Pre-Registration for Fall 2008 Online Natural Perfumery Course

Anya's Online Basic Natural Perfumery Course - Registration Beginning

Currently there are 40+ students enrolled in the Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 course. Read some of the testimonials from them, below. More available upon request.

Enroll now for the Fall 2008 session.

Click here to Register now - secure you place in the most dynamic, interactive one-year online class in perfumery!

Whether you want to study perfumery for fun or with the goal of becoming a professional perfumer, you'll enjoy and establish a firm foundation in perfumery basics by taking this course.

Imagine - a full year of interactive, professional education from a teacher with thirty years experience working with natural essences!

Read on...

Your Tuition Helps Others!

$50 of every student's tuition is donated to a worldwide charity on Global Girlfriend. Donations so far have included providing goats to a Rwandan family, sending two girls to school in Afghanistan, and buying a cookstove for a refugee family in Darfur, providing vaccines for 10 animals in a shelter, Hurricane Katrina rebuilding assistance and much more.

The online interactive course has been a huge success for many reasons:

- 12 learning modules full of both traditional and innovative materials

- 16 recorded lectures that bring the modules alive, including a fun lecture on pronunciation of perfumery terms

- Dozens of downloadable venerable perfumery books, modern articles and related materials

- A Primer that outlines the materials covered so the beginning student gets a handle on the scope of topics

- Numerous charts and professional data recording forms unavailable elsewhere

- Intensive work on developing a Scent Memory ™ , the key to becoming a perfumer

- A kit of 25 exquisite aromatic essences to use during the course.

- Monthly - sometimes bi-weekly - "live chats" with the teacher

- A private Yahoo group for classmate interaction and teacher involvement

- A different guest professional from the perfumery industry joins a live chat every two months in a Q&A session to give the students a glimpse into the different facets of the business and art.

Space is limited - click here to pre-register- six students are already enrolled.

Tuition is only $1400 for all the benefits listed above. You can choose to place a deposit now to hold your place in class, pay the full tuition or make payment arrangements. Tuition is non-refundable.

The students have given me feedback that they find the way I teach the course warm and supportive and they even like my East Coast accent in the lectures! In the next week, I'm going to post some excerpts from the lectures and also share a glimpse inside the learning environment that the students enjoy.

Note: several students were unable to keep up the course due to illness, business or personal matters - even a hard drive crash. They expressed appreciation when I wrote all the students announcing they can stay in the course for an extra year, reading all the archived chats and correspondence. It was quite a relief for them, and made me feel that the decision to conduct this class online in the manner selected was the right thing to do.

Student Testimonials:

"As a member of the inaugural online Natural Perfumery Class offered by Anya I have had the great pleasure of being part of a tremendous learning process in a growing field.

Anya is a gifted teacher who has obviously given much thought to the structure and method of teaching this class. She cares about the students and is receptive to their needs. She has also made an obvious effort to include everyone in the educational process.

We are all benefiting from her great store of knowledge and her ability to impart that in a thoughtful and meaningful manner. Anya takes you through the perfuming process thoroughly from learning the scents of the oils in the kit through how they blend together to, finally, making a perfume. By the time you get to the perfume making you have an excellent grounding in both theory and practice. I highly recommend the class!"

Elise Pearlstine, USA, PhD Ecologist, Certified Aromatherapist and Perfumer at Tambela

"The knowledge level of the class before the start goes from blistering beginner, (ME, good at herbs, and somewhat knowledgeable in aromatherapy, bloody lacking at perfume) to folks who have been doing some significant perfume blending, but who wanted to advance their practice. Those bonds I believe will serve me well, and have been my pleasure, hopefully to continue for years as we all advance from NEWBIE status.

I think I can say with some confidence, even after the class, I could go to Anya, and ask her advice on a perfume subject, she would give it willingly, that's just her to the core. I can honestly say, I have already gotten my monies worth out of the class, and we're just beginning month 5. The class is very forgiving of life getting in the way, if you get behind, there is wiggle room to catch up, which , for a single working mom is also nice. "

Lynn Weaver, USA, Registered Nurse, Natural Skin Care at Gentry Scents

"I had no idea what to expect when I signed up! I am passionate about natural perfumery and have lurked on Anya's Yahoo group for years. I knew it would be a great experience because of her participation on Yahoo, so I plunged in.

