Rosa solid is back in stock!

Rosa, the perfume created in honor of the California wild rose is now back in stock in her luscious creamy version. The new edition was created using the same formula and pretty much the same exact vital plant essences as in the previous version.

One thing I have noticed when a new edition is fresh is that the aroma will be much lighter than an older edition. When the Rosa synergy is fairly fresh you will notice more dominant top notes with the rosy heart shining through crystal clear. When the formula has aged, more than 6 months to a year, the precious woods will create an earthy note that is not perceptible when it so young. This is the alchemy of pure, botanical perfume.

"A 3 to10 ft. tall clone-forming shrub with arching, dense, prickly stems.  It is frequent to locally common in moist places in shaded canyons, riparian woodlands and chaparral of the San Joaquin Hills, Santa Ana Mountains and foothills (Roberts).  Flowering Apr-July.  Native Americans ate the buds, flowers, fruits and seeds and made medicine from roots, petals and leaves.  Young wood was used for arrow shafts."1

1 http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/plants/Rosaceae/Rosa%20californica.htm

Rosa 2014

Monday morning I filtered the 2014 edition of Rosa liquid perfume and began listing all the variations. The wafting of the aromatic molecules from the filtering process wafted throughout the entire house for a few days and is still very present within the studio.

The photo above of the Rosa flacon was taken amongst fresh roses from a friend in Topanga, although beautiful and lush with a heavenly order they are not the California rose. Thus, once the real CA roses beginning blooming in the garden perhaps I'll capture a more authentic portrait of the fragrance. Since we just had a massive rain storm, this may transpire in a couple months.

Rosa flacon

Rosa 1 gram vial

Rosa sample set of liquid and solid

Rosa solid perfume sample

Vespertina Liquid is Back

The 2nd edition of Vespertina as a liquid perfume extract is now back! Orchestrated like her solid, creamy counterpart, the synergy contains the same precious essences but in a base of 190 proof organic grape alcohol with two tinctures one from frankincense resin and one from Indian ambrette seeds.

The aromatic is very similar to the solid but varies from the first edition of the liquid. I tested the first edition on one hand and the second edition on the other and noted that the newly constructed fragrance has more complexity and depth, as well as robust longevity when compared side by side.

A rich floral triad at the heart is spun of luxurious rose, jasmine and lotus which gently recline on ancient resinous wood. The affect is an intricate seduction. Images of a golden Bysantine crown come to mind with the rubies, emeralds and opals replaced by precious essences from Arabian deserts and lush ancient forests.

I invite you to sample to new edition and send me your testimonials to include on the new website.

Vespertina Flacon
Vespertina 1 gram in glass vial
Sample set of three

Coming soon: Solid and liquid sample set and 4 grams in a classic bottle.

Wild Wonderful

The 2014 edition of Rosa as a solid is back. There were a few tiny modifications to the formula due to available ingredients but not enough to shift the aroma. I am happy to report that there was enough of the precious rose bourbonica from India to include in this edition.

As I have mentioned previously the botanical synergy used to create Rosa has a complex formula which includes two intricate chords, a rose and a leather combined with thirteen other plant essences and infusions. Part of the challenge of complex fragrances like Rosa is that before construction on the perfume begins, the chords must be complete and fully marinated. If an ingredient is unavailable for one of the chords then the perfume will need to be put on hold or reformulated to compensate for the missing notes. Fortunately Rosa was able to be completed with no hitches.

The rose is an elder in the scheme of medicine and history, she appears often and quite vividly. Fragments of her story go back to fossil records from 35 million years ago and Egyptian tombs. Although rose is purchased primarily by women, it is a scent that will also work on men because of the deep, earthy underpinnings.

Carl Jung wrote “The wholeness which is a combination of ‘I and you’ is part of a transcendent unity whose nature can only be grasped in symbols like the rose or the coniunctio (Conjunction).” In alchemy the red rose is associated with the male while the white rose is associated with the feminine. Rosa was designed after the five petalled pink rose of the California woodland, the combination of the red and white and of the ‘I and you’ described by Jung.

