Reflecting on Scent: Creating a Solid Fragrance

If you have been reading all the Reflecting on Scent posts, you will remember my quest to find small containers to hold solid perfumes. Those in this photo include dressing table jars and small molded glass inkwells among others. The white box is a Limoges box covered in relief of various types of seashells with a seashell clasp. I don’t remember when or where I got it, but I have had it for many years.

Edwin T. Morris, author of Fragrance: The Story of Perfume from Cleopatra to Chanel writes of “cartonnage…the art of boxing perfume products.” Think of these tiny vintage boxes as my interpretation of cartonnage.

This marble papered journal was purchased for me by my husband during a long ago trip to New Orleans. I wrote in it during the trip and then tucked it away, thinking it too precious to actually use. This has become the perfect place to journal specifically about supplies for making fragrances, notes from my books on the topic, and potential scent combinations to try. As you pursue an interest, it is often helpful to keep a record of what you are learning and what you want to do with the knowledge.

While reading Morris’ book I learned frankincense was one of the earliest distilled fragrances. In Atlas of Perfumed Botany, Jean-Claude Ellena writes of the process of slashing the trunks of the frankincense tree and harvesting the sap “tears” that emerge from the cuts. He notes frankincense was used in biblical times.

It would be interesting if my first solid fragrance included some of the earliest fragrant elements, thus, essential oils of myrrh, frankincense, and sweet orange will be base, middle, and top notes of the scent! The mixture will be composed of 5 millileters of jojoba oil, ½ a heaping teaspoon of grated beeswax, 3 drops of myrrh, 7 drops of frankincense, and 10 drops of sweet orange. (Note: To fill one half of the Limoges box this mixture was doubled)

With the journal at my side and the rubber mat in place on the countertop, grated beeswax is measured from its container and placed in a bowl with a pouring spout. Oil and the essential elements are mixed in a small beaker. First the jojoba oil as there is more of it in the mix. Next is the frankincense. Gently squeeze the rubber top of the dropper and watch the drops emerge slowly, counting as you go. There is a scent of the oils and the beeswax filling the room. Everything is at hand. This is very peaceful. My husband has even matched the music to the mood and is playing the classical harpist, Yolanda Kondonassis: A New Baroque, Pachelbel’s Canon in the background.

The myrrh is thicker and will not draw up into the glass dropper, so I use a metal crochet hook to extract each drop. Steady hands are helpful. The beeswax in the ceramic bowl on the laboratory heater/hot plate is a yolk-like warm yellow. The gradual melting process allows us to see the individual flakes disappearing into melted wax.

When the beeswax is melted, you remove the bowl from the hot plate, stir in the oils, and replace it on the hot plate for a few seconds; then pour into your container.

After about 10 minutes the mixture has hardened enough to insert an object in the center. Using hemostat forceps with serrated inner edges gives me the ability to hold the object steady and lower it onto the mixture. The vintage button is perfect for the Limoges box as it has the same coloration as the box. The rim of the button is aged brass like the rim and clasp of the box. The solid fragrance on its own is luscious, but I wanted to add something as a focal point when the box is opened, imagining the recipient would keep the box on a tabletop and open it to release a gentle, comforting natural scent.

Creating the solid fragrance was a joyous experience and one I look forward to doing again and again as I continue to increase my knowledge of the art of perfumery.