A Natural Perfumers Journal

Do you know something? When I ordered Elemi Crude Resin I wasn't expecting what I got. I always found Elemi Essential Oil to be sort of boring and medicinal and I couldn't imagine really using it all that much in perfumery. But I wanted to experience the resin just to see what it was like. It came in a solid block that had the consistency of hard butter. Yielding to a firm press of the thumb. As I peeled off the layers of wrapping the smell became stronger and stronger. I plopped the whole raw block of resin out on my work bench and looked at it. An opaque creamy white mass with shades of yellow and darker cream, bits of bark and seeds and even what look liked flower petals were embedded in it. Essential oils glistened in it's cracks. It smells like a soft peppery pine thats got a sort of a citrus tang to it, but what I love is the woody background note that is like warm wood. Arctander says of Elemi Crude Resin solvent extract or absolute "This is a very i...

Not fully finished, I have an old pine country dresser that I am modifying. I put extra "steps" in so I could bring all my essences up to eye level and now I have room for base, middle and top (the top is divided in two, floral herbal and citrus at the top and woodsy floral spice on the lower step of the top shelf. That's a great big block of Elemi resin in the basket on the left. Lovely stuff which deserves a journal entry of it's own. My mandala is there and a photo of my grandmother. I still have a lot of work to do to make my studio how I want it.