From the first day, I was impressed by Anya's logical progression teaching us "Scent Memory" as she calls it, and her teaching aids, like the recording forms, Key, and various charts are the bomb!

When I had a family emergency, Anya was compassionate and worked with my schedule. I have learned so much and feel so safe and secure with this class I can't put it into words. I found the best teacher in the World!

Heather Light, UK, newbie in perfumery


Click here to Register now - secure you place in the most dynamic, interactive one-year online class in perfumery! Click here to register.

Spring 2008 Natural Perfumery Online Course Registration

Update Jan 12: only three spaces left for the March 2008 Course. Please contact me here if you wish to enroll. When the class is full, I will take names for a waiting list. The next class will commence in October 2008.

The Spring Class for Basic Natural Perfumery will begin March 6, 2008, and pre-registration is beginning now. Class size will be limited to 20 new students. There are already eight registered with deposits, so I encourage you to place a deposit now to secure a place in the class. The Fall 2007 class filled up in one day after it was announced, so demand is high and placement is competitive.

More information and the registration and deposit form can be found on Anya's Garden Classes page. Click on the link there to read a recent testimonial by a Fall 2007 student. More available upon request.

New students will be asked to fill out a brief questionnaire so that your aromatic resources, experience and related factors may be taken into account before class starts. For instance, it wasn't until month three of the current class that I became aware of the fact that several students did not have a good, varied supply of aromatics, so we all had to move quickly to make sure they had enough to work on that, and future modules.

I advise prospective students to read the previous posts on this blog to become acquainted with the terms and conditions, syllabus and overall scope of the learning experience and what is expected of you. You may also visit the Class Page on my business website for more information and to place your non-refundable deposit. Please fill in the contact form on that site so that your information may be easily integrated into the class database.

This class is a serious, well-paced one-year adventure in learning the secrets of "Slow Study", an ever-unfolding, cumulative experience in how to evaluate, memorize, build, and integrate the complex natural aromatics of perfumery into a learning tool that will remain with you for life. The excitement of recognition of the progressive learning process is discussed in a separate Yahoo group that is meant to function as a daily chat among students. Participation in the Yahoo group is not mandatory, yet the students are apt to find they can get quick answers, make friends and just relax as they complete their studies from all corners of the world.

The Primer for the class has been edited for the March 2008 class and is supplemented by a constant stream of supportive materials on the website, unveiled in each Module. Charts, evaluation sheets, extra lessons and topics insure that the student will have a content-rich education. The students will also receive a kit of 25 aromatics, sourced so that they provide a balance of top, middle and base notes and that they are inspirational to the students as they learn to work with them using my dilution and organoleptic procedures.

So please read the rest of this blog, visit the class page and register before all of the spaces are taken for the March 2008 class.

Natural Perfumery Basic Class -- online, worldwide

To sign up for updates for this class, please visit: http://perfumeclasses.blogspot.com

Note: This is a really long post, you may want to cut and paste it into Word (four pages) so you can read all the details.

Update for the Announced Basic Natural Perfumery Class

Over 100 interested potential students have written to be put on the update list for the first-ever online basic natural perfumery course. Student participation will depend on several factors, including content, time frame, cost, and intent to begin studies at this time.

Many of you are familiar with me and my background. Please visit the links to read more about me and my perfumery and educational background. Not found there is the fact I was an Adjunct Professor in the Masters Program of Urban Design at Florida Atlantic University, which although it demonstrates my teaching skills, is not directly relevant to perfumery.

This course will only address natural aromatics. Basic perfumery techniques are very similar whether using naturals or synthetics, so if you desire to enroll and use synthetics in your blends, that is fine, your educational needs will be met, but please understand discussion of synthetics will not be allowed in the study forums.

