MANUFACTURING PROCESS

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

1. 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.
2. Once the petals dry and then put them in a small jar until there are sufficient for my planned project.
3. 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.

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

1. Cleanliness - glass bottles must be sterilised and disinfected; the workbenches, sink, fixtures and flooring and equipment clean and disinfected before making any preparation.
2. 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.
3. 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. 
4. Light - either work in natural daylight or if, you are working at night, have good lighting but without a glare.

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.

Equipment:

Glass bowl for decanting                         Metallic mesh strainer

Method

1. 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.
2. Make a funnel from the coffee filter. Alternatives are to use cheese cloth or even a new stocking as a filter.
3. 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.
4. Continue this process by pressing the petals/seeds/cones again until they need to be thrown away.
5. The result will be a not-so-transparent oil. This oil will need to be filtered as shown below.

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.

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.

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.