The Art of Botanical Perfume is a level one class, an introduction to making perfume with plants. In the past this was a one day course that always felt rushed and overwhelming, thus now I set it up over two days that will include these seven categories:
1. What is Perfume?
2. History of Perfume
3. Tools & Raw Materials
4. Fragrance Families & Types
5. Olfactory Awareness
6. Artistry
7. Orchestration
For an more in depth description of the workshop look at the online course, although keep in mind that we are squeezing 70 hours into two days.
The Art of Botanical Perfume live or online course is a perquisite for the advanced classes. Seating is limited, grab your spot today.
This two day workshop is for those who have taken the
ART OF BOTANICAL PERFUME
class live or online course
DAY ONE : Chord Building
A chord or accord in perfume is a term borrowed from music referring to constructing a synergy of notes that will be added to your perfume to create more complexity.
In this day long workshop you will learn the notes and essences associated with eight fragrance families, how they relate to each other and how to make them more complex.
These are the eight fragrance families we will focus on:
Green
Floral
Earth
Wood
Spice
Gourmand
Citrus
Fruit
By the end of the day you will have created a few chords that will be used on Day Two when we construct a perfume within a specific class.
DAY TWO : Perfume Types
Perfumes are categorized into categories or types, which are also referred to as classes. This organizational system is based on the overall, universal scent impression.
We will learn about these types, the notes that go into their formulation and construct one or more, depending on our time.
Chypre
Oriental
Fougère (meaning fern in French)
Floral
Green
Leather
All supplies & tools are included with the purchase of this class. Please bring a notebook for jotting down your formulas.
By the end of the each day you will have gained new insights to add complexity to your botanical perfume formulas and knowledge to continue working with new skill sets.
Seating is limited, thus I recommend enrolling ASAP to grab your seat
We are all moved out of our little woodland Mid-century modern house, whew, what a task that was!
As we packed and cleared out rooms, on our tail was a laborer who was painting and smoothing the ceilings. Then came the "stager", who brought all sorts of furnishings and decor for the house, as if putting together a set on a movie. You can see some of the results in the photo above and below, quite different from our more artistic/eclectic style.
Instead of bringing in art for the walls they used many of Greg's paintings and banners, along with a few of my pieces from my illustration days and a beautiful piece by our friend Kinuko called Queen of the Golden Wood.
The biggest transformation was the garage, which was Greg's studio and has now been staged as a family room. Although not quite our taste, the house looks great and officially went on the market last weekend!
In the meantime Greg and I have been catching up on some much needed sleep and getting things ready for a massive garage sale this weekend at my moms home in Encino. With the intention of making our load lighter as we set sails to enchanted lands, we have quite a lot to offer, including some very cool items like my vintage Emeco chairs, lab glass, loads of art and design books, etc. We will also have artwork including original paintings and posters.
My mom is unearthing loads of beads, threads and other trinkets from her needlework days making sparkly dresses for Charo, back when the cuchi cuchi gal would regularly appear on the Merv Griffin Show and perform in Las Vegas. I have such sweet memories of playing barbies with Charo at her Beverly Hills home during dress fittings. Since my mom has been having challenges with her eyes its possible that she may not be able to continue making some of the heirloom pouches that house the round solid perfume compacts, particularly the darker colors. More on that once I able able to resume perfume making and access my stash again.
GARAGE SALE
Saturday and Sunday (July 15 & 16)
8am - 2pm
Come early for best picks and to beat the heat!
Addison Street is between Balboa Blvd. and Petite Ave.,
Just north of Ventura Blvd., south of the 101 FWY.
In terms of botanical perfume, my plan is to offer some live classes here in the Los Angeles area before we head out of state. I am also planning a special online class, updating the online course and getting product on the website again.
The doom and gloom of the election is settling in like a stinky unwelcome visitor, a bit like the scent in the 2015 sea glass green Prius I purchased two weeks ago. Since most of the people I choose to surround myself with wanted Bernie as our President and are, in general, very forward thinking artistic types, the current landscape is more than troubling. I've tried to throw myself into my work, sequestered behind the locked door of the beautiful aromas and romantic decor of the perfumery. The illusion works pretty well, except for that my health is declining, bills are piling up and patience is wearing thin. I feel like at any moment, life as I know it will end, which was almost the case on Saturday afternoon when a huge Pepper tree crashed across two lanes of Canoga, just seconds after I had passed.
Life as an artist has always been challenging, whether it was getting out of ones comfort zone by calling an art director for an appointment or standing in the corner of an important gathering where networking was the goal. Now however, the razor sharp edge of where I've built my world is a bit sharper than usual.
