MANUFACTURING PROCESS
Collecting and drying flowers
I collect flowers from my garden that are in full bloom as well as accept flowers or plants from friends, especially those plants that I'm not growing. Fresh petals produce the best fragrances as sometimes the fragrance of dried flowers can be too strong. Some flowers ooze milky sap when cut, so I need to check that the plant is not classed as poisonous before extraction or fragrance preparation.
Preparing the flowers
- After collecting the petals, I put them in a bowl or sachet. To take out the dirt and bugs, I gently spray the petals with water. Some petals are very delicate and can be affected by too much water and lose quality and fragrance.
- Once the petals dry and then put them in a small jar until there are sufficient for my planned project.
- Small or big project? The petals from one large flower or the petals from 10 small flowers should be sufficient for a small project. For a big project (a small production of orders), I would need the petals of at least 5 large flowers (eg. roses).
By collecting my own petals, I am able to save the money I would otherwise spend on essential oils. However, I do use prepared essential oils and absolutes to complement the oils extracted from my flowers and plants.
Workroom
I have a basic set of essential oils, absolutes and vegan fragrances as well as my home-made infused oils preparations in my workroom. Year by year, my collection of infused and essential oils and absolutes is growing.
Basics of a well-organised workspace
- Cleanliness - glass bottles must be sterilised and disinfected; the workbenches, sink, fixtures and flooring and equipment clean and disinfected before making any preparation.
- Personal protective equipment - use gloves and sometimes a mask and protective glasses. Essential oils and alcohol can irritate the skin, so use hospital-grade gloves or nitrile gloves. I also use white cotton gloves inside the nitrile gloves for additional protection and to keep my hands warm in winter. I wear comfortable shoes and clothes and sometimes a mask and glasses to minimise the possibility of contamination.
- Ventilation - ensure the room is well ventilated and with no other odours, so the experience of smelling your plants or oils will be uncontaminated. For instance, I do not wear perfumes in the workroom so I am able to correctly test the fragrances I am preparing without an intrusive second odour.
- Light - either work in natural daylight or if, you are working at night, have good lighting but without a glare.
Concocting infusions - an overview
You can learn about making home-made oils by searching on the internet. My first perfume was basically a rose water, with some alcohol I had prepared and put in a beautiful bottle, which needed to be put in the fridge.
Then, I learned how to make oil infusions, using carrier oils such as coconut oil, olive oil, sunflower oil, jojoba oil, and castor oil. I find that a mellow olive oil from the supermarket gives me the best results as its natural fragrance and flavour will not overpower the fragrance of the petals, twigs, leaves, seeds, pods or acorns in the jar or bottle.
If using coconut oil, select a fractionated coconut oil which will not overpower the infused petals and is liquid and transparent.
Another problem with using standard coconut oil is that it is very sensitive to temperature changes. This means that the oil solidifies in cold weather, so the infused oil preparations will solidify as well. The fractionated coconut oil does not solidify.
However, it is fine to use standard coconut oil for cosmetics or soaps as solidification is not an issue.
Concocting infusions - ingredients and method
Ingredients:
Petals or leafs or twigs or seeds or pods
Carrier oil or distilled water or alcohol
Equipment:
Jar or bottle with lid Metal bowl
Wooden spoon or stirrer Funnel
Method for oil infusions with coloured flowers, leaves, seeds, twigs
- Place the petals inside the jar or bottle. Cover the petals with the carrier oil and, using the wooden stirrer, mix the oil with the petals.
- Place the lid firmly on the jar or bottle.
- Place the bottle in the metal bowl with water and heat on the stovetop (do not heat the bottle directly). The whole infusion has to be at room temperature regardless of the petal colour or part of plant being used (seeds, leaves, cones, twigs).
- The vapours and steam building inside the bottle is the process by which the natural fragrance of the plants is being extracted and mixed with the carrier oil. The heating process affects the oil density as more fluid will help mix the fragrances.
Method for oil infusions with white or light coloured flowers and petals
- Place the petals in the jar. Cover the petals with the carrier oil and, using the wooden stirrer, mix the oil with the petals.
