Dissection

Dissection
As mentioned yesterday on this blog: The lavender is hiding in the woods.
Which is no good. But I think I know now what to do next….I will have to recklessly reduce the woods to a thin line.
Maybe a few words on how I work generally. I have this idea in my head: Lavender. 4 axes (flowery, spicy, woody, green). Approaching these axes I start with the backbone, like painting with a thick brush I make a large streak of Okoumal (woody), add another one with Cistus (spicy, woody), add lavender essential oil and then add the green line (Muguet, Lilly of the valley). (A short note here: This Lilly of the valley line, I composed myself, trying to abstract the scent to its greenness. You may ask:”why do it yourself if there are ample lily of the valley reconstructions out there already?”- Well, first it is a good exercise and I wanted this abstraction, the green soul of Lily of the valley to be used together with my lavender). These lines are the main axes. Now follows the next layer: Another wood, clove (spicy), menthylacetat and peppermint (Yakima) adding a green, flowery twist, and so on, going from the rough lines to the finer tones.
Yesterday, I realized again how thin the line is between a lovely spicy touch and an annoying medicinal pungent disaster. So, back to field one again, keeping the axes (less wood), and the first few lines, but changing proportions.
Finally, Okoumal is a wonderful component, very woody, ambergris with tobacco notes, but… I haven’t learnt enough how to use it. It becomes very easily dominant and hides all flowers and spices and green leaves behind a wall of woody ambergris with a slightly metallic shine.
Don’t get me wrong, please: I do not know whether I will ever sell a Lavender note. But I just love to learn how to bring out the beauty of this wonderful scent with all its facets. (See also Katie's comments in the last past....a poetic description of Oregon's lavender scents in Summer