Three questions on diluting

[pelle]

Hi all!

Maybe the answers to some of my questions is in the sticky, but I haven't had any real luck finding it so far. Sorry if my newbie questions are annoying!

I have finally got my hand on some raw materials, and I look forward to learn about them. I have some old Jean Carles charts that I will try to follow in my smelling journey. I have both naturals and synthetic materials, and my plan was initially to dilute almost everything to 10% in DPG. I live in a country (Sweden) where perfumers alcohol is very hard to come by, and I'm also worried about evaporation when diluting in alcohol.

Now someone told me that it might be a good idea to dilute to 20% instead of 10% if I use DPG as solvent because it "tames" the material a bit compared to alcohol.

I will start diluting and smelling all my naturals, and go through the synthetics later. Maybe also do some occasional blending but just for learning purposes. In the future the goal is alcohol based perfumes but then I guess I will buy more raw materials for that purpose later.

I have tried to find general info on what solvent works for what, but it isn't super clear (I'm not a chemist).

Question 1: Are there any naturals where I shouldn't use DPG as solvent?

Question 2: Do you think it is in general a good idea to go for 20% dilution when using DPG instead of 10%? (Of course there are exceptions, I will read TGSC etc)

Question 3: I have already diluted a bunch of materials to 10%, but I guess I can add more essential oil etc to the dilution to make it 20%. This is how I think I will do it - please correct me if I'm wrong:

NOW: 10% dilution - consisting of 0,5 gr oil + 4,5 gr DPG making total weight 5 gr.

WHAT I WANT: 20% dilution - I will add 0,62 gr making the total weight 5,62 gr (1,12 gr oil + 4,5 gr DPG) 1,12/5,62=19,93%

Thanks a lot in advance!

 

[ourmess]

Question 3: I have already diluted a bunch of materials to 10%, but I guess I can add more essential oil etc to the dilution to make it 20%.

I made a quickie Google Sheet a while ago to calculate diluting both up and down.

 

[pkiler]

Yes, Dilute to 20%, instead of 10%.
only dilute a portion/small portion, leave the rest neat.

Since I don't normally dilute most things, I am not a good person to ask about what is good or not in DPG.
The eminent David Ruskin recommends DPG as a dilutant, he likes DPG a lot. He used it regularly at his time in the Fragrance house he worked at.
Conversely, I've had DPG turn bad smelling, so I decided not to dilute much in DPG when possible.
I'll use other things for my choice of dilutants, when required.

 

[pkiler]

Question 3: I have already diluted a bunch of materials to 10%, but I guess I can add more essential oil etc to the dilution to make it 20%. This is how I think I will do it - please correct me if I'm wrong:

NOW: 10% dilution - consisting of 0,5 gr oil + 4,5 gr DPG making total weight 5 gr.

WHAT I WANT: 20% dilution - I will add 0,62 gr making the total weight 5,62 gr (1,12 gr oil + 4,5 gr DPG) 1,12/5,62=19,93%

10% is one part into nine parts.
If you know what the weight is of each part, then making a 20% is 2 parts to eight parts.
and you just do the math.

 

[pelle]

I made a quickie Google Sheet a while ago to calculate diluting both up and down.

Thanks for the link to the google sheet! Turned out I was almost right...

 

[pelle]

Yes, Dilute to 20%, instead of 10%.
only dilute a portion/small portion, leave the rest neat.

Since I don't normally dilute most things, I am not a good person to ask about what is good or not in DPG.
The eminent David Ruskin recommends DPG as a dilutant, he likes DPG a lot. He used it regularly at his time in the Fragrance house he worked at.
Conversely, I've had DPG turn bad smelling, so I decided not to dilute much in DPG when possible.
I'll use other things for my choice of dilutants, when required.

Thanks for the input, very much appreciated!