Mixed, and mixing, results on the cosmetics front

This weekend was a Time to Putter - an extended weekend with no event travel, from which I really, really did not want to return to work.

My second warming and whisking of my cold cream resulted in a much smoother mix, but as it cooled, the rosewater seemed to collect in pockets within the paste. When I scooped some out on a finger, there were shiny bubbles of rosewater within the mix.

So I mixed it again, and as I mixed it broke up the pockets and suddenly I had a paste with runny clear water on top, which wasn't attractive. Ten minutes of stirring didn't get it worked back in, and only putting it on the heat again reincorporated the freed-up rosewater. I added more oil, to see if I could balance it again, but on cooling it 'pocketed' the water again.

So it seems I don't have the proportions right, because Ynes managed to make a lovely cold cream that, when it separated, I managed to re-mix successfully into a smooth cream. Must consult.

On the plus side - it's a very nice cream, even if it separated, and smells very pleasantly of rosewater and beeswax. I wonder if the white beeswax is scent-free, or if I have to break down and add some other wax. You can get other types of wax for cosmetics at Baldwins.

It may be that missing borax that is at fault. I tried the local cleaning-chemicals shop, which was closed. Also hoping to source some caustic soda for soapmaking from the same shop.

When I mentioned borax, Robert said we should get some, because it can serve as an additive in pewtering - reduces the amount of slag, somehow. Who knew? (well my sweetie did, obviously)

My big-hopes project remains the cyperus powder as a dry shampoo, something I want to replicate.

So I started this weekend, again with mixed results.

First of all, some of the ingredient quantities are very, very small - 1ml of civet absolute comes as a paste, rather than an oil, and won't even drip out of the 10ml bottle - have to scoop it out on the handle of a spoon. Some of the other ingredients also came as oils - sandalwood, musk and damask rose - and I've no idea how these concentrated oils will compare to the '1/2 ounce' quantity in the original recipe.

The civet absolute (artificial, not animal-sourced) is weird stuff. It's not mixed with any other scent, and by itself isn't very pleasant. The first whiff is extremely sharp, pungent, something between the poopy litterbox and visiting the zoo. It's not exactly 'musky' because all the musks I've smelled have been much more pleasant, but does remind me (unsurprisingly) of handling a ferret. I want to try to describe it more accurately for the gent who sold it to me, but am short of descriptors.

But the existing cyperus powder I have from Ynes does have that sharpness, and it's closely followed by the muskiness, so something has to provide that first 'grab' of your nose.

At any rate: I mixed the oils and ground the benzoin into a small quantity of the orris root powder in the mortar, and gradually mixed the powder into larger and larger quantities, finally adding some rose petals for texture. I've got a quantity of powder now comperable to the batch Ynes made, but so far, it does not match the smell - it's in the same family I'd say, but not yet close enough. I wouldn't want to rub it into my hair just yet.

Somehow, in all my recent purchases, I had not bought one ingredient (inevitably, one of the rare, difficult to source, and ethically awkward ones), called 'oud' or 'aloes wood', which misleadingly has nothing to do with aloe vera. When I looked it up again, I could see why I'd paused - £45 for 1 ml as an oil.

I tossed around options from Hermitage and also from Pan's Pantry, and finally lashed out on what I think is an incense ingredient from a pagan shop, that is a more modest price, but is probably not an essential oil. Goodness knows what will come in the mail - hopefully something I can grind.

So that project is on hold (and the existing ingredients blending in a container) til I have the last one.

While searching for Oud, I found these shops stocking 'Arabian perfumes' - including specifically musk and oud. So while we talk about the 'exoticness' of spices and oils coming from the middle east in the medieval period, evidently it's still a market now.

In related news, PhD comics carried a 2 minute thesis about reproducing the DNA of 'whale barf' (ambergris) - not specifically for perfume, but more for the process, which could apply to other rare compounds. At least, I think that's what she's after.