On the bright side, militaristic, social conservative views are a hot bed for art. In the 1980's, I was attending Otis Parsons Art Institute, located in the highest crime area of the City of Angles history. To illustrate how bad the neighborhood had become, the nearby lake at MacArthur Park would get drained regularly for dead bodies. Despite the political atmosphere, we had some of the most provocative art and social political illustration of that decade. I suspect that the next few years will be another fertile period.
For todays Movie Monday post, I thought I'd share two views of a Los Angeles which I live in and am far from. On one hand we have La La Land, written and directed by Damien Chazelle the fellow behind the brilliant film Whiplash. Regardless of the buzz I was not interested in seeing this film, mainly because I don't generally like musicals and it didn't appear to have much depth. Standing alongside La La Land there is the documentary City of Gold about restaurant critic Jonathan Gold.
I went to see La La Land because my husband Greg had heard from a friend he respected that it was good. Getting out of the studio and house for a film is usually a good thing and indeed was the case, however, I'm a bit surprised by how much the critics and the academy are loving this film. The movie industry generally adores films about themselves (except for Trumbo) which may be where the source of the love fest. It's also very possible I'm missing something because I actually live in Los Angeles, have a daughter who is an actor and just don't like those darn palm trees that keep showing up in films about LA!
The documentary about Jonathan Gold was a Netflix DVD that arrived by way of my actor daughter Eve, who like most millennials, have a very discerning taste in food. Is it a coincidence that the main song in La La Land is called City of Stars, yes it is.
Although the palm trees are once again overused, the documentary does a great job at capturing the grittiness and diversity of Los Angeles while telling the story of a Pulitzer Prize winning writer who really does love this city and its rich, ethnic food culture.
Overall 2016 was a pretty dry year for great films, why exactly this is the case is still a bit of a mystery, even after discussions with friends in the industry and out. There are still a few films on my list to see like The Lobster and When A Monster Calls.
Last weekend was packed with three different bee related happenings along with lots of writing for aromatherapy journals and projects. Read my latest contribution to Fragrantica here. Most people rest on the weekends, not me, I must be part feral bee! Yes, I said feral, because they work much harder than the European honey bee.
Friday in the late afternoon we headed into downtown LA for the book signing of Save the Bees with Chelsea, Rob and little Will MacFarland at The Last Bookstore. Always a treat to wonder around the galleries above the bookstore, like LB Lovejoys eclectic workshop where the image above was taken.
While at the signing we met up with George Langworthy, the director of The Vanishing of the Bees, and his beautiful girlfriend Alexandra so we headed over to Bottega Louie for dinner. We brought home a box of delicious macarons.
On Saturday we were planning to head up to Topanga to save a swarm of bees located in a sprinkler box under a Sumac bush but decided to wait a few days since we had a storm heading in.
Then on Sunday morning, in the midst of torrential rains, I drove into Culver City for the first HoneyLove Meet up of 2016 featuring a lecture by Rob McFarland titled Wild Bee Sex.
This afternoon Greg and I went back up to the site in Topanga to move the bees in the sprinkler box, but, they had already left, no bees only honey comb with a bit of pollen.
Yesterday my daughter Eve turned twenty two (gulp!), so we headed into downtown Los Angeles for some fun. First we went to Shareen, a vintage women's clothing store where no boys are allowed, on North Spring Street.
"Shareen Downtown is the creative center of a secret society of women who love to be at the cutting edge of fashion trends. It is a 7,000 sq. ft. “no boys allowed” fashion wonderland. Its sister store in NY is a haven tucked away in a cozy apartment in Chelsea."
The majority of items offered are bridal with an eclectic mix of 50's - 80's dresses, some of Shareens own designs and a section which is not for sale titled design inspiration.
From there our adventure moved onto Chinatown, which doesn't quite compare to the one in San Francisco. How favorite places were the herbal shops, which regrettably didn't want all their cool jars photographed.
The area felt a bit like an abandoned theme park, perhaps because it was Tuesday afternoon or its just lost its luster over the years.
Next stop was The Last Bookstore on South Spring Street in the heart of downtown. This is a treasure, in terms of eye candy, which I was not familiar with.
Housed on the ground floor of the Spring Arts Tower, the 20,000 square foot space offers new and used books, vinyl records and graphic novels.
On the huge mezzanine level, visible from the ground floor of the bookstore, the splendor continues with a visual cacophony including the Gather yarn shop, the Labyrinth Above the Last Bookstore and the Spring Arts Collective gallery shops.
