The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1911-02-05
ARE
MADE At HOME
Odd But Paying Trade of a
Southern Woman
BEGAN AS RECREATION
Soon Found That Her Product Com
manded Ready Market-Olive
Oil Is Used as a Base
For Perfumes
BEGAN AS RECREATION

from the New I OrK Sun.
MY homemade perfumes sell readily
and supply me with a larger income than
l ever made as a teacher" said a young
southern woman.
Besides my extract of gardenia I make
| and sell six varieties of perfume All the
| flowers are grown in our home garden
or gathered from the woods. seldom
sell to the trade and make no pretense
at putting my perfume in fancy bottles.
They leave my hands in clear glass
bottles Of various sizes with label writ
ten on slip Of writing paper with pen
and ink and stuck with mucilage. At first
this was done because hadn't the means
of getting any other kind of bottle or
label and almost before I knew it this
pen and ink marking had become a
sort of trademark,
Though I have been making a bust
ness of extracting and selling perfumes
for only little more than six years
have been making It for home use ever
since was young girl. My grand
mother taught me how to make the es-
sence of rose and also the wild crab
For years I used to make bottles of
these two perfumes each spring and sum-
mer and put them away for Christmas
presents. AS 1 grew up l experimental
a little with other flowers, beginning.
believe, with gardenias. because they
were so abundant. After I began to
teach, having some ready money at COM
mand. used to devote my spare time to
making perfumes just as other women
do fancy work or take to photographs.
The first time my perfumes were offered
for sale girl who was getting up con-
tributions for a church fair suggested
that contribute some of my perfumes.
She said she knew of several persons
who would be willing to pay for the wild
crab. the wild violet and perhaps the
tuberose, Having some on hand / gave
her bottle of each. heard later that
they never reached the fair, but were
bought by members of the committee be-
fore hand Now 1 sell bottles OF that
size for S. each.
From then on the demand for my
perfumes was sufficient to encourage me
to keep a small stock on hand. My first
idea in doing this was to make enough to
pay expenses that is to sell enough of
the perfumes to pay for all materials
used both In my experiments and In MAX
ing for my friends. s-tss
I never thought of earning my living
by making perfumes until after the de-
mand had grown to such an extent that
all my summer holiday was consumed
filling orders that came to me entirely
without effort of my own. People from
the tourist hotel would come here, walk
around our flower gardens and buy a
small bottle of perfume. A few days
later they would either come again and
want q larger quantity or write back, In
| closing a check, and ask me to ship 1t to
them. One year made couple of hun
dred dollars on these sales, Then<I began
to go into the work i'm earnest. The last
year taught cleared nearly $500 on my
perfumes. This encouraged me when my
mothers health broke down to give up
teaching and, remain at home where
could be with her instead of leaving her
in the care of servants. Although she is
still confined to- a wheel chair she Is
great assistance to me in. separating the
sweet part of the blossoms from that
which is to be discarded.
I'm making any and all perfumes the
blossoms should be picked early in the
morning before the dew has dried on
them. If they can be gathered and
brought in before the sun touches them
so much the better. This is not very
hard when the flowers grow in the gar
den, but where they are gathered from
the woods it is not SO easy. The best
extract of wild crab that l have ever
made is taken from the blooms of a tree
half a mile from our home on the edge
of swamp 1 have left the house be-
fore daylight to get to that tree and
pick the freshly opened blossoms. Gath
ering cowslips is another difficult work.
They not only have to be picked before
sun robs them Of their dewy freshness
but they have to be handled with the
greatest care to prevent bruising.
AFTER the gathering comes the cutting
away of all but the understanding parts
This means cutting off not only the leaves
and stalks but much of the pistil and
calyx For this work there is nothing
better than a pair of small sharp scis-
sors.. My plant consists of sets OF shall
low pans. such as photographers use for
tonng and fixing their negatives rolls of
cotton wool and a jug of pure oil. When
the petals of the blossoms are ready /
place in the bottom of each pan to be
used a layer of cotton wool saturated
with olive oil, the cotton wool having
been cut to fit the pan exactly. On this
oil saturated pad place a layer of the
petals and over this put a second pad
of cotton wool. On this a second pan
Is placed and filled as the first. This
prodess is continued until all the petals
are used up. OF, course the pans must be
the same size so as to allow of their be-
ing set one within the other. / usually
make my piles about half-a-dozen in
height
"They should be placed in a closed-cov-
cred box--I use biscuit tins-overnight
about "a hol,re. The petals are then
carefully removed from the oil-saturated
batting and fresh petals put in their
place. This process is carried on for
a week, or even longer If you wish to
have the oil particularly strong. Great
care should be used in removing and
eplacing the petals, and should the pads
'ry out too much, as is sometimes the
case during the summer, fresh oil may
be sprinkled' onsI have found the best
method of getting the oil from the pads is
by squeezing directly over the mouth Of
litter into the bottle. The bottle should
III en- be set away until the cloudiness
disappears, when the clear oil may be
dacanted into clean bottles. After the
decanting the oils IRE sready for mixing |
according to the perfume wished
..When I firsts began 4 used to make oil
foundation aronlasI such as essence of
musk arnbergrisR and oil of cloves. Eek
.perience has taught me that these can all
be- had; of a chemist att about the, same
cost. and at a great saving Of trouble and |
IA X W. drOps of these fOunt1a-