- Leave the solution in a shady place for many weeks and even months to concoct. This process will take more time, but it will be worthwhile.
Method for infused waters
For making Infused Waters, instead of carrier oil, I use distilled water. Use the same process described at top for coloured flowers, seeds, cones and pods. For white or very light coloured petals, do not heat the bottle but let the fragrance develop over time and mix gently.
Method for alcohol infusions
In the case of alcohol infusions, I use 95% grade perfumery denatured alcohol from a supplier.
- Place the petals inside the jar or bottle. Cover the petals with the carrier oil and, using the wooden stirrer, mix the oil with the petals.
- DO NOT HEAT THE BOTTLE but leave for weeks/months.
Pressing and decanting
Equipment:
Glass bowl for decanting Metallic mesh strainer
Method
- When the oil, water or alcohol infusion is ready for decanting, extracting as much of the fragrance out by pressing the petals and stirring inside the jar or the bottle to get as much of the fragrance into the liquid.
- Make a funnel from the coffee filter. Alternatives are to use cheese cloth or even a new stocking as a filter.
- Use a metallic mesh strainer to pour the oil with petals/seeds/cones from the bottle to the glass bowl. This decanting will generate the first infused oil t.
- Continue this process by pressing the petals/seeds/cones again until they need to be thrown away.
- The result will be a not-so-transparent oil. This oil will need to be filtered as shown below.
Decanting and filtering
Equipment:
Funnel PEP lab bottle
Coffee paper filter Disinfected serving or soup spoon
Method
- Prepare the coffee paper filter into a cone and insert it into the funnel. The funnel can then be placed into the neck of the PEP lab bottle.
- With the disinfected serving spoon, gradually add the oil infusion into the filter inside the funnel. This process may take a whole day or overnight as some oils may be so dense that the filter will stop the flow.
- In the case of water or alcohol Infusions, the solutions will have a great range of colours than the oil infusions (unless the oils were from leafs or twigs).
Bottling
Once the solution is in the PEP lab bottle, make sure you label the bottle with the name of the solution and the date of manufacturing.
- The bottles containing infused oils or alcohols do not need refrigeration.
- The bottles containing infused water need refrigeration.
Generally I will use a 250ml PEP lab bottle as they are easy to handle for solutions I will be using straightaway. I use larger 2-litre PEP lab bottles for longer-term storage. It is good to have both in your workroom.
Fragrance drafting and testing
When I receive a request for a custom fragrance, or if I am creating a new fragrance, I select the different scents and smell every single ingredient I am planning to use.
Constructing accords
When constructing an accord, I need to identify each of the various scent notes for the accord.
The scent notes can be defined as:
- Base notes
- Middle notes (also known as heart notes) or
- Top notes (also known as high notes).
I will use the notes to draft and test the various scents and accords that will be the elements of the perfume fragrance I am creating.
Fragrance composition
After drafting and testing the various scents and deciding on which accords to use and the proportions of each, the next stage is to start formulating the fragrance.
- The first step is to to test for the last time which scents I will be using and the proportion of each.
- The proportions will change depending on whether formulation the perfume will be an oil perfume with carrier oil and no alcohol for roll-on or vial dabbers, or whether the perfume will contain alcohol as a spray solution with atomiser. The proportions will also change depending on the bottle size.
- The final perfume fragrance is then poured into a perfume bottle or vial, ranging in size from 1ml, 2ml, 3ml, 5ml, 8ml, 10ml, 20ml, 30ml, 50ml, 60ml, 100ml, 200ml.
- To help the scents mix, shake the bottle and let it settle for hours. It will require one or two days concoction and refrigeration overnight. During the day, it will need some indirect sunlight for a few hours.
- After two days, it will be ready for packaging and delivery to the client. The fragrance formulation is documented and filed for future reference.
Packaging
The perfume is ready after two days, as the fragrance will have improved during the concoction period. Usually, I test the perfume again in case I need to do an adjustment before packaging.
All my perfumes are labelling, including the ingredient and formulation information before I carefully package and box them for transportation. Instructions on use are included. The leftover dried flower petals are used as protection and decoration.
Once packaged in a parcel, it is ready for postage.
NOTE - delivery is only within Australia.