Incense Musings
Jan. 29th, 2008 10:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trystinnQ: How do I come up with the unique blends on Triple Pillars?
A: Lots of ways!
Let's take a recent creation "Three Graces" as an example. I've been wanting to make an incense to the Graces for some time, as well as incenses based on the Muses. While making a batch of "Memory Drops", a Classic Formulary recipe, I realized that the addition of an additional ingredient and the tweaking of a few quantities would make something truly wondrous (humble, eh?) So I took roughly half the batch of MD and experimented. What came out was a lovely, gracious incense that literally (Sadie: LOL) had people raising their eyebrows and exclaiming that they really liked it. For those who don't live nearby, I have a truly wretched habit of grabbing anyone who comes near my front door, shoving something under their nose and demanding "what do you think?" Fortunately, most folks have been very tolerant of this. I even come bearing a bag of samples when I go visit friends, and they've been incredibly tolerant of this, too. If even one person sniffs and responds with "feh", I won't put it up on the site without additional experimenting (usually adding additional ingredients) and another round of pestering folks.
"Other times I go through my witchcraft herbal cabinet and look at all the witchcraft herbs in there that aren't generally used in incense making. Grabbing a bunch of different things, I go to the kitchen to mix and blend to my heart's content. With mixed results, as in some cases there's a really good reason those ingredients aren't used in incense. But on occasion, things get interesting, then become intriguing and the incense ends up on Triple Pillars.
Then there's the happy accidents: I was in the process of making a Classic Formulary or Divinely Inspired and something went awry. This can be anything from adding too much of something or being out of an ingredient and substituting with something else. A good example of this is the Dark Moon incense. I was out of Gardenia petals and tried Orchid petals, instead. After a quick round of "sniff this", everyone preferred Orchid petals to Gardenia petals. So we made a switch out on the website.
Then there's the truly fun stuff: when friends come over to experiment and make something truly interesting, after all how often do you get to play with over 200 different herbs, resins and woods? Using my herbs for free comes with a caveat that I get to place it on the website should I choose to do so, with only a few exceptions to this. Deb made a wonderful incense she calls "Bliss" and it certainly lives up to its name. She happily gave me permission to put it on Triple Pillars and its done pretty well for itself."
Any other questions? :)
A: Lots of ways!
Let's take a recent creation "Three Graces" as an example. I've been wanting to make an incense to the Graces for some time, as well as incenses based on the Muses. While making a batch of "Memory Drops", a Classic Formulary recipe, I realized that the addition of an additional ingredient and the tweaking of a few quantities would make something truly wondrous (humble, eh?) So I took roughly half the batch of MD and experimented. What came out was a lovely, gracious incense that literally (Sadie: LOL) had people raising their eyebrows and exclaiming that they really liked it. For those who don't live nearby, I have a truly wretched habit of grabbing anyone who comes near my front door, shoving something under their nose and demanding "what do you think?" Fortunately, most folks have been very tolerant of this. I even come bearing a bag of samples when I go visit friends, and they've been incredibly tolerant of this, too. If even one person sniffs and responds with "feh", I won't put it up on the site without additional experimenting (usually adding additional ingredients) and another round of pestering folks.
"Other times I go through my witchcraft herbal cabinet and look at all the witchcraft herbs in there that aren't generally used in incense making. Grabbing a bunch of different things, I go to the kitchen to mix and blend to my heart's content. With mixed results, as in some cases there's a really good reason those ingredients aren't used in incense. But on occasion, things get interesting, then become intriguing and the incense ends up on Triple Pillars.
Then there's the happy accidents: I was in the process of making a Classic Formulary or Divinely Inspired and something went awry. This can be anything from adding too much of something or being out of an ingredient and substituting with something else. A good example of this is the Dark Moon incense. I was out of Gardenia petals and tried Orchid petals, instead. After a quick round of "sniff this", everyone preferred Orchid petals to Gardenia petals. So we made a switch out on the website.
Then there's the truly fun stuff: when friends come over to experiment and make something truly interesting, after all how often do you get to play with over 200 different herbs, resins and woods? Using my herbs for free comes with a caveat that I get to place it on the website should I choose to do so, with only a few exceptions to this. Deb made a wonderful incense she calls "Bliss" and it certainly lives up to its name. She happily gave me permission to put it on Triple Pillars and its done pretty well for itself."
Any other questions? :)
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-29 07:08 pm (UTC)If the sweetgrass fails you, I can probably come up with a substitution. Or, you know, you're free to improvise.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-29 08:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-29 08:03 pm (UTC)Have a list handy of herbs, resins, etc. sacred to Eris?
no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 03:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-30 03:28 am (UTC)