Where to put your ideas
Some of us have too many ideas, and some of us don't have quite enough. I err on the side of far too many to fit into one lifetime, so I've decided to share them. I really can't stand waste. I hate to...
View ArticleTwo's Company, Three's a Team
Here's a theory about the creative process. It involves three different abilities. One person might have two or all three of them, or you might need several people for just one of the essential triad,...
View ArticleA question of balance
My Auntie Viv, who is an extraordinary person and just finished an M.A in Fine Arts, had a problem with her knee. So went to her doctor and he said that it was wear and tear. She told him that this...
View ArticleThese Feet
Not just your feet, your whole body was made for walking, but how much do we do? Not nearly enough. Last week we got some free stuff from Amazon. As a reward - depending on how you look at it - for...
View ArticleGetting Rid of Stuff
It's a lot harder to get rid of stuff than aquire it, don't you think? Buy something, and it's put right into your hands or delivered to your home. A couple of cicks on eBay and you've bought yourself...
View ArticleGrey Sky Great Day
It's Tuesday. Out of my window I can see white clouds and grey clouds. For May, it's not that warm. But the bees are buzzing around the interesting sprays of tiny white flowers on next door's palm...
View ArticleLow Maintenance Friends
Last month I got a phone call from France. It was my penfriend's brother inviting me to a party near Avignon for his sister's birthday. I've not seen her for 20 years, but I know that despite my...
View ArticleSpend it like the 70s
A bit about 'happinomics' There are clever people who've written books that prove we're no happier now we've got loads of stuff and "freedom of choice" (more loads of stuff). We peaked in the 1970s.I...
View ArticleMaking Sense of Scents
I wrote this for the nice people at afia who give me lots of writing work, but I thought you might like to read it here too. The brain, the smells and the words to describe them Why is it that we can...
View ArticleKaren Gilbert's Masterclass
Make your own bespoke scents, why don't you? "Why are you here?" One of our coursemates had seen me speaking at perfume events, and wondered why I'd come along to Karen's five day workshop. She wasn't...
View Article10 Scents' Worth
I've been trying to find the time to chain myself to my desk and develop some new scents. They are work in progress, they exist in bottles and in my head. Can I get the time finish them? So I've...
View ArticleThe Story of XHM2 - the first crowdfunded scent
10 Scents’ Worth: The stories I never make a scent without a story, and with my crowdfunding project, they came from near and far. So in order of how close my inspiration was… XHM2 –...
View Article10 Scents' Worth #2: The Great Randello
The Great Randello The story Not long ago, when I was about to give it up all and turn to watercolours, or something else that isn’t regulated to the point of strangulation by the EU, I was spending...
View ArticleSays Alice: Scent Story 3
The story of Says Alice At Karen’s course (See The Great Randello story) one thing that she and I played with – quietly in the corner while the others were getting the hang of things - was a base...
View Articlegrapefruit essential oil
perfumery materials and why I use them I do love making scents, and I like to explain what I do and why I do it. So I decided to share. Here's why I put grapefruit into almost everything I make. I...
View ArticleRose oxide - the scent of shiny metal roses
The things I use to make scents: number 3 Rose oxide, also known as Tetrahydro-4-methyl-2-(2-methylprop-1-enyl)-pyran, is one of the natural chemicals* that make roses smell the way they do. Somes...
View Article3 Raspberry Ketone
The perfumery materials I use, and why I use them AKA Hydroxyphenyl butanone, frambinone What's the point of being a perfumer if you can't make things smell the way you want, creating scents which...
View Article4 Violets - the ionones
Materials we use: violets α-ionone and β-ionone - Victorian treasures discovered by the early olfactory explorers Have you ever smelled a violet? You have to get down really close. Or you can pick it,...
View Article5 Musk - the great mystery
What does musk really smell like? (And why am I showing a picture of Daisy the Donkey?) The short answer is that real musk - which I sniffed at the Osmotheque perfume archive in Versailles - smells...
View Article6 - Oudh and why I'm not bothering
The perfumery materials I use - 6 - oudh Oudh is Arabic for stick. That can lead to some confusion; also there’s a musical instrument called the oudh; it looks a bit like a lute, or a big mandolin. In...
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