I had spotted the mezzanine level but didn't quite get my interest sparked until I saw word YARN and heard two guys talking about the upstairs. As I ascended the stairs it became clear that up here was where the adventure truly begins! Not only is there the yarn shop Gather, but there little artist studios, displays and as mentioned previously a few labyrinths of books.
I definitely had the impression of falling down a rabbit hole. The bookstore is auspiciously close to the Bradbury Building, where Blade Runner was filmed, thus the final, climatic scene with the replicants amongst antiquated imagery was vivid in my mind as I wondered about.
As we walked back to the car, just as it had turned dark and all the night creatures of downtown were emerging, we couldn't quite help thinking that the area is ripe for storytellers and character sketches.
Next on our adventure was Little Toyko, where we stopped into the Weller Court to go to the Kinokuniya Bookstore and the Marukai Japanese supermarket for provisions. From there we headed west to Abbot Kinney in Venice for dinner at Gjelina, which was spectacular to say the least!
Early Monday morning Eve and I headed over the hill to Santa Monica for a "Preferred Customer Closing Sale" at the shop Paris 1900. We had been tipped about the closing of the store by Eve's grandmother Marilyn, who had met the owner Susan Lieberman through the Eames office in the 1950's.
Paris 1900 is deemed a home of "romantic refinery" with vintage and era inspired pieces that cater to brides, collectors and romantics. Beautiful, antique lace dresses share a space with a plethora of trims, hats, jewelry, table linens and many odds and ends including early Vogue magazines.
My intention in going to the sale was to find items for the new space, in particular furniture that could be used in the lab or showroom area of the perfumery.
Susan has decided to close Paris 1900 and focus on her secondary shop next store titled jAdis. From now through June 17th the contents of the shop and fixtures, as well as her 40 year personal collection of vintage treasures are on sale for the first time. These include laces, ribbons, millinery trims, buttons, fabrics, linens, lace trimmed hankies, hats and hat boxes, vintage clothing and jewelry, among others. She will also be parting with her rare collection of period mannequins, paintings, showcases, and other display items.
While there I learned that Susan met her late husband Park Meeker while working as a receptionist at the Eames office. Park was one of those multi talented individuals, like John Neuhart, who worked with Charles Eames in a variety of departments. His passion for collecting combined with his skill set as an engineer and carpenter resulted in the shop jAdis next to Paris1900.
Eve and I had a personal tour of the glorious prop-shop meets cabinet of curiosity named jAdis. The museum-like space is an absolute wonder filled with props used in films, early optics, photographica, electrical and scientific advancements, aviation and planetary models, steampunk widgets, gears as well as lab equipment that has me drooling. Here's a short vimeo film of Parke before he passed to the other side.
Paris 1900 photographs by Roxana, Jadis shop image from their website.
Yesterday morning, in downtown Los Angeles, the City Council approved a study to be done to approve urban beekeeping. This monumental event was in most part done by the efforts of Rob and Chelsea MacFarland of Honey Love. This comes on the heels of seventeen councils within the city of LA voting in favor of urban beekeeping.
The bees found Rob one afternoon working and his garden and clearly choose to swarm there knowing they had found their hero. Three years later, after becoming part of the Backwards Beekeepers and creating Honey Love, Rob and Chelsea have managed to get the somewhat uptight and conventional members of the LA City Council to approve a measure to study the affects of urban beekeeping by the Planning Department.
Our first hive arrived here in May of 2010. Since then it's been a continual, magnificent learning curve as we become educated on how to support these tiny beings.
The anthroposophic movement seems to be the furtherest ahead in holistic beekeeping work out in the world right now. Here's a video of the Sun Hive (“Weissenseifener Haengekorb”) designed by the German sculptor Guenther Mancke. How I would love to attend that workshop and replace our Langstrom hives with a handmade, rye straw.
Meanwhile, last week I attended a meeting in Van Nuys that was specific to building along the Mulholland corridor. I was there with several of my other neighbors speaking in opposition to a project that a developer is attempting to build on a extremely sloped site down the street from our home. We've been opposing the large McMansions that developers have proposed for the site for years.
One of the many developers was given the A-ok by the board and thus cut down four large oaks and other natives. It was a devastating defeat. Then the developer choose not to build, which felt like salt had been rubbed into a wound since the oaks had been removed for no reason.
