How to Weigh A Powder

In perfume formulas you will often find powders listed in their pure form. This is enigmatic to many starting perfumers because they often work in drops using pipettes.

First it is important to know that powders are usually added in their pure form to a fragrance blend. They don't need pre-dilution to make them liquid. They will, in almost every case, dissolve easily in a mix of essential oils, aroma chemicals and bases. If you do work in drops only or with all materials in dilution, you will have to dilute your powders, and while this primer doesn't describe that (every powder has its own requirements for diluting), you still need to initially weigh the powder to make your dilution.

Weighing Powders For Perfume

Step 1 - Assemble a mask and your Fraterworks powder card

The reason we wear masks with powders is that they easily aerosolise and even if we are very careful, it is easy to breath the fine microparticles in. For some powders this is not a problem but for others it is important for health reasons to not inhale the pure form. The safest option is to err on the side of caution and always wear a mask. A simple cloth mask or even a bandana is probably sufficient but as you can see in our photograph, we prefer and recommend a proper laboratory mask.

Step 2 - Fold powder card and put on balance

We will use the Fraterworks powder card like a funnel so fold it in half along the dotted line and place it in the centre of your balance. It weighs around 3.5 grams as the image above shows.

Step 3 - Tare or Zero the Balance

Because we don't want to include the weight of the card in our powder measurement we need to tare or zero the balance. You should have a button on your scale which says either of those two words (in our example above it is the word Zero and the button is red - on the far right). Press the Zero or Tare button.

Step 4 - Weigh your powder

Using a spoon transfer your powder to the middle of the Fraterworks powder card. Lab spoons are best but you can really use anything, just make sure it is dedicated to perfumery use and doesn't get used in the kitchen with food — and always clean the spoon thoroughly between uses.

In our example here we have weighed out 2 grams of Musk Ketone. If you go over your required weight, gently grip the back of the powder card to hold it steady while you use your spoon to remove a little of the powder. Release the card and let the balance re-settle to get the new weight. 

Step 4 - Pour the powder into your blend

At this stage you are ready to pick the card up carefully by the upright back. Keep the card slightly tiled back so the powder doesn't fall off the front. It is also a good way to get the powder to settle into the fold which makes pouring easier if you are tipping it into a small necked bottle.

Our powder cards are just stiff enough that they won't unbend due to the weight of the powder added.

Some Caveats

You can re-use the Fraterworks powder cards by writing the name of the chemical you use it for on the card. You shouldn't use the same card for different powders as there will be a high risk of cross contamination.