Cristy in the City: crafts

Showing posts with label crafts. Show all posts

Our perfume making experience at La Luz Essence

Perfume is magic. It's mystery. We recreate the smell of a flower. Of wood. Of grass. We capture the essence of life. Liquefy it. We store memories. We make dreams.
-M.J. Rose

Fragrance is evocative and powerful in distilling old, buried memories, feelings and sensations. It could remind you of a favorite person, place or moment you hold close to your heart.

I spent a friend's (a kindred soul) belated birthday celebration with a perfume making session at La Luz Essence, a homegrown artisan business specializing in hand poured scented soy candles and small batch customized fragrances.

I already had a fragrance concept in mind before walking into the cute and cozy craft studio of Miss Eva. I recently returned from a trip to Kyoto/Osaka and I was inspired by the fresh, invigorating atmosphere of Kyoto's zen gardens. Think yuzu citrus, green tea, hinoki, azalea and cedarwood. I gravitate towards woodsy, citrusy scents so voila, Kyoto in Late Spring is born! Kyoto has bergamot as top note, Japanese honeysuckle as mid note and cedarwood blanc as base note. The sillage (or drydown) evokes a walk through a cedarwood forest on the cusp of late spring and early summer.

Miss Eva introduced us to the fragrance pyramid as well as the fragrance profile associated with top, mid and base notes. I love singular scents like pine, vanilla and rose but it is the alchemy of notes that makes a scent complex, memorable, and unique. We loved how our perfume creations turned out! After mixing our concoction with a glass stirrer, we distilled the perfume into a Chanel No. 5 inspired perfume bottle. We also designed our own label sticker to make our creation truly ours! We enjoyed our perfume making class and we hope to come back again soon to concoct a new personal scent and try La Luz Essence's candle making workshop!

The inspiration: Kennin-ji Temple's zen garden in Higashiyama, Kyoto

Our perfume creations: My friend's Covent Garden (originally titled Chelsea Flower Market) and my Kyoto in Late Spring

We were served by Miss Eva petite bowls of berry fruit tea while we were concocting our fragrances

La Luz Essence

MacArthur Drive, Tabuc Suba,

Jaro, Iloilo City

The art of Alima Embroidery

“That's the thing with handmade items. They still have the person's mark on them, and when you hold them, you feel less alone.”

― Aimee Bender, The Color Master: Stories

The handmade movement is making its way to local Ilonggo weekend markets and bazaars. In today's hectic world where everything is mass produced and impersonal, the slow life philosophy is creating a space for makers and artisans to express their creativity through one-of-a-kind handcrafted gifts, meticulously fashioned by hand and heart. Unlike mass produced items, what makes handmade pieces special is the investment of time, quality materials and talent to create unique, one-of-a-kind items to be appreciated for years to come. Steeped in tradition and heritage, handmade crafts bring back warm memories of the past when almost everything was made by hand.

One of the purveyors of the handmade movement in Iloilo is Alima Embroidery. "Alima" is a Hiligaynon word for hand that symbolizes the artist's craft. Van, the artist behind the handmade brand is inspired to create motifs such as Iloilo City landmarks, Philippine botanicals and wildlife, Filipiniana, stylized portraits as well as woodland and landscapes.

Alima Emroidery showcases its embroidery portfolio for rehoming and commissioning on its Instagram page as well as on its Facebook page. Bakal Lokal, a local digital e-commerce platform with brick and mortar shop located at Produkto Lokal Hub, AAMC Barbo Building ,Jalandoni St. In Jaro district also features some Alima Embroidery items for sale.

Aside from offering custom made embroidery works, Alima Embroidery is also spreading the love of handmade by selling embroidery beginner's kit featuring select Philippine blooms such as the exotic Waling-Waling orchid and Ylang Ylang. This kit is perfect for those who want to try embroidery but do not have time to gather materials. It makes a great weekend project or gift for a budding thread artist. Customers can order by sending a DM to Alima Embrroidery's FB or Instagram page.