The fragrance combines the traditional heart opening, soothing aspects that aromatherapists so often praise in the aroma of rose amplified by twelve other botanical essences and two chords. The rich, verdant bouquet awaits you with its redolent balance of light and dark.

ArtHeart image by Greg Spalenka, available as a print here.

A Dozen Roses

 

Today we journey to the heart center with the flower governed by Venus along with six other bloggers. Please follow the links at the end of this post to travel to the other participants in this blogging feast centered around our 12 favorite rose-themed scents and/or products.

Since I don't use other products besides those that I make and am very particular about rose flavored food I have listed my twelve very favorite essences to use in creating whole, botanical fragrances, body products and edibles:

1. Rose otto and absolute, Rosa damascena, from Turkey and Bulgaria

2. Rose centifolia, "Rose de mai", otto and absolute from France

3. Ruh Gulab, a Rosa damascena essential oil, from India

4. Traditional rose attar, hydrodistillation of the rose flowers into sandalwood, from India

5. Rose bourbonica absolute, also called Rose Edward, from India

6. Rose leaf absolute from South Africa

7. Monsoon Rose Attar, Rosa damascena crop that comes just at the end of the monsoon rains in Uttar Pradesh, India hydrodistilled with sandalwood.

8. Rose and Vetiver co-distillation from India

9. Roses sur Fleur a co-distilling of rose geranium leaves with petals of Damascus roses

10. Rose water for colognes, cosmetics, drinking and culinary delights

11. Rose petals and hips for face and body scrubs, teas and other gourmet treats

12. A Rose Accord/Chord created using some of the items previously listed including citronella, geranium, neroli, sandalwood, benzoin and guaicwood.

We tend to view the rose as a flower not an herb, but in 2012 the rose was designated by the International Herb Association (IHA) as the official herb of the year. In India and parts of the Middle East it is an important culinary plant used for flavoring via rose water and petals. Here in the west the trend toward rose ice cream, jam, cakes and cookies has finally caught on and can be found in most of the bigger cities.

If you are like me and prefer your rose flavors true, consider growing your own roses for culinary pleasures. The best varieties are the heirloom roses since they have both strong scent and healthy immune systems. The later is important because they are low maintenance and require no chemical fertilizers, etc. 

Check out the book How to Eat a Rose for old rose varieties with fragrance. Find out more at longcreekherbs.com

Here is the list of my fellow conspirators of the heart with their inspired prose on Rose:

All I Am A Redhead
Katie Puckrik Smells
The Non Blonde
Perfume Shrine
Scent Hive 
SmellyBlog

IMAGES: Eve holding a bouquet of roses and California wild rose flower on antique postcards, both by Roxana Villa

The Wild Woodland Rose is back!

"A rose does not preach - it simply spreads its fragrance."

~ Ghandi

Rosa, the perfume created for the wild, woodland rose of California is now back in liquid form! The flacon, the vial with 1 gram of juice and the samples have all been updated in the E-shop.

The reason this perfume was gone for many months was twofold: primarily because some of the precious aromatics were not available to me and secondly Rosa contains many chords and thus a complicated fragrance to make.

 I create fragrances from an artists perspective, not taking into account the possible extinction of raw materials. The challenge with this approach is that the perfume editions will change from one batch to another, even if I make chords to replace missing ingredients, there will undoubtedly be subtle fluctuations.

The February 2013 vintage of Rosa in her liquid form luckily did not shift from the last formula because two materials that were off the market eventually were made available again. I was working on creating chords of the missing materials, when, wahlah they returned.

Despite this rather fortunate turn of events, my amber bottle of the very precious Rosa bourbonica absolute also known as "Edward rose",  which is featured in both Rosa and Vespertina, is just about out. This honeyed, wood, rose essence comes from the dry dessert just outside the holy city of Pushkar in Rajasthan, India where it thrives alongside vetiver, another essence in both Rosa and Vespertina.

