Parfumerie Grenouille

Parfumerie Grenouille

Perfume: The Story of A Murderer by Patrick Süskind has long been one of my all-time favorite books.  I've never seen the movie, I just don't know how they could even come close to the broken & diabolical mind of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. If you are not familiar with the storyline, here is a brief description without giving away too much of the story, courtesy of Amazon:

In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift—an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille’s genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and fresh-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the “ultimate perfume”...

The Evil Queen from Alpha Stamps declared that the theme for the month of May was to be the Collector's Room; or what you imagined one would look like. 

What better room for me to create than what I imagine Parfumerie Grenouille might look like. Well, it was either that or something related to Poe. (Poe won out for my Halloween project idea, I can't wait to get started on that!)

Back to the madness of Monsieur Grenouille...

The size of this shadowbox is teenie weenie (the inside shadowbox is approx. 3-1/4" x 4-3/4" and 2" deep). Labels for the bottles were cut from the Miniature Perfume Labels Collage Sheet, A Lady's Boudoir Ephemera Collage Sheet, and others that are on my supply list. 

Perfume bottles were made from assorted beads, with tiny glass spheres on top for the stopper. Also used for the stopper are black and red glass rondelles. Miniature glass jars contain real: dried lavender, patchouli and rose petals.  Clear glass beads and miniature flask bottles were colored with Copic Markers to make the "liquid" tinted.

When you're working with miniatures, what I have learned (the hard way) is to never, ever glue something down until you're absolutely sure that's where you want the item placed. One of my most favorite things to use that will keep items in place is Museum Wax Anchoring Putty.  It's a lifesaver, especially if you decide to move stuff around 5 million times before you're ready to glue it down.

The lamp is one of my favorite pieces - a super skinny dowel, bead caps and a filigree base mixed with 20 gauge wire and tah-dah! A floor lamp! To make everything fit inside the shadowbox I had to cut part of the base off and then slid it against the table and wall.  If you look closely, you will see a pair of green eyes staring at you! Grenouille must be having another go at trying to capture that elusive scent that has been driving him quite insane.

What took the longest for me to make are the books.  Oh my gawwwwd those books. It wasn't enough for me to just make the books and then put on the shelf. No. I had to write a book title onto a white label, cut the label out, put the label on the spine and then I used watered down Distress Stain-Vintage Photo to age each book. Hours and hours those books took. Did I mention how long the books took to make? (Most of the book titles I listed are books that I actually own, coveted books by both Jeanne Rose and Mr. Poucher.) To write those titles I used a black Copic Multiliner Finetip Marker Set. The one that worked the best for writing so tiny is the 0.03 from the set. Know that you'll find yourself holding your breath without realizing it and your hands will probably shake when you're trying to write that small. 

Nuvo Gilding Flakes are used on the bookcase here and there, as well as on the top of the back wall. (One gets the feeling that wherever Grenouille is holed up, at one time or another it surely was thing of beauty.)

One quick thing about the bookcase. To fit the shadowbox, you will have to cut down the bookcase by one shelf after it is put together and has dried. 

I hope you've enjoyed looking through Parfumerie Grenouille! Of course in my version, Grenouille has a creepy little apprentice who likes to dress up exactly like Grenouille and does whatever he is asked to do...no mater how ah, unconventional it may be. 

If you'd like to see the supplies that I used, they can be found on my supply list. 

btw, Perfume: The Story of A Murderer was also a favorite of Kurt Cobain. Nirvana even has a song about the book -

Scentless Apprentice

Like most babies smell like butter
His smell smelled like no other
He was born scentless and senseless
He was born a scentless apprentice

Go away - get away, get away, get a-way
Every wet nurse refused to feed him
Electrolytes smell like semen

I promise not to sell your perfumed secrets
There are countless formulas for pressing flowers

I lie in the soll and fertilize mushrooms
Leaking out gas fumes are made into perfume

You can't fire me because I quit
Throw me in the fire and I won't throw a fit

Written by Dave Grohl, David Grohl, David Eric Grohl, Krist Novoselic, Kurt Cobain, Kurt D. Cobain, Novoselic Krist • Copyright © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc, BMG Rights Management US, LLC