ETA: no aloes wood from the pagan shop - out of stock. Sigh. More sourcing required.

Collegium of the white mountain in Tretower: more experimental archeology, and shooting

Weekend before last was one of the last 'autumn' events in Insulae Draconis for Robert and me - Collegium of the White Mountain, in Mynydd Gwyn.

We travelled up with His Majesty Paul, who was playing peasant that weekend - it was not an official event, so thus no business could take place - and this bothered HRM not at all. :-) The focus of the event was heraldry, shooting and scribing - hard to pick an event that would suit me more. 

Tretower is a 15th c fortified home in south Wales, that we've enjoyed several times before. At present we're not allowed to stay in the house overnight, so we book the church hall next door to crash in, and use the historic site during the day.

In the morning I took advantage of the scribal slope in Tretower to finish a scroll for Crown - check one for scribing - while Robert painted up my arms for the afternoon shoot.

It's a good sign of the confidence CADW has in the SCA that they allowed our group once more to cook in their medieval kitchen, with blue_dormouse leading with the midday meal menu, including pottage, gammon pie (made at home), compound salad, hedgehogs, bread and cheese, and an apple-and-cream (apple snow?) pudding on biscuits. It was hard to complain. 

We furthered the interests of culinary science by testing whether the technique of whipping cream by pouring it off a balcony works without wine - HRM led the research by pouring some of the double cream into a bowl that had cream in it.

The verdict was - cream-into-cream doesn't result in very much froth at all. Pouring it into cider works much better. So having narrowed this field, we now need to test alcohol vs non-alcohol base. Will keep you (urp!) posted...

The afternoon was shooting time - I shot a few ends to warm up (and it was cool - one of the autumn days that are lovely in sun but chilly in the shade), and then we tried out the very silly heraldry archery round, whereby you try to knock down your fellow archers' armory with a blunt arrow. Once Robert pointed out the tactical advantage of taking out the better archers first, the field narrowed quickly. :-) It was a fun round, and would be great fun in larger numbers.

With a large midday meal, noone had thought very far ahead to dinner, so some folks led a hasty trip to the shops to find roast chicken to supplement the bread cheese and cold meats that were already in evidence, and Robert made his usual frumenty. 

We broke out a bottle of wine to mark our 10th anniversary - we consider the last weekend in September an anniversary, of when we started going out. Where did 10 years go?

Yours truly then pushed some dancers on the floor - it's much easier when the king is a known dancer, you can always say it's his fancy - and we managed 4 dances, including Black Alman, which I don't usually dance because I don't have the music. It was a very small dance space but we managed not to tread on anyone.

It was at this event that I confirmed my move into being a Pelican has really happened: I found myself cleaning the kitchen area, and worrying about the toilet paper supply. These are two things I've previously always happily left to others to lead on; I'll stack chairs, pack up, clean tables, etc and do lots of other cleanup, but I really, really don't enjoy kitchen duties.

But all of a sudden it was the kitchen that needed work most. The Pelicans told me this would happen...

Thankfulness

In Canada it's Thanksgiving weekend. I love this weekend, and miss it, and the beautiful season, here in England.

Things I am thankful for, and try to reflect on daily:

Good health: I don't have perfect health, but my body does what I ask of it most of the time, and I try to be thankful that it cooperates. It only takes one bout of poor health to put this in perspective.
Safe shelter: We don't own a home, but we have a safe, secure place to live in comfort. 
Food: We have access to plentiful, healthy, varied, food.
Civil society: For all that we complain about injustices, England is a civil society.
The institutions are not perfect, but the police come when you call. Same with fire dept, local council services, and transportation workers. We don't have to bribe them or pay backhanders to ensure any of these services work and they serve me as well (or badly)
as they do my neighbours. This is more than many, many people have in their cities.

I'm aware that the things I'm thankful for aren't true for everyone, even within the city, or the country I live in. So I'm thankful.