Many of the sacred oils that I use that come from India are cultivated and distilled in traditional alchemical vessels. The Rosa bourbonica from the region of Pushkar is prized for the high amount of Damascenone molecules present in the aromatic profile. The aroma is much deeper than other roses, with balsamic incense notes which pairs nicely with complimentary oils like Mysore sandalwood, vetiver and frankincense.

If I am not able to procure more Rosa bourbonica absolute for feature editions of  Rosa and Vespertina than it is possible the aroma of each will have subtle fluctuations. Due to the constantly shifting terrain of botanical raw material I am going to start putting a date on the listing of each item. For example, the date of the new Rosa liquid edition and Vespertina solid is February 2013. At this moment in time I am expecting the next editions will contain very little Rosa bourbonica.

Read about the orchestration of Rosa liquid here at the journal.

Woodsii

While prowling social media this morning I came across an interview on the Mountain Rose blog with herbalist Kiva Rose. The last question in the interview is "Is there one herb that you feel especially connected to, and if so, in what way?" Kiva choose the Wild Rose, Rosa woodsii, which is a sister to the woodland rose Rosa californica. I've seen Rosa woodsii at the Theodore Payne Foundation, it looks almost identical to Rosa californica.

Thus my SOTD, scent of the day, will be Rosa. 

Here is how Kiva answered the question, which is true for Rosa californica....

"While there are a number plants I feel closely allied to as medicine, the closest is our native Wild Rose,  Rosa woodsii. It’s a native plant common to much of the American West, and I love its rambling, brambly ways just as much as I adore its sweet scent, sour hips, and incredible medicine. Perhaps because of its beauty, the Rose’s healing properties are popular yet often underrated in modern herbalism, but I find it to be a profound nervine, anti-inflammatory, anti-infective, and tissue healer, in addition to its other traits. I certainly wouldn’t want to be without it! I also value the Rose for its thorns, the lessons of boundaries and self-protection inherent in such wickedly curved weapons. The Wild Rose is generous but with clear boundaries, abundant but wild, sweet but multi-faceted. I am forever finding new lessons to be learned from this plant and feel connected to it through both shared traits as well as the ways in which we’ve worked together to provide healing in so many people."

Sage, Rosemary and Time

Saturday in the late afternoon, once all the orders had been packed, I headed over to my local family owned nursery. Autumn is the best time to plant here in the woodland because of the amount of rain we tend to get. Mom had given Greg and I a gift certificate for Christmas which I had saved just for this time of the year.

Potted grasses at the Nursery in late afternoon sun

I had my heart set on rosemary for the south border of the lot to create a nice screen from the neighbors while providing an extra food source for the honey bees. They absolutely adore the rosemary ground cover on the back slope. Other perks are that it grows well here and can handle the summer heat with little water.

For the front slope, which is the biggest and barest part at the moment, I wanted to pick up more sages, matilija poppies, artemesia and cistus. All of those are performing fabulously, with the added benefit of providing more nectar and pollen sources for my little winged friends.

I also was keen on picking up some violets. My mom brought over a nice sized clay pot of a cutting from her garden, which are the ones I use in the tincture for Gracing the Dawn botanical perfume. Since they are coming up gangbusters in her garden I figured perhaps its a good time to purchase them. No such luck, the nursery doesn't carry them, thus I will have to go elsewhere.

photo: Iceberg Rose

The nursery was however, well stocked on rosemary, sage salvia allen chickering purple rock rose cistus purpureus and the hardy white iceberg roses. No matilija poppies though. Thus we loaded up the car and on Sunday I spent almost all day digging holes
in the front slope. My initial idea was to put the white roses in between the native Rosa californica down along the bottom. However, when I started digging I realized that most of the entire front edge of the property is granite. Thus, instead, I dug out the native roses and moved them to the midslope area, on the other side of the matilija poppy batch. I'll be putting the cistus, aka rockrose, down at the bottom. The one I currently have in that location is doing great, unlike the roses that seemed very sad.

