As you learn how to make flower essences you will begin to build up your own store of mothers from which you make the stock and dosage bottles. Mothers are the pure essence you make on site from the distillation of flowers, sun and water mixed with brandy. Stock bottles are made from a dilution of the mother mixed with brandy, and dosage bottles are made up of water and a few drops from the stock bottle.
Sterilizing Essence-making Equipment
It is vital that all equipment used for making an essence is sterilized to ensure that residual energies from previous remedies are completely eliminated. Dr Bach was so concerned with this factor that he used glass bowls only once, breaking them after use. They are so difficult to locate today that it is not practical to do this. A simple baby bottle sterilizer is cheap to obtain and suitable for nearly all possible needs, although the inside may have to be customized.
The pans used for boiling method may be too large to go in the sterilizer, so fill them with bottled water and leave to boil for 20 minutes, or invert them over a sterilizing pan and steam for 20 minutes. Remove while still hot and allow to dry on plastic lattice trays. Wrap in clean cloths and store in a dry cupboard.
All your essence making equipment must be kept for this purpose only and should not be used for cooking or other domestic purposes. You should also use bottled spring water, not tap water, in the sterilizers and pans. Leftover water from the spring could also be used. Minerals from the water may build up on the equipment, so purchase a natural glass cleaner and polish them up once in a while before sterilizing.
Sterilizing Dosage Bottles
To sterilize dosage bottles, purchase a new enamel or glass saucepan. Stainless steel is also suitable, though expensive, but aluminum is best avoided. The pan should be labeled and kept for this purpose only. Pour a little bottled water into the bottom of the pan and put in the bottles and pipettes, put on the lid and simmer for 20 minutes.
There is no need to sterilize the rubber teats and plastic caps, as the water does not reach that far up. Wash them in some soapy water, cleaning inside the teats with a small brush then rinsing several times with boiled water. You can complete this process by putting the bottles in a warm oven to dry, this ensures that they stay shiny. Left to dry normally there is often a residue. However, polishing while still hot prevents this.
Preparing Stock Bottles
Mother tinctures are prepared by preserving the newly made flower essence tincture in an equal quantity of brandy. This mix will keep indefinitely and, as the stock strength is highly dilute, will last a very long time. To prepare a stock bottle, fill a 30ml/1 fl oz dropper bottle with brandy and add 2 drops of mother tincture. This is the traditional dilution. However, two drops of mother tincture added to a 10ml bottle, which is the usual size of stock bottles purchased over the counter, has also been proven to work effectively. Mix well by banging the base of the bottle on the palm of the hand and allow to stand for a few days before use.
Instead of the stock dilution, 2 drops of pure mother tincture may be used in the dosage bottle if preferred. This was suggested by Dr Bach in his original instructions in 1936, and is an option for the essence maker.
