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Today trying to compress thousands of pages of journals, sketches and notes into one 50-page section of my new book feels a bit like trying to pack the contents of a house, or perhaps a whole forest, in a carry-on bag.
It helps me to shift the simile to the making of perfume or essential oils. I see myself putting the petals of many flowers in the alembic that will produce the fragrance. The most delicate blossoms, like jasmine, require the the older, slower way of cold enfleurage, developed in southern France in the nineteenth century.
I bring the plants and flowers I have gathered to the chassis, a framed sheet of glass. There is a layer of wax or tallow inside the frame. I gently press my blossoms into this medium. When all of their essence has been absorbed, I replace them with fresh flowers, and repeat this process until I am satisfied that the medium is saturated with the aromatic essence, which will now be released by alcohol. Yes, this can work...
It helps me to shift the simile to the making of perfume or essential oils. I see myself putting the petals of many flowers in the alembic that will produce the fragrance. The most delicate blossoms, like jasmine, require the the older, slower way of cold enfleurage, developed in southern France in the nineteenth century.
I bring the plants and flowers I have gathered to the chassis, a framed sheet of glass. There is a layer of wax or tallow inside the frame. I gently press my blossoms into this medium. When all of their essence has been absorbed, I replace them with fresh flowers, and repeat this process until I am satisfied that the medium is saturated with the aromatic essence, which will now be released by alcohol. Yes, this can work...
