One of my favorite places, everywhere I live, is the library. Even if I can find comfort nowhere else, I will in a building designated for housing row after row of books. It's the calming scent of paper and aging ink, the comfort of ancient glues and gathering dust as books wait for me to find them and open my mind to their adventures. This is a highly complex fragrance, with an herbal accord of dill and chamomile, layered in with notes of magnolia, lotus, cypress and cardamom and a gentle hint of honeysuckle and verbena.
The ingredients sound very magical and exciting to me! Let's learn more about Diana, and how she got started in her "perfumery" business.
What led you to start creating your art/craft?
Perfumery was an accident, mostly. I was looking to raise book money post-college for my occult studies, and taking stock of what I had on hand that I understood well enough to work with, I went with creating ritual oils. I posted a listing for a "custom" blend on Ebay, and the very first person who bid had a request for 7-8 items, and was very pleased with my work. It mushroomed from there into something that took over my entire kitchen. EventuallyI dropped the ritual oil and went straight on into authentic perfume, because aesthetic became a magical practice in and of itself.
How did you decide what medium you wanted to work with?
I think that really, it chose me. A lot of people in my line of practice had an interest in herbs and oils, but didn't really understand them; I had a good intuitive and practical knack for the plants and the chemicals I was working with, along with a lifelong special relationship to plant life. It's not just my ideas of how something should smell, but the continued cyclic process of the plants captured in the formulas.
What aspect of creating your art/craft do you find the most enjoyable?
I love all of it, but I think most of all the conceptualization. Determining what scent wants to be expressed and what chemicals want to express it, is a joyous discovery (I'm very animistic in my process.) Also, the concepts that are expressed through me are so much more interesting than what I was used to seeing in perfume. Sex is beyond great, but bottling up humour is really fun, too.
If you had to choose a fruit OR a vegetable, to describe your art/craft, what would you choose, and why?
I'd go with a pomgranite - fraught with mystery, a few blind spots, and stuff you can't use right away is part of the nature of the perfuming trade. But ultimately, very rich and well worth the effort, if only you're willing to get just a bit messy in the process of discovery.
What message, if any, do you want to convey with your art/craft?
Each bottle really does have its own message, and the way it interacts with a person's individual chemistry is part of that conversation. I think if I had to choose a single message, it would be that it's important to get out of your head and back into your body; it's a fuller experience that leads to a richer life.
What advice do you have for other artists/crafters?
Have something else to do. Crafting and art creation is super important. However, if all you do with your time is your art - well, that way lies madness, repetition and an eventual loss of originality. I (try to) work out, cook, clean, write, and I get into a few fan forums here and there (mainly Daria and Doctor Who, some In Plain Sight.) This is what works for me, and it keeps me balanced as well as proving to be a font of inspiration for me. It's not goofing off unless you do it all day - in fact, scheduling some goof off time, you will find yourself much saner and more balanced.
Diana...thanks for taking the time to give us a "peek" into what makes you tick as a "perfumery" artist. Great answers! Be sure to visit MAGIKAL REALISM NATURAL PERFUMERY to see what other intriguing fragrances Diana has developed. Also, click on any of the links below to learn more about Diana and her other areas of interest.
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