For a nice little break in the home schooling routine yesterday, I decided that we should do something with the lily-of-the-valley plants that carpet our yard. I love lily-of-the-valley, and the girls are always looking for a flower craft. So I opened our nature crafts for kids book and found a method for making perfume from flowers.
Basically, you jam some fragrant petals in a bottle, and pour grain alcohol over them. Leave it for two weeks, then uncork and strain.
They didn't mention lily-of-the-valley as a good one, but it smells good, so I figured why not.
We went to Michael's. We bought some cute little bottles for $1 each.
We went to the liquor store to get grain alcohol. The problem: No one sells it.
I kind of couldn't believe it. I thought that when I was in college, people made punch and jello shots with grain alcohol. But when I asked one of the folks at one store how to get it, he said, "MAKE it. That's the only way." And we even got a little mini-dissertation from the next liquor store owner about why he won't sell it. (Basically, he doesn't want to be responsible for anyone getting hurt.) That guy said that we might be able to use 160-proof vodka, but he won't sell THAT, either, for the same reasons. But, he said, other people around here might sell 160-proof vodka, I'd have to call around.
So. No grain alcohol, and no energy to drive around town looking for 160-proof vodka that may or may not do the job.
The craft book said not to use rubbing alcohol, the scent is too disruptive.
So we looked in our own liquor cabinet. I found a small, clear bottle with words in Russian and only Russian. What could it be but vodka, right? And the Russians make it strong, right? So we crammed hundreds of lily-of-the-valley blossoms into a little bottle and poured the Russian stuff over it.
Before I corked it, I smelled it. It smelled vile.
Wonder what it will be like in 2 weeks. I'm betting not good.
But it's the process that counts. In this case, I bet we forget all about it until the end of the summer anyway. And then it will smell so bad that they'll remember the whole thing for the rest of their lives.
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Coincidentally, Max wanted to do an experiment a few months back that he found in one of his chemistry books. It, too, called for grain alcohol. I, too, went to the liquor store to find that they don't sell it. I'm SURE it was for sale when I was a teenager...I remember my brother-in-law getting some...but I guess those days are over. We didn't have any mystery Russian moonshine in the cabinet, so the experiment never got done.
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