As I dug out the California roses I was quite shocked to see that they had actually managed to send shoots of roots down INTO the granite! My goodness. In text where I have written descriptions for my perfume Rosa, inspired by the native rose, I mention it is "an ancient survivor of the California woodland." I now have new respect for the plant and the term survivor. I hope it will be much happier in the mid-slope area where there isn't quite as much hard granite to deal with. Fingers and toes crossed. Meanwhile the cistus, aptly named "rock rose" should be quite happy down there.

photo: Cistus purpureus

The garden, after five years is finally starting to come together a bit. I'd still like to get rid of the icky Eucalyptus trees and plant more oaks in their place. However, in the meantime, the California cottage look is coming along quite nicely. By spring I should have some nice photos to share.

Iceberg rose planted among California native sage Salvia Allen Chickering

Perfume Illuminated: Chocolate, Wine and Roses

"You are the rose of me

in you I have lost myself utterly
your fragrance, as a breath from paradise
about me ever lies
I crush you to my heart with sutblest ecstacy
and on your lips I live, and in your passionate eyes."
~ Chettur

Long before paper valentines, male and female humans strove to inspire each others love and lust with potions and cocktails from the arena of the sensual. In today's contribution to the Perfume Illuminated Project Beth and I feature a heavenly triad to awaken the senses: Chocolate, Wine and Roses.

FRAGRANCE

In ancient Rome, where pleasure and luxury held extraordinary value, scented wines were created by macerating rose petals in fermented grape juice. During the feast of Rosalia, in honor of Roses, garlands and petals of the flower were used to adorn palaces and villages.


Roses, as other flowers, are the reproductive organs of the plant. As such they blossom open exuding their enchanting aroma to attract pollinators such as honey bees, moths and hummingbirds. In the Arab world, where the rose originates, glorious gardens have been created as an homage to the rose and a place for contemplation. In poetry, literature and aromatherapy the rose is associated with the human heart.

"The red rose whispers of passion
and the white rose breathes of love
O, the red rose is a falcon
and the white rose is a dove
But I send you a cream-white rosebud
with a flush on it's petal tips
for the love that is purest and sweetest
has a kiss of desire on it's lips"
~ O'Reilly

...you're in my blood like holy wine, you taste so bitter and so sweet.
Oh, I could drink a case of you darling and still be on my feet...
~Joni Mitchell

Wine also had his own celebrations in adoration of Dionysus, known as Bacchus in Rome, the god of agriculture and pleasure. Anthestêria, a three day long festival of flowers in honor of the mythic God and the arrival of the blossoming Earth.

Considered an aphrodisiac due to it's ability to relax the mind and cause an altered state of awareness wine is also pleasurable to the palette. For those who do not like wine or drink alcohol a lovely alternative is hydrosols, a by product of the distillation process. Hydrosols are now produced worldwide and are available in of virtually every plant that is distilled. My personal favorite is Jasmin sambac hydrosol.

"Love is like swallowing hot chocolate before it has cooled off.
It takes you by surprise at first, but keeps you warm for a long time."
- Anonymous

The third ingredient in this frothy trilogy is chocolate, from the cacao seed of South America. Rich, creamy chocolate offers physical pleasure to the palette and soothes the nervous system. This edible wonder began first as a frothy, spicy beverage in the rain forest of Mesoamerica, meaning middle earth. Discovered and brought back to Spain by conquistadors, the seed eventually was processed into the hard and delicious confection we adore today.

Cocoa butter, the vegetable fat from the bean used to make the gastronomical delight, is also used for ointments and toiletries. Moisturizing with a mild, warm chocolate aroma the butter is an excellent emollient used in creams, soap and solid perfumes.

Like Rose and Wine, Cacao was honored with many festivals in Mesoamerica and is featured in their creation myths. The Latin name for Cacao Theobroma meaning literally “food of the gods”. The Mayans and Aztecs saw a correlation between chocolate and blood. Chocolate as the blood of the Earth and essence of life.

Although I have not come across any old formulas for perfumes made of this menage a trois, there are historical references to the first liquid perfumes evolving from scented wines made with rose and orange flowers.


