BLACKBIRD’S LAUNCH

This is an exciting week. Tomorrow is the big party to celebrate Olympic Orchids third anniversary and the launch of the perfume I made for the Blackbird store. It’s a big day in a lot of ways because it marks several important transitions. For me, it marks the transition from the first, experimental, years of establishing my business to the realization that it’s here to stay. Something has been created out of nothing, and now there’s the task of polishing and perfecting every aspect of the operation and allowing the natural growth process to take place. 

For Blackbird, it’s the last event before they move out of their Ballard clothing and perfume stores and into a mostly online retail and wholesale format. It’s possible that the brick-and-mortar Apothecary will be reinvented in a new way, in a new place, but that’s for the future to decide.

For the Northwest Indie Perfumers Circuit, it’s also the last event in the Blackbird space. I hope the circuit will continue in another venue but, again, that’s for the future to decide.

Every end is a new beginning, so I hope that all of the new beginnings, whatever they are, will be successful.

My first-ever screen-printed bottles came from the printer day before yesterday, and a batch of them are filled and ready to sell. They look great! It’s really different just being able to grab a bottle from the box and not have to spend time putting a sticky label on it, trying to get it centered. The labels aren’t the final version, but they’re good enough to make me believe that printing on the bottle is the way to go.  All of the merchandise and props have been delivered to Blackbird, and I just went shopping for snacks. We’re good to go!

I would like to invite every reader in the Seattle area to come to the party tomorrow evening. Once again, it’s from 6:00 PM until it finishes, at 5404 22^nd Ave NW, in Ballard. There will be food, drink, good company and some nice door prizes!

BLACKBIRD FOR JULY

The Northwest Indie Perfumers Circuit will continue after a hiatus of two months with a big bash at the Blackbird Apothecary in Seattle to launch my Blackbird fragrance, made especially for them. It’s going to be a celebration of summer in the Pacific Northwest, the dry season when days last almost until midnight and a walk along the country paths and roadsides brings a flood of tangy, sun-warmed evergreen leaves and cedar wood, sun-dried fields, and the unmistakable smell of ripe blackberries.

I envision a sleek blackbird, feathers iridescent in the sun, white eyes popping out greedily as he gorges himself on the big, juicy, sweet fruit, singing his heart out between messy bites. It’s not going to be a sweet gourmand, but rather a fruit-tinged woody scent.The materials that I’m using start with a suite of woody base notes along with a little compatible musk. The dominant material is fir balsam absolute, which is a real pain to work with but worth every curse bestowed on it as I try to weigh it, get it solubilized to the point where I can actually use it, and then clean up its sticky residue. It’s one of the warmest and most delicious of the natural wood materials, giving exactly the sunny atmosphere I’m looking for in Blackbird. Dry, sun-warmed soil and baked grass will be added on top of the woods, and then come the blackberries, created through a tincture of freeze-dried fruit, fruit extract, and some other fruity notes to enhance the whole thing and make it pop.

The Blackbird fragrance will launch the new look of my bottles, too, with sleek printed-on labels and a new bottle cap design. I’m really excited to finish this fragrance, work on packaging, and plan the event itself. Stay tuned for more information about the July event if you’re in the Seattle area, and special Blackbird-related promotions if you’re elsewhere in the universe.

The actual event will take place on Saturday, July 13, from 6:00-9:00 (or whenever they decide to kick us out!) at Blackbird in Ballard, 5410 22^nd Avenue NW, Seattle, WA, 98107. It’s free, there will be good things to eat and drink, and a chance to check out this hip shop. 

APRIL AND MAY FRAGRANCE EVENTS

This spring has been a blur of traveling and overscheduling of events, so I’ve been remiss not only about posting here, but checking other blogs and groups and commenting on anything at all. Now that most of my planned travel is relatively local, I’m trying to get back in the habit of communicating.

The big event coming up is the Seattle Artisan Fragrance Salon on Sunday, May 5, so that’s where a lot of my effort is concentrated. I’m making a new special edition fragrance specifically for the show, and will be launching my new all-natural fragrance, Tropic of Capricorn, which was the winner of Lyn Ayre’s Tropical Challenge earlier this spring. Right now I’m waiting for more maile vine absolute and freeze-dried mango to arrive so that I can make a big batch.

My plans for the Seattle show include a display with lots of live orchid plants, which I can’t do at out-of-town shows. There will also be some goodies to taste, related to the Seattle theme perfume (not coffee!), samples of featured fragrances, and a drawing for a full bottle of something, still to be determined.

If you’re in the Seattle area, the salon is a unique opportunity to meet a variety of West Coast perfumers in person and enjoy samples of artisan chocolate creations, all on the Seattle waterfront.

Next weekend I’m going to be at the Oregon Orchid Show in Portland, exhibiting and selling plants. I’m also going to try something that I haven’t done for years, which is to bring some orchid-theme perfumes to the show. Michael’s coming with me, and will be demonstrating them as he does at the fragrance salons. He’s become quite good at it! If you’re in Portland and are curious about orchids, I highly recommend checking out the show, and stopping by to sniff my perfumes while you’re there. If you’ve never been to an orchid show before, it will be an amazing experience to see the variety of flowers and smell the fragrant ones.

Last night I spent several hours putting together 50 sample packs for the Los Angeles Scentsation event, which will take place on May 11, and includes a bus trip with the fabulous Portia of Australian Perfume Junkies. If you’re in LA, this seems like an amazing opportunity to indulge in a decadent day of perfume sniffing. You’ll probably get one of my sample packs in your swag bag, along with lots of other goodies. If I can’t be there in person, I’ll be there in spirit.

June should be calm and restful compared to everything that came before, giving me time to focus on preparing for the Blackbird Northwest Perfumers Circuit event on July 13, featuring my fragrance line. I have big plans for that, too, including live orchid plants, lots of edible goodies, beverages sponsored by Wine World, live music, a couple of drawings for perfume and/or orchid plants, and the launch of the special edition Blackbird perfume that I’m working on. 

[Seattle waterfront photo from Wikimedia; fragrance salon poster courtesy of Taste TV; Priscila bus photo stolen from Australian Perfume Junkies website, where you can find out who they stole it from]