DISTILL: to subject something to or transform it by distillation; to extract the essence
Have you ever watched an herbalist make essential oils?
It’s a fascinating process and one that I will be the first to tell you I know
only the basics of the process. I've watched a friend of mine make batches of
essential oils.
There is a chamber or pot that holds raw plant
material—flowers, leaves, wood, bark, roots, seed, or peels (which is yet
another process). The chamber is then placed over or above a pot of water. As
the water heats, the steam passes through the raw plant material, and allows
for the vapor to flow into a coil where it condenses back into a liquid, which
drips into another container. This is what you would call an essential oil.
That means it carries the distinctive scent, or essence, of the plant. The oil
is then allowed to cool and is poured into storage vials. Later, my friend will
bring out her ‘recipe’ book and mix the oils to create certain scents or
properties for herbal medicines. It’s a time consuming process and take much
more raw plant material than one would assume to create enough oil to fill a
little vial. After watching the process I now understand why essential oils can
get pricey.
If one is doing peels or fruit to make oil it is first
pressed into a paste (that takes some work unless you have a press to do it for
you) and then put in the chamber over boiling water and the same process ensues
to collect the oil into storage containers. Some fruit/peel/pulp is cold
pressed—meaning no heat. The pressure from the weighted press causes the oil
droplets to separate from the raw plant material and drip into a container.
Olive oil can be made this way.
My mind always jumps to correlations when watching a physical
process. I've had a story I wrote on my mind. I know it needs editing. As I
watched this process it got me thinking about my rather fat story. I realized
that I needed to do some distilling. All those words, scenes, descriptions, and
characters (raw material) need a heating chamber so the essence of the story
could be condensed into a purer form. Once I had the essential oils of the
story distilled I could then mix them to give impact to what I wanted my story
to be—much like my friend getting out her recipe book and adding tiny drips and
drops oils to make something new and wow. More than a drop can create an overpowering mess.
I’m no different than any other writer. I have attachments to
certain phrases and scenes but unless that scene is moving the story forward
there is no place for it. I have to detach and let it go. I’m not saying my
scene is worthless—it’s not. There was a purpose as I wrote it and that
function could have been a necessary ingredient to define a character or back
story in my mind so I could find the path to move the story from point A to point
B. It was something I needed as a writer but not necessarily
something that the reader needs. I want them focusing on the
distinctive characters, events and the emotions of the story.
I need to put away the cups and tablespoons and get out my dropper and add some drops of the essential oils to enhance the punch of a
scene without losing the story. I want wow in the now.
- So, how goes your writing this week?
