I decided to make a Mushroom perfume.

In plant fragrance making we use a mushroom absolute, sometimes referred to as Cepes (Boletus Edulis), that provides a wonderful earthy, base note. This is one of my personal favorite materials to work with, a tiny amount adds depth and a mossy, dirty, vegetative quality to chords and perfumes.

The absolute is obtained by the solvent extraction of the Boletus edulis, a mushroom which is most often found growing under conifers, like the Amanita muscaria.

I have started working on a perfume which features Boletus edulis extract but also weaves in some of the magical aspects of the Amanita muscaria for the main story.

I highly recommend watch the Paul Stamets video below

When the perfume formerly debuts I will donate a portion of the profits to Fantastic Fungi

Thank you in advance for your participation and sharing the love & magic!!

Process

I take loads of photographs, as you have all noticed, however I rarely take them of me. It has been brought to my attention that I have no photos of myself making my perfumes. There are loads of my end product, my garden and all the raw materials, the studio, the tools...but none of me actually making perfume.

This is primarily due to the fact that it is really difficult to take a photo of oneself. I set the timer on the camera yesterday while in the studio and attempted a few shots. They didn't quite work out because the two second timer was not long enough to run over to the desired shot location before the shutter clicked on and off.

Thus, I recruited Greg to take a few photos while making Vera solid perfume mini samples and a solid honey pot that is headed to France. When Eve takes photos of herself she uses a hand held remote for her camera. I might get one of these in the near future, although truthfully, I'd rather shoot other things.

Here are the basic steps that go into a hand made, authentic botanical perfume.

Step 1: The Idea
This most often comes from a spark of inspiration related to an environmental cause, like saving native oaks, bringing attention to native plants or honey bees. Sometimes the inspiration is art, like the GreenWitch book or the Vespertina concept album and story. In some cases the inspiration is from a specific materials like Jasmine or the California native rose.

Usually it is in the idea phase that I begin to contemplate the color vibration for the perfume, the related imagery and tinctures/infusions that will be part of the end product.

Step 2: Formulation
In the formulation stage I set down at my drafting table and begin sketching out the idea, meaning writing down potential essences and then researching each of those essences to see how they might pair with others. Once I have a basic outline I move over to the table and shelf where most of the essences are stored and begin the sniffing phase. This phase will determine of a certain essential oil will be added or subtracted. The process will result in several bottles of potential synergies. Once these sketches have aged and melded its time to sniff, which may result in a green light to move forward or go back to the drafting table.

While the sketches marinate I will begin the tinctures and infusions or order the plants that ultimately I want to be part of the formulation. In some cases, this becomes very complicated, like with the Violets in the liquid and solid Gracing the Dawn.

Step 3: The Making
With a liquid perfume the finished, aged synergy gets added to the organic grain or grape alcohol and tinctures. This blend is then aged, like the original synergy in step one. Once ready the perfume is filtered the bottling of samples immediately.
 
The process is slightly different for solid perfumes. Once the synergy is ready it is not added to the organic jojoba oil and beeswax until I actual make the solid perfume.



I personally hand pour each solid perfume whether it is into a small, pink sample pot; honey pot; mini tin or larger tin for the compacts. Sometimes I pour all pink pots or a combination, depending on what orders have come in or if there is an impending show like the upcoming LA Artisan Salon.

In the future instead of hand pouring each sample I may just scoop a bit of solid perfume from a larger container and drop it into the pink pot.

Popular perfume this week is Vera, not sure why, fascinating nonetheless.

The Pomegranate

Although Spring is soon to arrive it feels very much like the doldrums of winter at the moment, mainly because we've had very little rain and the land is fairly dry. If we do not get a bounty of rain soon I am doubtful that there will be extra honey for harvesting this season.

The poem below arrived in my inbox from my friend Jazmin – a writer, poet, mother. Thus, as I woefully ponder the weather my thoughts go Persephone and pomegranates, rather fitting since my daughter Eve has once more departed back to Vermont for the next school semester.

In the palette of botanical natural perfume we have a pomegranate seed absolute and a C02 extract by the botanical name Punica granatum. The absolute comes and goes from the market like the tides of the ocean. I have mainly used the absolute in blends for symbolic purposes to evoke the female. The aroma of the essence is very subtle. The C02 is a carrier oil, wonderful for the skin with interesting chocolate prune-like aromatics.





The Pomegranate
by Eavan Boland

The only legend I have ever loved is
the story of a daughter lost in hell.
And found and rescued there.
Love and blackmail are the gist of it.
Ceres and Persephone the names.
And the best thing about the legend is
I can enter it anywhere. And have.
As a child in exile in
a city of fogs and strange consonants,
I read it first and at first I was
an exiled child in the crackling dusk of
the underworld, the stars blighted. Later
I walked out in a summer twilight
searching for my daughter at bed-time.
When she came running I was ready
to make any bargain to keep her.
I carried her back past whitebeams
and wasps and honey-scented buddleias.
But I was Ceres then and I knew
winter was in store for every leaf
on every tree on that road.
Was inescapable for each one we passed.
And for me.
It is winter
and the stars are hidden.
I climb the stairs and stand where I can see
my child asleep beside her teen magazines,
her can of Coke, her plate of uncut fruit.
The pomegranate! How did I forget it?
She could have come home and been safe
and ended the story and all
our heart-broken searching but she reached
out a hand and plucked a pomegranate.
She put out her hand and pulled down
the French sound for apple and
the noise of stone and the proof
that even in the place of death,
at the heart of legend, in the midst
of rocks full of unshed tears
ready to be diamonds by the time
the story was told, a child can be
hungry. I could warn her. There is still a chance.
The rain is cold. The road is flint-coloured.
The suburb has cars and cable television.
The veiled stars are above ground.
It is another world. But what else
can a mother give her daughter but such
beautiful rifts in time?
If I defer the grief I will diminish the gift.
The legend will be hers as well as mine.
She will enter it. As I have.
She will wake up. She will hold
the papery flushed skin in her hand.
And to her lips. I will say nothing.

