Further to the new scents and smellies project

[abendgules]

Thank you all for feedback on the perfumery and smellies stuff. I've dropped a note to Isis about her sources. Small world - she has a link to frualeydis, who is an active SCA person in Nordmark.

Baldwins definitely seems a good source for some specific items, tied with Pans Pantry.

So I'm compiling a list of items I want, and comparison shopping.

Sourcing civet and musk oils is still proving elusive. Found it in one pagan-ritual supplies shop sold in 2-drachm bottles for ritual use, but it seemed far too cheap to be a good product.

Researches so far:
http://www.baldwins.co.uk/ (no civet, some musk products, lots of other useful items)

http://www.panspantry.co.uk/ (no civet or musk, but many other useful things)

http://www.amphora-retail.com/index.php (musk seems cheap, no civet)

http://www.hermitageoils.com/ (new civet absolute listed, no info about source though; no musk)

http://www.naturallythinking.com/ (no civet or musk) 

http://www.essentially-me.co.uk/extraits_botanical_musk.php?cat=21 (botanical musk fixative for perfume - out of stock)

Ordered and received the book about cosmetics by Sally Pointer (abebooks rocks  as usual). The survey of cosmetics through the ages seems quite good - the Viking, 'Dark Ages', and early medieval is (unsurprisingly) a bit light, lacking examples, particularly compared to the print-era options which is so thick with sources.

My one whine is that the author footnotes things that I'm not interested in, and leaves no references to things I do want to know more about (11th century manuscript of cosmetics citing 'Trotula' is mentioned three times, but is not footnoted! no source! argh).

I'd also hoped for a list of UK sources/shops; no such luck.

Pointer does mention a couple of interesting items though - 'Water of Hungary' may be the earliest alcohol-based scent, for home and person, dated to about 14th c (mainly rosemary scent, with other herbal options), and provides a recipe that looks perfectly do-able.

And the idea of scenting leather (soaking leather scraps in a perfume mix, then sewing it into small bags) is very promising, and worth persuing. I'd love to fence in scented gloves - (almost) anything could improve the smell of my fencing gloves.

Soap-making also looks easier than I thought; requires care because you're handling caustic chemicals, but otherwise perfectly do-able.

So: worth getting the book, but got fewer answers than I hoped.

I've checked with my sweetie, and he's ok with me possibly smelling out the house with this project...presumeably if I come away with more night-cap powder, all is good.

In chasing round the Intawebs, I discovered a forum of people whose hobby is apparently collecting commercial perfume. I thought I had a silly pastime (or bunch of pastimes, really) but wow, this group sounds like a marketer's dream.

ETA: wiki link to Trotula

Comments

[ormsweird.livejournal.com]

Glad to have helped. The perfumed fencing gloves idea is great! Wonder if I could slip such a thing into Anotnio's padded coif, it stinks!

[bend-gules.livejournal.com]

Is the coif made of fabric? may just be time for a new one.

Helm liners are hard to keep sweet, especially if they're made with styrofoam.

Robert has a lovely prototype for a classic quilted linen liner which would be washable. Of course it was too small, because it's hard to judge how much 'fudge' to add to a quilted garment.

[ormsweird.livejournal.com]

Hi is also quilted which in part is why I dread washing it. May have to bite the bullet though!

[henrytroup.livejournal.com]

For soap; I tried making lye once, and failed. But I know the reason I failed. It turns out you need a tall column of wood ash. Quite a bit of ash, like 4 feet tall by at least six inches. But careful accumulation around SCA events or the like could yield that in a summer. Just a pain to transport around.

Likely charcoal ash would not do; sources differ.

[bend-gules.livejournal.com]

I'd heard that (about the volume of ash required).

If we still burned wood to keep warm, collecting ash would be no issue, it was basically a byproduct. Now that burning wood (for us) is a novelty, it doesn't seem worth the struggle, at least for this urban artisan.

I think for this project I'll stick to sourcing at the hardware store.

Civet and musk

[xrian.livejournal.com]

I vaguely recall hearing something about one or both of these having animal abuse issues associated with them -- nothing definite sticks in my mind, but worth looking into.

That of course only applies if they are genuine animal extracts and not synthetic.

BTW I know how to get in touch with Sally Pointer if you have specific questions.

Re: Civet and musk

[bend-gules.livejournal.com]

The intawebs says that the musk glands of the deer can't be removed without killing the deer. Unsurprisingly it's endangered.

Civet musk comes from the civet cat's anal glands, which has to be extracted - squeezed or scraped. It doesn't kill the cat, but does stress it and is considered unethical.

The one site I know of, that claims to carry true animal-sourced products, glosses over the source, as if the animals had slipped behind a changing screen and handed out their sex glands like lingerie, on request.

http://www.profumo.it/title/Civet/pid/203

http://www.profumo.it/perfume/aromatherapy/essential_oils/muskdeer.htm

[thorngrove.livejournal.com]

A yahoo group you might be interested in is
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EarlyPerfume/ which is moderated by Sally Pointer. It's been almost dead the past couple of years but is still a good place to ask questions and flares up occasionally.

Also, who has given you hand-made soap before?!? I have all the equipment and ingredients required and am happy to run a cold/hot process soap-making day to teach you (and anyone else) what I have learnt. I was planning on doing one soon anyway, to stock up on Christmas gifts (plus I'm running out of lavender soap). :-)