In botanical perfume we have the following ingredients related to our trio:

ROSE

• Rose otto essential oil, steam distilled from the petals of roses. Rose otto refers to Rosa damascena flowers.
  
• Rose concrete and absolute, chemically extracted from the petals of roses.
• Rose wax, a left over by product of the extraction process
• Rose hydrosol
• Rose hip and seed oil
  

WINE

• Grape alcohol, used as the base for liquid perfumes.
• Cognac essential oil, Vitis vinifera, White and Green.

CACAO

• Cocoa Absolute and C02, Theobroma cacao, extracted from the seeds.
  
• Cocoa Butter

For a liquid perfume I suggest a fragrance from the Floral bouquet family with a touch of Oriental. Use a base of Grape with these essences for the love potion:

- Rose absolute or otto
- Vanilla Co2 or absolute
- Cognac essential oil
- Cocoa Absolute or C02
- Rose geranium
- Bergamot
- Bitter Orange
- Ginger
If you want to take this more into a Mayan potion add:
- Black Pepper
- Cinnamon
- Hazelnut
- Honey Absolute
- Butter Absolute

FLAVOR: Beth Schreibman Gehring

Please continue reading about Chocolate, Wine and Roses at the Windesphere Witch blog

Fun related items:
Famous Rose Gardens of the World
The Worlds 50 Most Beautiful Gardens

Images: Nose and Mouth are old engravings on Parchment, Paintings from ArtMagik
The Shrine by William Morris
Gather Ye Rosebuds while ye may by William Morris
The Wine of Tokai from Luis Ricardo Falero
Roses of Youth by Henrietta Rae

Soul Food

"Food nourishes the Body,
but Flowers nourish the Soul."
~ Ancient Proverb

In the botanical perfumers palette the most expensive and valuable essences are those that come from the heavenly domain of the flowers. Floral notes give body and heart to a perfume. The essences most often used to add a sensuous bouquet include:

Rose
Jasmine
Orange blossom
Ylang Ylang
Lotus
Tuberose
Frangipani
Champa
Mimosa

Besides the glorious fragrance these precious essences possess many also contain aromatherapeutic attributes. This is a unique feature to that of a pure, botanical perfume.

"The rose distils a healing balm
The beating pulse of pain to calm."
~ Thomas Moore

Rose, from the Rosaceae family, is a small deciduous shrub with Persian origins. In aromatherapy we use this essence for skin care, for challenges of the respiratory system, as a tonic to the uterus as well as a variety of nervous and stress related conditions. Sappho, the ancient Greek poet referred to Roses as the queen of flowers for their grace on earth.

For more on Roses here at this journal, including recipes and formulas follow this link: The Name of the Rose.



Thus, our scent for this day shall be floral...Lyra, Aurora, Vespertina or Rosa? How about Rosa since we have touched on a few of the healing attributes of the Rose.

"What is understood by essence,

in the pure sense as used by the mediaeval alchemists, for example,
is the actual energy, the 'soul' of the plant."
~ Marguerite Maury

Image above titled "Blessings" ©Greg Spalenka, original painting available as limited edition Giclee prints and greeting cards. Contact Greg at www.Spalenka.com for details. Blessings was created as an illustration for "Project Open Hand" in San Francisco.

Rosa at Scent Hive

Rosa has received some praise and lovin' over at the Scent Hive on this beauty filled Sun day. Please click on this link and read about natural body care items that spring from a bed of roses.

7 grams of pure perfume of Rosa in a French flacon

1 gram of pure perfume of Rosa in a simple glass vial
~ or ~
.25 grams of the pure perfume of Rosa with your choice of two other perfumes

"It is at the edge of the petal that love waits."
~ William Carlos Williams

I took some photos of the Rosa flacon filled with the pure extrait and the pouch a few weeks ago. Above is one of the shots which I then took into photoshop and added an old black and white reproduction. The engraving is part of an image titled "The Sphere of Love", supposedly the symbols in the corners are letters which spell LOVE. Read more about Rosa and why I equate this perfume with "love" here at in this journal entry.


