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TINCTURING by Ylva Rubennson
Queen of Tinctures
Almost since the first time I found natural perfumery, I have been interested in
tincturing up all sorts of fragrant materials. I widely admit that over the first
couple of years, I was more like a mad scientist in this aspect and cared nothing
about how much of the materials I used to what amount of alcohol. I just went
happy-go-lucky with my botanical findings and plopped them into a suitable jar,
poured high grade (96% = 192proof) alcohol to cover it, screwed on the top and
waited. Some turned out good, some excellent and some not so. After almost
five years I’m now the proud owner of quite a large collection pf tinctures made
from a wide array of materials. Some have been put to use in my perfumes,
some are waiting for their grand appearances and others are just sitting there
for the fun of it. I’m now at a point where I want to be able to incorporate more
of these tinctures in my creations. With this decision comes the need for a
more orderly way to make them, that is – start to measure or preferably weigh
the materials to be tinctured as well as the alcohol, do be able to decide the
exact percentages. If you want to be able to have your products to have a
consistency, I believe that it’s a necessary step and it’s way more easy to figure
out how much of them to use when you are creating a new formula. Whether the
materials you want to tincture are safe to use for skin application or not, I will
leave for you to find out. Different rules apply to different parts of the world, so
it’s safer for all if you do your own research, but there are some that smell
heavenly good that you simply can not use due to their toxicity: daturas,
brugmansias and lily of the valley. Do foxgloves smell? Have no idea, but don’t
use them either. So how do you make your own tinctures and from what? I have
tinctured everything from wild harvested pine resins, to the buds of the balsam
poplar in the spring, the cuttings after pruning my fruit trees, to roses, jasmines
and violets. I have even used dark molasses, natural beeswax and the now
“world famous” bee-goo. Spices, vanilla beans, orris root powder and
frankincense tears cost less and smell as nice as the absolutes. Even different
kinds of teas – whatever you think smells good or interesting - try it! Even if you
later find out that the materials are known skin sensitizers or banned from
using in perfumes, at least you get your olfactory curiosity satisfied. When you
have decided what (or which) material to use, take a small glass jar with a screw
on lid and weigh or measure (I do prefer weighing for exactness) enough of the
stuff to fit nicely into the jar. As I said, I didn’t do it this way in the beginning
and am regretting it today. It’s very hard to re-create the exact scent of a great
(or interesting) smelling tincture if you don’t know how much you used in the
first batch. I use small jars and small amounts for my trial batches, so not to
waste any of the rather expensive high octane alcohol. It’s not necessary to do
this step, but if you want to try to compose a formula before you even start
blending, it’s much easier to work with nice round percentages in tincture
strength like 10, 20 or 50%. After you decided on the percentage, you weigh (or
measure) the appropriate amount of alcohol and pour it over the material in the
jar, making sure the fragrant stuff is completely covered with the alcohol. Simple
math: if you want the tincture to be at 10%, you use 1gr of material and 9gr of
alcohol. Then screw on the top tightly and put it someplace where you see it at
least once a day. Why? You have to shake it baby! I shake my jars several times
each day for the first week or so, why this helps to get the fragrance out of the
materials is clouded in haze for me, but it works. Some tinctures with more
sensitive flowers, like lilac and citruses, need to be kept in the fridge. Again,
why is beyond me to answer, all I know is nothing bad happen to these sort of
rare tinctures if they are kept cold. But that should not pose any problem; most
of us open the door to the fridge at least once a day. This isn’t an exact science
for me, but when it comes to flower petals, grasses and such (I start to think it
depends on if the materials are “alive” when you pick them, opposed to resins,
spices and others that are dried) they need to be strained and new materials
added, for the tincture get a nice strong scent. I can’t say how many times that
this step needs to be done; it varies with the species you use. After your
tincture has the strength you want it to have, you strain it one last time. I use
unbleached cheesecloth, to be sure to get rid of any small particles. Then you
bottle, label and store it. I try to be as exact as I can on the labels, so when the
time comes for me to make a new batch, I can re-create it without having to look
through notes and such.
DILUTION OF ESSENTIAL OILS; ABSOLUTES AND CONCRETES
Over the years I have gone from not diluting any of these materials to making
dilutions with exact percentages. Of course it’s not necessary to dilute any of
them at all, but some are so odor intense that it’s very hard to get the
measurements right. One single drop of cumin or galbanum essential oil is
enough to ruin an entire blend; especially when you are in the experimental
phase of your composition and you are working with small batches. When it
comes to absolutes and concretes, it seems to be almost like magic, but the
true souls of these fragrant raw materials only reveal themselves upon dilution.
For the sake of making it all a lot easier, I now dilute essential oils to 10%,
absolutes and concretes to 1%, because that’s the way I learned to do it at the
Summer School in Grasse. Even if fully trained perfumers use only undiluted
materials when they create a new formula, most of us don’t have that extensive
training to understand the impact these materials have. Of course these
materials are often too rare and too costly to experiment with undiluted,
whether we study at a professional perfumery school or blend with them at
home.
All these dilutions need to mature for some weeks before you use them. It
certainly pays of to have patience. I try to let them mature for at least 2 weeks,
shaking the bottles every now and then. After the time of maturation, only the
concretes need to be strained to get rid of the waxes and plant debris from the
production process. The essential oils and the absolutes are ready as they are.
Once again, take care with labeling the bottles and vials with date and amount
of material and alcohol used.
GOOD LUCK!!
