Balls Inspector!

or what i made today.

today was all about balls, namely making incense balls similar to that of the Egyptian incense, and i am sure a few other cultures made them in a similar way but can't quite remember.  anyhoo i made five different varieties, see the picture below

there are five different sorts? flavours? smells? i even have names for and they are, Yemaya, Sea Witch incense balls, (those are the ones on the tray that are oblong shaped) the bowl behind that is the Mamma Watta Bath Salts, they are similar and go together.  the round ones on the tray are called "Earth Goddess"  the dark ones on the plate next to the bowl are the counter Part to the Earth Goddess, i guess they could be called, The Green Man, ??  (as opposed to Gods sticky Balls, teheh )   the ones on the plate next are called Furious Rose (the title of a Lisa Lobe song, cause the lady who suggested the excellent combination of rose, cardamon and ambergris reminds me a little of Lisa Lobe) and then the balls on the plate at the front of the picture are ones i made two weeks ago, and they are sweet temple incense.  yay..

so i spent the day grinding, burning and smelling as with Fire Fly series playing in the background.  most enjoyable.  below are extrema close ups of the various balls..  for your viewing pleasure.  these should be showing up on the etsy store in i would say 5 weeks or so.. as they take some time to harden.

incense balls are pretty easy to make, it takes herbs, flowers, resin, type ingredients which have been ground into a powder.  thankfully i have a coffee grinder which i use to do some of the harder herbs like storax bark, and moroccan rose resin, and star ansie, the rest i used the more traditional mortar and pestle which is fun to and your arms get a good work out. once you have ground your herbs you add the honey, which i heated in a little glass bowl in the sink which had hot water in it, as it makes it much more runny.  i was using manuka honey thus it is a little more viscous than clear runny honey.. anyhoo.. you mix in the honey until it becomes like dough, sorta. then you kneed it,, actually i just passed it from one hand to the other and squeezed it cause i made about a good sized handful of each.. once i figured that all of the ingredients had been combined enough i used a tiny 1/4 teaspoon and made little balls, or pallets, and ta'dar,, balls, sticky balls.. but fun all the same. 

not so difficult but you do get sticky incense stuff under you nails so i suggest that you cut them before hand.. *nods*.

Sweet Temple

Furious Rose

Yemayas, Sea Witch

Earth Goddess

The Green God

anyway our house smells of the following Ambergris, amber, honey, ginger, Storax, Damar, Patchouli and a whole slew of other exotic scents.. kinda nice really.. *beams*

it was a busy day today and all with the making magic, interspersed with visits from fallaras and The Aunt *grins* who dropped off some wooden rounds from when i was up at mums place last weekend..

it was a lovely day so i set up outside.



so while tatjna sewed i burnt Stuff to make sure that it smelled 1/ smelt nice, one in that.. ewie ewie get that stench away from me, and 2/ that it smelled like the element i was working with. please not the cups of tea.. always important for the tea fuelled witch when making magic. *grins*



i quiet like that there is a bubble in the middle of my teacup.. (not that you can see it.. *ponders why) but there is a cup of tea in this picture and the one above.. you might just have to take my word for it..teheh

so first up was Fire Elemental Incense.. which was just as well at it turned out that Tommy reacted to one of the ingredients, it could of been the juniper,, or umm..Frankincense.. but hey, i always put what is in said incenses just in case people have these types of reactions..



this one contains, bay, juniper, clove, cinnamon, rosemary, frankincense and red ceder (all the way from canadia via this nice lady the Forest Witch) nom nom..

Second Up Air Elemental Incense


this one contains Lavender, Lemon Grass, Star Anise, Dammar (and lucky find at the health food store, i might have to go and purchase the rest that they have) and Benzoin..

third to be pounded into submision err made with the duitiful respect required... Earth Elemental Incense



now this one contains some hard to get ingredents, if you live in New Zealand.. and they are patchouli leaves, (and they smell divine nom nom, i am such a hippy) manuka leaves, Vervain, and the last of the Amber that i got in Brisbane.. eek not to worry i have some other amber honey amber, but alas not very much.

then next was Water Elemental Incense,



this one contains myrrh, thyme, rose, sandlewood, and hyssop

see Water Elemental incense was quite challenging, cause really i can see fire, earth, and air, but water.. not so much, however when you change your thought pattern, as aim it at the fact that the aim of this incense is to call in the energetic energies of water...(not sure if energetic is the right word.) then it becomes much easier.. of course then you have to run back and smell the other incense's that you have made just to make sure that they have the same signature.. so to speak... quite complicated in a way but also instinctual in others...hmmm.. but still much fun and astheically pleasing.. look how pretty the different mixes came out.. yay...

and finally Wisdom Bath Salts (i got the idea for these from Ms Sarah Lawless of the Forest Grove.. and will be making other bath salts, maybe tomorrow, i hope that she doesn't mind. *beams*)



so this contains salt, of three different types.. epsom, sea, and Himalayan as well as culinary sage, white sage (another difficult plant to get here in NZ) and rose buds. i thought that i had muslin to make little bags to go with this but alas,, the weave is to large.. opps...

so there you go.. all with the crafting and witching.. yay..



also that last jar, the big one contains smudge incense, something i have been making for years.. the recipe came from one of my first teachers, Morgan, way back in the day.. i have added to it, but it is essentially culinary sage, lavender, basil, and rose petals, and i do not have a picture of that in my mortar as i made it on thrusday nite, and didn't think to take one.. doh...

and soon these lovely incense and other stuff will end up on my etsy store, but i still have to figure out postage, and packaging.. oh and prices.. and to start with they will only be avaiable with in New Zealand, however if it happens that i get quite a bit of overseas interest we can always make changes.. but still sending loose herbs overseas.. could be a customs issues.. *ponders this*..

right now to figure out what to wear out this eve.. *ponders this to*

*Twirls around*..

(cross posed to my LJ)