Copal Blanco Resin Extract

It is perfect as an ingredient or base for making solid perfumes, salves, cremes, cosmetics, incense blends and moustache wax recipes. It dissolves readily in warm carrier oils in the water bath. It is less expensive than fresh resin and just as valuable.

Copal Blanco Resin Extract comes as a mixture of powder and small chunks. I usually crush the chunks before processing.

I have found that most tree resins have an affinity for our skin. This could be attributed to the resin's function of healing the skin of the tree, but regardless of the reason, resins mixed with a carrier oil leave the skin feeling soft, supple, smooth and happy.

I prepare a base for medicated oils, salves and cremes by processing Copal Blanco resin extract in a water bath at a ratio of 1 part resin extract to 3 parts carrier oil. You can play around with the proportions as you wish. the resin extract will dissolve in the warm carrier oil and require filtering before use. I do this through a metal-mesh coffee filter. Other oil-soluble ingredients such as waxes, essential oils and carrier oils can be added easily to your creation.

In a Moustache or beard wax formula, Copal Blanco resin extract performs the same as fresh oleoresin, giving great hold and shaping power while "perming" facial hair to the desired shape and lending a distinguished Elemi fragrance.

Used extensively in Mexican churches and homes during the year, Copal Blanco is best known for its use in Mexican Day of the Dead ceremonies and celebrations, where the smoke of burning Copal is seen as an offering and helps raise one's prayers to the Divine. The pillar of Copal incense smoke is also believed to act as a beacon, leading the ancestral spirits home.

Fresh, it has a sweet lemony scent. Burned on the coal, it raises a beautiful, thick column of gentle, soft smoke with sweet hints of burnt caramel and soft ethereal floral notes.

Copal Blanco/Bursera bipinnata is a member of the Burseraceae family of trees. They are also called Torchwood trees and the Incense tree family. It is related to Frankincense, Myrrh, Elemi and many other fragrant resin-bearing trees used for incense and perfume.

As with many other resins of the Burseracaea family, Copal is also used in traditional medicine. It is often dissolved in oil and used to treat sore muscles and joints and an assortment of skin conditions.

Dan

Materials: Copal Blanco, White Copal, Bursera Bipinnata, Copal Resin Extract, Sacred Copal Resin Extract.