Another turn in the story occurred when a new developer came on the scene in July and hired some hacks to remove the stumps of the oaks which had started to grow back. The neighbors were ignited, we called the police, the fire department and the city. Kelly Lewis of the Urban Forestry department for the City of LA deemed "Those are old stumps not trees and they are not oak trees."
This is just one small example of the ignorance that exists within the City of LA, particularly the Urban Forestry department where an individual can't even recognize a native tree!
At the meeting this week the developer presented his "French style, country mansion", that resembles a big white box to the board. He went on and on about how much he wants to work with the neighbors and create a beautiful home on the lot that fits with the rural quality of the area. After he presented the project there was a period of "comments" by those who had filled out cards. I was one of those along with about five others within the neighborhood including a local community council member. We each spoke on different points of the impact the project would have on the site and within the community. It was pointed out that since the oaks and their root system had been removed the slope was now extremely unstable and a new soils report would need to be done, particularly since the project required several retaining walls.
Gordon Murley, the President of our neighborhood homeowners association, pointed out how the project violated several of our local ordinances. I was there, like the Lorax, to speak for the trees. I mentioned that the plan shows only three oaks being replanted although that under the ordinance sixteen were to be replanted to make amends for the trees that had been removed. I also stated that our city is called "Woodland Hills" because of the trees and that continued devastation to our local oak forest was a travesty to our community where too many oaks had already been removed. I also brought up the importance of the oaks to the rural aesthetics of the area and the inherent value oaks add to biodiversity. Regrettably my words of wisdom fell on deaf ears.
Even more salt was rubbed in my wound when the developers "mock arborist" stated that oaks are a fire hazard. This is one more ignorant phrase I've heard repeated often. The truth is that oaks and other native flora contain a much higher ignition rate than non-natives because they have evolved within a dry arid climate and know how to store water.
Ultimately the board shot down the proposal due to the fact that a "French country manor" type box fit into a slot doesn't work within the very eclectic, rural area within the hillside. So now the developer will need to go back to the drawing board and, if he chooses, present his project once more in conformity with the boards suggestions.
It was an incredibly depressing night for me, clearly quite a lot of work needs to be done to ignite some of that the consciousness we are seeing down under.
The season of advocacy has sprung here locally in the Woodland and within the City of Angels. First off, as mentioned previously, I've been working with my neighbors regarding a lot where four oaks were cut down prior to a building project being approved. On Thursday four of us met with the developer and his son at the field office of our local councilman Bob Blumenfield. Cesar Diaz, the planning director for Blumenfield was present at the meeting.
The gathering proved very interesting and gave us lots of information for the upcoming hearing scheduled in Van Nuys where the developer will present his project before the review board. At that time, those opposed to the project will have a chance to speak.
Meanwhile, Chelsea and Rob of HoneyLove have made tremendous headway with legalizing efforts for urban beekeeping within Los Angeles. They begun the task by getting local city councils within LA to approve it, now up to seventeen. On February 12th the City Council in downtown LA will be voting on three bee measures:
1: Legalize urban beekeeping in Los Angeles
2: Saving America’s pollinators act
3: Humane policy for live bee removal
This is THE VOTE, which will finally have Los Angeles join other major metropolitan cities all over the US and the world that have been visionary in legalizing urban beekeeping.
While I had the ear of Cesar I mentioned several sites within the Los Angeles area that have been planted with California native plants to see if Blumenfields office seemed sympathetic to the cause. It appears they are, more on that shortly.
The Getty Center is one of my favorite places here in LA, as I have mentioned over and over and over here at the journal. I feel completely renewed and rejuvenated when I visit this spectacular space. We headed over there in the afternoon, after the post office drop, with Eve and her boyfriend Walker who was in town visiting.
Eve and Walker (above) went off to the Van Gogh show. Greg and I made our way to the Illuminated Manuscript area and from their split up, I headed to the garden, while Greg went to the Overdrive: LA Constructs the Future show. While making my way back toward the buildings from the garden Greg called me to insist go check out the Overdrive show, which I am so glad I did and highly recommend. Unfortunately the guard told me that I wasn't allowed to take pictures in that part of the museum. Sad face. The only thing I wasn't too thrilled with about the show is that they left out how the LA street car conspiracy.
No surprise there, after all, the Getty is built on oil and the oil companies were the ones that had a vested interest in the street cars being replaced by individual automobiles.
Anyway, but I digress, back to nature, beauty and inspiration. I love how the museum has a list of all the plants in their garden posted on the website and that honey bees seem perfectly welcome there. We had very little time at the Getty and thus I wasn't able to take in all the splendor the Museum had to offer. Another trip is most definitely a must.
