Intro and Balsam of Peru Question

January 10, 2009

Hi! I just joined and I am excited to have found this group! My name is

, I'm a 31 year old woman. I live with my husband, two housemates, and a

small menagerie of pets in a big old house in the woods half way up a mountain

outside of Seattle (Issaquah). I've been interested in scent since childhood

and started messing around with growing my own botanicals for potpourri and

floral waters when I was still a kid but I never took it very far. I am very

much a beginner in the realm of perfumery. I am generally speaking quite

creative, I do a lot of different kinds of " arts and crafts " and I am a

passionate cook. I like to have as much control over my process as possible and

I make my own materials and ingredients whenever I can. I am very excited that

many of you seem to be making your own components, that is something I am very

interested in learning about.

My first question is about Balsam of Peru. The balsam I have is very thick and

I am having problems getting it to dissolve in my carrier oil (jojoba). I just

picked it up yesterday from a local shop (Dandelion Botanicals Company

http://www.dandelionbotanical.com/) and after seeing how thick it was I asked

them specifically if it was oil soluble and they told me it was. I called them

today and explained the problem I was having and they suggested I heat the

balsam in a water bath prior to blending it. I did that and it made it thin

enough that it is measurable in drops but it still clumped up in the bottom of

my blend and stuck to my stirring stick when I tried to mix it up. Not easily

thwarted I then put some balsam in a small amount of jojoba oil and heated that

in a water bath whilst stirring. I was hoping I could get it to dissolve in

warm oil and then cool the oil down and add that to my blend but no dice. What

I have now is a small glass bowl filled with what looks like olive oil and

balsamic vinegar LOL! So I'm turning to the group for wisdom, is Balsam of Peru

really oil soluble? Am I doing something wrong? My next plan of attack was to

try dissolving it in alcohol. I would have already tried it but I don't have

any perfumer's alcohol in the house (I have a very strong preference for oil

based perfumes) and I didn't know if adding that to my oil base would make the

base a funky consistency. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

~

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