In the quiet of the studio today I am working on several perfumes. The scent filling the space in this sacred moment is of the rich and heavenly Orchid flower, Vanilla.

FLOWER POWER

The hillsides of California become ablaze with the blossoming of native flowers in March and April. The California Lilac known as Ceanothus and the wildflowers like the Lupine and Poppies start off the colorful festival.

To my delight I had the opportunity to experience the bounty of California's floristic spring treasures twice this weekend. On Friday morning I drove over to visit my friend Meghan who lives in the Malibuo Lake region of the Santa Monica Mountains. Meghan is a treat to spend time with, she is a smart and adventurous soul with a warm an loving heart. Her knowledge of California plants is quite vast and she has the mind of a scientist, the heart of an artist and experience of tracking. The sum of all those parts equate a grand time whenever I have the opportunity to visit with her.


I drove along Mulholland Highway out to visit my dear friend who is currently working on a masters degree in English and had just gotten back from South Africa. The morning drive was glorious with the blue expansive sky above me and the glorious California landscape dappled with native oaks stretched out before me. Buried teenage memories of treks to Junior Lifeguard Camp at Zuma beach bubbled to my mind and made me yearn for a dip in the Ocean.


Our mission with Meghan was to find a specific patch of Rosa californica, native wild roses, that grow en masse and were most likely flowering. Meghan had taken me to this same exact location back when I was researching the plant for the Rosa botanical perfume. At that time the flowering shrub was dormant. When we came upon the cluster this past Friday I was thrilled to see them flowering and deliciously seduced by their hypnotic fragrance.


From their we continued our journey along the trail to witness the blossoming of several other native flowers. We also encountered native turtles swimming in the Creek. This natural water source begins in Simi Valley at Hummingbird Creek and travels all the way to the Pacific Ocean weaving it's way through several cities and the Santa Monica Mountains.


On Sunday the second adventure into California native plants presented itself as a trek out to Claremont to visit the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens. I had been told about this vast native garden at the foothill of the San Gabriel Mountains while at a landscape design class at the Theodore Payne Foundation.

It took us a good solid hour to get out there with part of the journey along the infamous route 66. The gardens are extremely beautiful and display up to 70,000 plants with 2000 California native species on 86 acres of land. Founded in 1927 this is an ideal location to view the extensive variety of color, texture and pattern.


Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens is closed part of the year, so plan your trip accordingly and be prepared for an awe inspiring experience that will open your mind to what California native plants are. Far different from the stereotypical cactus plants that so many associate with Southern California.

Photographs©Roxana Villa, opening shot was taken at the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden. Other photos were taken in the Santa Monica Mountains and at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden.

Won't you come into the garden?

“Won't you come into the garden?
I would like my roses to see you”
~ Richard Brinsley Sheridan

The lovely and gracious editor of Sniffapalooza Magazine, Raphaella Brescia Barkley, has included our Rosa in her favorite Rose perfumes. Read about it in the latest issue of Sniffapalooza, in Part Three of Raphaella's Roses.

“I'd rather have roses on my table
than diamonds on my neck.”
~ Emma Goldman

Read more about Rosa here at this journal.

“And she was fair as is the rose in May.”
~ Geoffrey Chaucer

Scent of the Day: ROSA

“I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows
Quite overcanopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with elgantine."
~ Shakespeare

Today blooms in Rose with the botanical perfume Rosa, named after the California native wild rose. Of all the flowers that grace our lovely blue planet, no other is featured in poetry and literature like the Rose. With her rich historical references and varied personas she continues to enchant.

The main notes in this dark and luxurious floral perfume is a woven heart of Turkish Rose otto, Indian Rose absolute and a complex accord of Rose. The heart is anchored by the resinous, musky Agarwood and earthy Vetiver. Her top note accessories are mainly in the citrus family.

Off to write about Rose and handmade bath & body products for the ECGC (Etsy Clean and Green) blog.

