Working the Bench: A Natural Botanical Perfumery Instructional for Beginners

As a beginning natural botanical perfumer, I feel this book is being a “missing link” in some of my understanding of technique – how to do things – as well as why to do them. There is so much good information in here ~ all delivered in the clear, friendly, and accessible voice of someone who adores this work and who also happens to be an expert in it. The author’s generosity in sharing the fruits of her many years of “working the bench” is really quite a blessing. This book was unavailable for a while, and I am really happy to see it again. A truly valuable book for anyone beginning to make their way in this field, and I would bet even “old hands” at this might find some new and useful information here. And all at a compassionate price …!

I love how the contents are organized. The book is easy to understand, less jargon.

First, let me just say there is some GREAT information in this book. Really and truly there is, and I'm appreciative of that.However, I was terribly disappointed to see that the text on each page is printed very, very small. Add to that the fact that all the text on each page is enclosed in a rectangular box centered on the page, and the total amount of text would only take up approximately 1/3 of each page if this was actually formatted like a proper print book. As such, the actual length of the book would easily be only approximately 1/3 of what is listed in the description (210 pages). Of course that would change somewhat if the text were actually a larger and more readable size as well.Even with the information that's here, I kind of feel like I've been ripped off. I was really expecting a nice, meaty book since it's listed at 210 pages... but that's just not the case. Had I realized this, I'd have never paid $32 for it. Well, I take that back. I probably would have, but if the book was formatted properly so that it's an easier read. I'd have at least known what I was getting and wouldn't feel like I do. I'd rather knowingly pay $32 for a 90 page book than to think I'm getting a 210 page book only to find out that the majority of each page is just white space.The same is true with the Essence Evaluation Workbook that's a companion to this book... there's some good info at the beginning and the end (it is formatted like I'd consider a typical print book, so there was no issue in that regard), but essentially the entire book is comprised of nothing but sheets to use in evaluating essences, creating accords, etc. Yes, I understand this is for convenience, but again, had I realized that 95% of the book was simply blank evaluation forms, I'd have never purchased it. Even when viewing the "Look Inside" feature one would believe the majority of this book is actually text, and there's nothing in the description to lead one to believe that the majority of it is comprised of repeats of the same forms over and over again. Maybe I just expected too much.I had high hopes for these two books as a companion set, but I kind of have a bad taste in my mouth simply because I feel a bit like I was ripped off. I respect Justine Crane's experience and appreciate very much that she took the time to write and publish this book in order to share her knowledge, but I honestly do wish she'd re-evaluate how it's formatted and remedy this issue.I really feel torn and kind of just wish I could return them both.

Justine Crane definitely knows her stuff! The content and information in this book is great, but the poor organization and the fact that there is no index, really bothers me. The editing is not that great either. Navigating the book is difficult and I feel had the author been more organized with charts, provided an index, I would have given 5 stars. The book is in depth, the author guides you on how to perform fragrance trials and building accords. There is not much on using raw ingredients, or ones made by hand yourself, which would have been fantastic to have that guidance in using raw materials . I thought because it is a natural perfumery book, it would have information on using tinctured raw materials, oils made with enfleurage, etc. The only information on this subject is a short overview of terms and their definitions. Maybe I expected too much for the price, as most of the in-depth perfumery books I've come across are 5-7 times the price. I won't take it as a loss as I did like learning the authors methods. She chooses to use the french method, so that is what is used for all her formulas. I'm not going to return it, but I'm sure I'll be annoyed by my looking for the index everytime I pick it up ! I do use the book, I do like the authors methods, and she does explain things in detail for the beginning natural perfumer. I'm going to purchase Working the Bench ll, as I feel it will pick up where this book left off! UPDATE: I purchased WORKING THE BENCH VOLUME 2 and it is AMAZING! I whole-heartedly recommend Volume 2!

Great info, important book for anyone interested in becoming a natural perfumer.

In depth subject matter! Great reference and basics. Will use again and again. Highly recommended to the beginner and beyond.

This book actually looks like a book - but that is its first deception.Upon opening it, you will see that the layout encloses all of the text within a small, bordered rectangle, which is surrounded by ENORMOUS margins. Seriously, it's like if you typed some stuff on a 3" x 5" index card, and then glued that onto an 8.5" x 11" piece of standard notebook paper.And the text font is tiny, seeming almost lost on the vast sea of white paper.The author self-published this work, and it is painfully clear that she should have sought some professional help. I could't take the content seriously, the layout is so strange and homemade. And I felt completely ripped off that she has the nerve to charge $35. All of the material in this book could probably fit in something about as long an owner's manual for a vacuum cleaner.I did, however, find a couple of pieces of useful information in it before I returned it.