Sample draw winner, spring tincturing

We drew a winner today from an empty flower pot for the sample give-away and I have the package ready to ship when I hear back to get the winner’s address.  I wondered today if there is a high tech way to do the draw, but we did it the old-fashioned way.

I didn’t get to work on blending today.  Just did orders and took photos of shea cream in order to get a photo without the oak tree on the label.  Put one of today’s crop of red roses in the pic.

Will be getting some new ingredients in the next day or two and that’s always fun because it opens up new possibilities.

With all the spring blooms, this is a great time of year to try tincturing if you’re interested.  You can use perfumer’s alcohol if you have it, but if not you can try an infusion in an oil like jojoba oil or fractionated coconut oil (often found at health food stores).  I’ve had good luck with jasmine but not as good luck with roses or sweet peas.  The trick is to change the flowers out repeatedly but use the same alcohol or oil so the scent intensifies with each new batch of flowers.  At the end you can filter it to remove debris.  I’d love to try wisteria or gardenia someday, but I don’t currently grow those.  You want to use freshly picked flowers but get the dew drops and any water off them first. 

Dried material like ambrette seeds, tonka beans, and orris root are even easier to tincture than flowers.  If you google tincturing you can find all kinds of info.