The Name of the Rose

"And I will make thee beds of roses And a thousand fragrant posies."
~ Christopher Marlowe

One of the quintessential symbols of Valentine's Day is the rose. A perennial within the Rosaceae family, this flower has been here on planet earth for 35 million years. That number is based on fossil records, thus, more than likely the rose has been here much longer. Prized and revered in Islam, the rose has been used by many civilizations from fragrant pomades, edible delicacies and elaborate gardens.

The natural botanical perfumer has quite a array of rose essences available to us, from many different parts of the globe, including Bulgaria, Turkey, China and India. We obtain the essential oil of Rose by distilling rose petals. It takes over 60,000 petals of roses to obtain 1 ounce of the essence, this is why the cost of this gem is so steep. There are also specific essential oils that can add a rosey quality without necessitating the real deal. These include: Rose Geranium (Pelargonium graveolens), HoWood or an ethically sourced Rosewood, and dilutions of Palmarosa (cymbopogon martini), Lemongrass and or Citonella.

"It is at the edge of the petal that love waits."
~ William Carlos Williams

Here are a few recipes that utilize Rose Petals:

CRYSTALLIZED ROSE PETALS
Rose Petals
Egg white
Extra fine granulated sugar

Gather fresh rose petals, preferably on a sunny, dry day.
Gently wash them with spring water and allow to air dry.
In a small ceramic bowl beat an egg white until it foams and add a tiny amount of water, 1/2 tbspn at most.
Gently place the rose petals into the egg mix so that they are well coated. Remove one at a time, allowing excess egg to drip off.
Dust the petal on each side with extra fine granulated sugar.
Place each rose petal on a piece of wax or parchment paper and allow to dry.

Use these to decorate a cake. This recipe can be used with any edible petal of leaf.

ROSE PETAL TEA
2 cups freshly picked petals of dark red roses, washed
1 liter water
Honey
Place the flower petals in a teapot. Pour in the boiling water, cover and leave the tea to brew for 10 minutes. Serve this tea hot or iced, with honey to enhance the delicate taste.

ENGLISH ROSE TEA
1/2 cup dried red rose petals
2 tablespoons dried lemon balm
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
Mix well. Use 1 teaspoon for each cup.

ROSE HONEY
Place clean, dry rose petals into honey, this is technically called a maceration. This will produce a heavenly treat that can be used on toast or to sweeten tea.

FLOWER PETAL BATH VINEGAR

Herbal vinegars are used in skin tonics, added to the bath, dabbed on sunburned face or pressed on to a throbbing headache.

1 cup of fresh petals or herbs of your choice
2 cups cider vinegar or white wine vinegar

Put flower petals or herbs into a large glass jar and pour in the warmed vinegar. Place on a windowsill in the sun or in some other warm place and leave there for 2 weeks, shaking the bottle well every day. Strain off the vinegar and store the sealed bottles. You can then increase the strength of the perfume by increasing the amount of herbs or flower petals used.

ROSE LOVE SACHET
Gather:
Dried rose petals
Lavender buds
Orris Root
and a small piece of Copal, ideally one that is heart shaped.
Put the following into some rose colored, breathable fabric and stitch together holding while holding your beloved and or thoughts of love in your minds eye.

ROSE PETAL COLOGNE

1 cup vodka
1 cup of dried mint
2 cups distilled water
2 cups of Rose petals

Combine mixture and leave covered for several days, gently shaking daily. Strain off liquid. If the fragrance is not as strong as you would like it to be, take the infused liquid and repeat the process until the fragrance is to you liking. Substitute lavender in place of rose petals for a nice variety.

Read about our Rosa Botanical Perfume dedicated to the California Native rose at this link here at the Journal.

Image at top is a detail of Greg Spalenka's painting Art Heart, the image is ©Greg Spalenka, to see more of his work go to www.spalenka.com or his shops on etsy.

Rosa Perfume

"Truth and Roses have thorns about them."

~ Henry David Thoreau

The fifth perfume in our series celebrating the aromatic landscape of the State of California is Rosa. Inspiration for this fragrance came when my friend Meghan took me over to the Theodore Payne Foundation and introduced me to the native rose of California. Up until that moment I had no idea that there existed a native rose. The botanical name for this wild rose is Rosa californica, a five petaled deciduous shrub important to local wildlife.

