crafting Manifesto Rule #2

It's going to take a while to create the full Manifesto for my crafting, but here is my first rule. Ok, so it's actually going to be considered Rule #2 because I'm sure something amazing will come to me that absolutely must be Rule #1.

Rule #2:
If it can smell good, it should. Not only should the smell be pleasant, it should bring about a good feeling or help with a purposeful intent.

Today I made incense for the first time in at least a year. Really, I can't recall making incense at all while living in The Happys (what our neighborhood name loosely translates to). So I dusted off the old incense-making machine (me) and pulled some supplies out of deep storage and got to work. Lucky me - I have a stash of damn good incense materials, so the challenge was paring down and working simply. In the past I've gone overkill and added too many different elements, ending up with cones that didn't burn well, or powder or cones that just didn't smell good. I've almost learned my lesson in too much isn't necessarily a good thing with my essential oil creations, so I'm carrying that over to incense as well.

Today I made 1 non-combustible powder incense to be used with charcoal and 2 types of combustible cones. One cone is a groovy blend of opoponax, frankincense and sandalwood, the other is relatively plain which I plan to scent with essential oils as an experiment. The powder is amazing -- juniper with clove and some resins.

Below, left to right: completed powder blend, frankincense resin, opoponax resin.
















Completed cones (which need to dry/cure for a week).





















Luna, the assistant/familiar!

The smell of Catholic Guilt actually cheers us up!

Just another reason to love and burn frankincense resin:

Religious leaders have contended for millennia that burning incense is good for the soul. Now, biologists have learned that it is good for our brains too. An international team of scientists, including researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, describe how burning frankincense (resin from the Boswellia plant) activates poorly understood ion channels in the brain to alleviate anxiety or depression.

(Of course this means more new anti-depressant drugs. isolate the active constituents, replicate them, make sure the rats like it, then turn it into pills and market it to Pfizer.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080520110415.htm