Image: Persephone by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

In the Raw

The price of the raw materials necessary to create authentic botanical perfume have been sky rocketing over the last few years. Many of the bottles of Jasmine, Rose, Oud, Frankincense I purchased years ago when first starting in Aromatherapy have run out.


I am committed to ordering high quality essences from reputable suppliers and thus have begun raising prices. I refuse to compromise and begin using lesser quality or borg materials like nature identicals and isolates. The silver lining to these challenges is that it makes me work harder to find creative ways around the perceived darkness. I have already begun several experiments that are proving quite successful. Since so many competitors read this journal that information will remain a trade secret and not be shared here.


Lately I feel like one of those tantric figures from Indian paintings with multiple arms. The amount of projects percolating is quite abundant. Some start off hopeful then fall by the way side when the challenges seem insurmountable. Then, after a period of time, things magically come together.

The biggest challenge right now is that the computer doc didn't have a good prognosis on our two towers, (sad face) and we need to get a case for my internal hard drive that has most of my imagery. This too shall pass. Sharing one laptop is certainly providing lots of opportunity for personal growth.

Today we are taking a little break and going to the Getty Center for some renew time. Wishing you each a beautiful and nourishing weekend!

Aromatic Journey: Fragrance Families

For the Aromatic Journey post over at Lillyella today I contributed a rather lengthy piece about categorizing fragrances into families. If I had published the post here it would have been placed within the "In the Raw" archives where we learn about the raw materials of botanical perfume. There is also a recipe there to create a Layered Spice Oil.

Last month's contribution focused on creating a Vanilla Infused Oil base, follow this link to read and get the recipe card. While you are there be sure to check out her latest Etsy Artist feature and enter the Giveaway.

In the Raw: Gourmand

For over a year now I have been contemplating starting this new blogging series. It is called "In the Raw" and will delve into specific materials within the palette of a natural botanical perfume artist. I am thus debuting it today with the spotlight on the gourmand/edible scent family.

With over ten million scent receptors in our noses we have the ability to identify upwards of thousands of different aromas. Understanding what we are perceiving in a scent helps us to classify a note or perfume into a specific odour family. The main odour families are: floral,woody, animalic, balsamic, vegetative, herbaceous, agrestic, green, spice, coniferous, marine, minty, medicated and fruity. The odour classification gourmand or edible are fairly new terms in the linguistics of aromatic families. In the past gourmand scents were put into a miscellaneous category. A gourmand perfume implies that there is a predominant foodie note in the fragrance, not to be confused with fruity, which is a subclass of the citrus family. Odours typical of the gourmand family are generally found in the primary category of spice, herbal, fruity, or vegetative. For example, below is a short list of a few materials from the palette of a botanical perfumer that are considered to contain gourmand qualities, but, are classified in one or two of the main categories first.

• Basil: Spice / Herbaceous
• Black Currant: Fruity
• Celery: Spice
• Chamomile: Fruity / Herbaceous
• Coriander: Spice / Herbaceous
• Fennel: Herbaceous
• Ginger: Spice
• Grapefruit: Citrus / Fruity
• Mushroom: Fungal/Vegetative
  
• Pepper: Spice
• Saffron: Spice
• Sage: Herbaceous
• Spearmint: Minty
• Vanilla: Balsamic
  

The notes that do not fit into those main compartments and are in need their own separate category, which is termed gourmand or edible. For example:

• Artichoke
• Bitter Almond
• Burnt
• Butter
• Caramel
• Chocolate
• Coconut
• Coffee
• Cognac
• Garlic
  
• Hazelnut
• Honey
• Tea
• Wheat

These aromatics are generally warm and seductive. I generally am not a fan of over the top gourmand fragrances, however, I do appreciate the genre and have caressed it a just a bit with Sierra Solid Gold and the fragrance devoted to peace which both feature gourmand notes.

The holiday season feels especially fitting for gourmand fragrances since the focus is on feasting. This genre has a rather wide spectrum and can encompass a very sweet vanilla perfume which makes one smell like a dessert, to a warm spice, to a completely avant-garde herbaceous garlic aroma. That last one is a little out there, I know, but why not? The art of perfume is an art after all and I am a believer in pushing the visionary envelope and getting out of the ordinary. Albeit I won't be going out in the world smelling like a cake or a salad dressing. Although, I have had some people interpret the aroma of ylang ylang as bubblegum. (!?!) My particular interest lies more in the fragrances of the land, forest and fairy realms.