In the book Introduction to California Chaparral the authors write "As a group species of chaparral roses are tough, resilient, woody survivors of an ancient vegetation that covered much of the western United States millions of years ago." (page 81) I have also been told that the upright, straight stems were used by the Native Americans for their arrows.

Shortly after the Fragrant Alchemist workshop here in Los Angeles I began creating accords. The first two accords I formulated were a wood and a rose. The wood accord was utilized in the perfume devoted to the native oak, "Q". Where as the rose accord was admired by many as a perfume on its own, but took several years before it found a home in this new fragrance. The accord features two of the main notes found in a complex pure rose, such as geraniol (Rose geranium) and citronellol (Citronella). To the accord I added a very fresh Rose otto from Turkey and a deep, resonant Rose bourbonica absolute from India.

Interesting bits and the Rose otto and Rose bourbonia

This Rose otto comes from a family owned farm in the agricultural and rose district of Isparta, Turkey. The family is very conscious of caring for their plants to produce the best product available. Harvesting of the delicate blooms begins in May continuing on through June and July depending on the climate and yield of bloom.
The Rosa damascena plants can live for up to 40 years, are approximately 3 1/2 feet high and pruned every year. Each charge of a still is packed with approx 500 kilos of roses. 1500 kilos of water yields approx 3.3 ounces of rose otto. The rose water byproduct of the distillation is re-distilled (cohobation) and the resulting rose essential oil from that is combined with the rose oil from the initial distillation to create the recognizable rose otto which is sold.

According to David Crow:

"Rosa bourbonica, also known as "Edward rose", is organically cultivated outside the holy city of Pushkar, beneath the mountaintop temple of the goddess Savitri. The flowers are freshly distilled in the fields in traditional alchemical vessels over low heat, giving the oil an extraordinarily high content of Damascenone molecules, which give roses their fragrance."

The perfume Rosa also contains a Leather accord, Vetiver and woods including the treasured Agarwood. The top notes are primarily from the essences that provide a citrus components.
There were many versions of this fragrance, the one I expected to release was just a bit over the top on the earth aspect. I might incorporate aspects of it into the solid incarnation of Rosa.

Rosa is an earthy, warm, woodsy rose that develops into a rich rosey bouquet over time. It literally blossoms on the skin of the wearer.

The fossil records for roses go back into ancient time, perhaps 35 to 40 million years ago. Looking back into history we have all parts of the rose (petal, leaf, fruit and root) being utilized in medicine, ritual, literature and scent applications.

Symbolically we see the rose associated with the love, beauty, the heart, and joy. The aromatherapeutics of a pure essential oil of rose contain the same attributes and more, including anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, astringent and cell regenerative. This is where one can see the value of perfumes made with pure essential oils. Keep in mind that the cost per drop of a true Rose essential oil can run between $2 and $4!

As I mentioned above this is the fifth perfume in the Californica series and Rosa californica has five petals. The fifth element, in the film by the same name, is love often symbolized by the rose.

During the mummification process in ancient Egyptian culture the major organs in the human body were removed. The organ that was valued the most was the heart, for they believed that a humans mind was in the heart. The brain was the least respected organ and was tossed aside. As science now proves that indeed there is brain matter in the heart, I encourage you to dive deep into your own heart center for answers to important questions.

A quarter ounce bottle of Rosa arrives in a glass flacon contained in a hand crocheted pouch. It is not yet on our website, if interested please send us an e-mail. We are happy to include Rosa as a sample in our trio sampler pack, 1 full gram of this perfume is $30.00 and the 1/4 oz bottle retails for $300.00.

Roxana Illuminated Perfume™
Theodore Payne Foundation

Images: Art Heart detail and Rosa illustration by Greg Spalenka: www.spalenka.com, Old rose engraving on parchment by Roxana Villa, hand crochet pouches are designed by Roxana and Martha Villa and created with love by Martha.