Welcome to Friday’s blogette #3, featuring fragrance, scent, and smell as applied to candlemaking, along with a back-story (all right, digression) about the early life of a “Super Taster” -–me.
As a child I experienced the taste of cabbages and root veggies as mouthfuls of iron filings, though I had never actually tasted iron filings, as my siblings would gleefully point out. As well, there were smells I’d run away from, or others—sharp, pungent, and evocative of love and safety–I would tuck away with love, and savor for a lifetime.
For everything good or bad has a taste —and a smell, and both senses work together in the same “office”, as it were. Thus while “super tasters/sniffers”may appear to have a special gift, I am convinced this ability lies dormant in all of us, just waiting to be used.
So, to “Sod and Soul”, today’s featured Comfort Zone candle. The inspiration comes from the luscious scent of the Irish countryside at dawn: damp soil, peat smoke, and clover blossoms, anchored by Essence of Cow. My decision to distill this broth into a candle involved no market research on my part; my intention was to experiment my way to a “personal candle”without regard to saleability.
The scents I used are from Nature’s Garden, and include Garden Dirt, Fresh Cut Grass, Alyssum, Spike Lavender, Vetiver, and Fireplace. I did not include Essence of Cow as it does not exist but should.
I used vegetable dyes of brown, green, and orange to get that deep, loamy color, wicked it with a 3/8” wooden wick and dressed it up with black grosgrain bookbinder’s tape, see pic.
So six “Sod and Soul” (or Sodden Soul—take a look outside) candles were placed on the shelf—and slowly but steadily sold… I’ll end here before the urge to deliver a lesson takes over.