By Ylva Rubennson
Queen of Tinctures
Almost since the first time I found natural perfumery, I have been interested in
tincturing up all sorts of fragrant materials. I widely admit that over the first
couple of years, I was more like a mad scientist in this aspect and cared nothing
about how much of the materials I used to what amount of alcohol. I just went
happy-go-lucky with my botanical findings and plopped them into a suitable jar,
poured high grade (96% = 192proof) alcohol to cover it, screwed on the top and
waited. Some turned out good, some excellent and some not so. After almost
five years I’m now the proud owner of quite a large collection pf tinctures made
from a wide array of materials. Some have been put to use in my perfumes,
some are waiting for their grand appearances and others are just sitting there
for the fun of it. I’m now at a point where I want to be able to incorporate more
of these tinctures in my creations. With this decision comes the need for a
more orderly way to make them, that is – start to measure or preferably weigh
the materials to be tinctured as well as the alcohol, do be able to decide the
exact percentages. If you want to be able to have your products to have a
consistency, I believe that it’s a necessary step and it’s way more easy to figure
out how much of them to use when you are creating a new formula. Whether the
materials you want to tincture are safe to use for skin application or not, I will
leave for you to find out. Different rules apply to different parts of the world, so
it’s safer for all if you do your own research, but there are some that smell
heavenly good that you simply can not use due to their toxicity: daturas,
brugmansias and lily of the valley. Do foxgloves smell? Have no idea, but don’t
use them either. So how do you make your own tinctures and from what? I have
tinctured everything from wild harvested pine resins, to the buds of the balsam
poplar in the spring, the cuttings after pruning my fruit trees, to roses, jasmines
and violets. I have even used dark molasses, natural beeswax and the now
“world famous” bee-goo. Spices, vanilla beans, orris root powder and
frankincense tears cost less and smell as nice as the absolutes. Even different
kinds of teas – whatever you think smells good or interesting - try it! Even if you
later find out that the materials are known skin sensitizers or banned from
using in perfumes, at least you get your olfactory curiosity satisfied. When you
have decided what (or which) material to use, take a small glass jar with a screw
on lid and weigh or measure (I do prefer weighing for exactness) enough of the
stuff to fit nicely into the jar. As I said, I didn’t do it this way in the beginning
and am regretting it today. It’s very hard to re-create the exact scent of a great
(or interesting) smelling tincture if you don’t know how much you used in the
first batch. I use small jars and small amounts for my trial batches, so not to
waste any of the rather expensive high octane alcohol. It’s not necessary to do
this step, but if you want to try to compose a formula before you even start
blending, it’s much easier to work with nice round percentages in tincture
strength like 10, 20 or 50%. After you decided on the percentage, you weigh (or
measure) the appropriate amount of alcohol and pour it over the material in the
jar, making sure the fragrant stuff is completely covered with the alcohol. Simple
math: if you want the tincture to be at 10%, you use 1gr of material and 9gr of
alcohol. Then screw on the top tightly and put it someplace where you see it at
least once a day. Why? You have to shake it baby! I shake my jars several times
each day for the first week or so, why this helps to get the fragrance out of the
materials is clouded in haze for me, but it works. Some tinctures with more
sensitive flowers, like lilac and citruses, need to be kept in the fridge. Again,
why is beyond me to answer, all I know is nothing bad happen to these sort of
rare tinctures if they are kept cold. But that should not pose any problem; most
of us open the door to the fridge at least once a day. This isn’t an exact science
for me, but when it comes to flower petals, grasses and such (I start to think it
depends on if the materials are “alive” when you pick them, opposed to resins,
spices and others that are dried) they need to be strained and new materials
added, for the tincture get a nice strong scent. I can’t say how many times that
this step needs to be done; it varies with the species you use. After your
tincture has the strength you want it to have, you strain it one last time. I use
unbleached cheesecloth, to be sure to get rid of any small particles. Then you
bottle, label and store it. I try to be as exact as I can on the labels, so when the
time comes for me to make a new batch, I can re-create it without having to look
through notes and such.
DILUTION OF ESSENTIAL OILS; ABSOLUTES AND CONCRETES
Over the years I have gone from not diluting any of these materials to making
dilutions with exact percentages. Of course it’s not necessary to dilute any of
them at all, but some are so odor intense that it’s very hard to get the
measurements right. One single drop of cumin or galbanum essential oil is
enough to ruin an entire blend; especially when you are in the experimental
phase of your composition and you are working with small batches. When it
comes to absolutes and concretes, it seems to be almost like magic, but the
true souls of these fragrant raw materials only reveal themselves upon dilution.
For the sake of making it all a lot easier, I now dilute essential oils to 10%,
absolutes and concretes to 1%, because that’s the way I learned to do it at the
Summer School in Grasse. Even if fully trained perfumers use only undiluted
materials when they create a new formula, most of us don’t have that extensive
training to understand the impact these materials have. Of course these
materials are often too rare and too costly to experiment with undiluted,
whether we study at a professional perfumery school or blend with them at
home.
All these dilutions need to mature for some weeks before you use them. It
certainly pays of to have patience. I try to let them mature for at least 2 weeks,
shaking the bottles every now and then. After the time of maturation, only the
concretes need to be strained to get rid of the waxes and plant debris from the
production process. The essential oils and the absolutes are ready as they are.
Once again, take care with labeling the bottles and vials with date and amount
of material and alcohol used.
GOOD LUCK!!
By Ylva Rubennson
| Artistic perfumes are immersive in the sense that you can step into them, experience them from inside, unify with them. They are multidimensional and more than just a fragrant line, but they are rather like a second body forming with and around you. Andy Tauer, Perfumer |