如何自制香水？

译者 lucyhi2008

Be a Romantic Scientist: Distill your own perfume oil.

作一个浪漫的科学家：提炼自己的香水精油。

Perfume is often seen as a last-minute gift that requires little thought. But what if you made your own, unique scents?

    香水经常被看成是在紧要关头时刻，最可能想到的而又不需要花费太多心思的礼物。但是，要是你制出了自己独一无二的香水来作为礼物，是不是很与众不同呢？

Step 1Materials needed

步骤1：所需要材料

You will need a vessel to heat water in, a source of heat, gauze or muslin, thread, a delivery tube, a receiving vessel and ice.

You will also need a pretty bottle to store your scent.

For this example, we used a conical flask, a fabric bag of sprigs of lavender plus shredded, a plastic delivery tube and a test-tube in a beaker of cold water. The oil was stored in a film cannister. You may use whatever equipment you can find, at whatever scale you need to produce your scent.

If you are blending oils, you will need a dropper pipette for each raw oil you use.

    当然还需要一个精美的瓶子来储存香水。

    本例中，我们用了一个锥形烧瓶、一个装着薰衣草细枝条的布袋和一些碎布条、一根塑料导管，和一根试管，要把它放在装有冷水的烧杯里。把精油储存在胶卷盒里。你可以利用所能找到的任何材料、制作任何剂量的香水。如果需要混合精油，还需要一根滴管来吸取你要用的精油。

Step 2Distillation.

步骤2：蒸馏

Gently heat the water so that it simmers, rather than boils violently. You need a steady supply of steam passing through the lavender.

    因为需要一股稳定的蒸汽流不断地穿过薰衣草，所以要用文火慢慢把水烧开，而不能让水剧烈翻滚。

Notice how the equipment is arranged so that the steam must pass through the lavender on its way out.

    注意设备的安装放置，一定要让蒸气穿过薰衣草并排出。

The steam passes along the plastic tube to the test tube, where it condenses on contact ith the ice-cooled glass.

    蒸汽经过塑料导管传到试管过程中，接触到冰冷的玻璃后开始液化。

Step 3Making your scent.

步骤3：调制自己的香水

The disillate needs to be kept in an air-tight container.

    蒸馏后的精华需要保存在密封的容器内。

Try a variety of materials to extract the oils. They will not always smell the same after extraction as before, as some oils are easier to distil this way.

    尝试一下用各种材料来提炼精油。它们提炼后的气味经常与提炼之前不同，并且有一些精油更容易用这种方法提炼。

Try:

Scented leaves like lavender, mint or thyme.

Flowers - roses or violets are good.

Fruits like citrus or apple peels or pears

"Green" smells, like mosses, or leaves and twigs fresh from the tree, nuts and kernels like almond or a cracked-open peach-stone.

Spices, like cinnamon stick, liquorice root or vanilla pod.

When you have a "library" of scents, try blending them to achieve the affect you want. Make sure you add them to a clean container, and use a separate dropper pipette for each raw oil, otherwise you will mix them in unexpected ways.

    当你有了自己的香味“库”时，试着把它们调在一起来得到你想要的香味。一定要把它们加到一个干净的容器里，然后每种精油原料都各用一支滴管来吸取，否则的话，你就用其它非常规的方法来混合它们。

We used lavender, orange peel, lemon peel and lime peel, both separately and together in the flask.

    我们用了薰衣草，桔子皮，柠檬皮和酸橙皮，分别把它们在烧瓶里提炼，和把它们一起放在烧瓶里提炼两种方法。

Step 4Using the scent safely.

步骤4：安全使用香水

Some scented oils are not suitable for direct application to the skin, possibly causing irritation or allergic reactions.

    一些香水精油不适合直接用在皮肤上，因为可能会产生刺激或者引起过敏反应。

Your oils should, therefore, be used indirectly. Use them in proprietary oil-warmers, or add a few drops to pieces of cloth and hang them in warm places, like over lamps (not too close to the bulb), on radiators or in front of your car air-vents.

    所以，你应该间接使用自己制作的精油。在专用的香薰器里使用，或者滴几滴在布条上，把它们悬挂在温暖的地方，如灯具的上方（不要离灯泡太近），或者放在散热器上和汽车的通风口处。

It's tempting to make scented candles from the oil, but there is too much water in it - add water to melted wax and you risk rapid boiling spraying molten wax all over the place.

    有兴趣的话，可以用香水精油制作香味蜡烛，但里面水分太多——因为需要加水熔化蜡烛，你可能冒着快速沸腾的蜡油到处喷溅的风险。