I have received many individual emails asking about details, and I will attempt to address them in this post. I have hired several online teaching experts to work with me in making this class the most comfortable, accessible and rewarding learning experience for you, and some of the organization and content was designed at their suggestion. The process is very clear and much easier as a study forum and enriched learning experience.

First Change:

Many of those interested in the class expressed the desire for it to not start in September, for a lot of various reasons, e.g. school for their kids starting and all that encompasses, some still on vacation, etc.

Here are the basics of the revamped course, with details below.

Start Date: October 6, 2007

Cost: $800 includes Primer, essence kit of 24 natural aromatics, online audio course, 10 minutes private time with teacher per week, student forum that will be open for six months, online study modules with extra assignments, quizzes, and learning games. Signups will begin August 15th. A non-refundable $300 deposit to hold your place in the class is required. The next course's tuition will be higher, this introductory price is for the October course only. Tuition is non-refundable for any reason once class has started.

Class size will be limited to forty (40) students.

Admission Requirements: Commitment to self and other students to form solid study and professional standards to move onward in the study of natural perfumery; computer speakers or headset; quiet, dedicated workspace to devote to aromatics; long distance phone carrier or Skype to talk with teacher; small amount of funds to purchase extra supplies as needed (suggested list at end of this update.)

Please understand the luxury of time and community you will be given with this course. No weekend course for $300 and then you’re adrift, all on your own, no spectacular, wonderful learning experience *or* $1000 week in Grasse, and then alone again – this course is constructed in such a manner to open up the world of a student community to you. Now you will be able to work with the modules and Primer and recorded classes at your own speed, have a forum to ask questions and form study groups with other students, no matter where in the world you live.

Second Change:

I originally planned to have “live” classes that would be recorded for later playback. The experts I’m working with, local University employees who are the techies for online classrooms, said this isn’t the best way to proceed for several reasons. Their University had backup generators, but still their online classes were a shambles after Hurricane Wilma. For those who don’t know, I live in Miami. After Wilma, I was without power for 15 days. Such a setback could really interrupt the flow of the initial six lectures, so they convinced me to record the lectures.

Additionally, the time zone spans of the potential students stretches from Singapore to Stuttgart. It would be impossible to get all of the students together on the same day, at the same time.

I was also told that many students would be shy at having their voices/questions recorded at the end of the lecture, as I originally planned, and that this might stifle their inquisitiveness and need to have lecture points explained further.

Now, you can listen to the lecture at your leisure during the assigned week, and as often as you wish thereafter. Even better, you can set up an appointment to talk with me, either by phone or Skype for a brief Q&A, probably 10-15 minutes. This can really draw out our shy students, and I always feel that much more is accomplished when talking rather than just typing an answer – nuances, quicker variations in topic, and perhaps a whole different topic, can be explored.

Summary of the Elements and Scope of the Class:

1. The class will be pre-recorded, so you do not have to be in front of your computer at a certain time. That is OK for a one-time course, or a course that does not involve students from many time zones around the globe, so we’ll be able to accommodate everyone with this arrangement.
2. The recorded class will probably be in a mp3 format, streaming, so it will work with dial up connections. You can listen to it at your leisure, any time of day or night.
3. No telephone fees for the students with the pre-recorded class. I didn’t realize going into this class that many overseas calls to the USA were going to be quite expensive for the students. Many countries don’t have the deep-discount long-distance plans we have.
4. Now the students will have the opportunity to call me or Skype me (which is free) for a 10-minute consultation for each of the weeks the class is in session. This also allows a much more dynamic one-on-one with me, and you’ll get specialized advice. The teaching experts also told me that many students might not realize they even had a question until days after the course, so this serves the students much better.

The course will commence Saturday, October 6, 2007, a Saturday. At this time the first lecture will be uploaded to a password-protected website. Subsequent lectures and modules will be available October 13, 20, 27, November 3, with the final lecture and module uploaded November 10^th.

But that’s only the beginning!

1. Audio Class Lecture for Six weeks with teacher telephone conferencing

2. Primer*

3. Online Study Modules

4. Study Forum for student study groups

5. Kit containing 24 natural aromatics and scent strips in a protective wooden box

6. Blending sessions

7. Quizzes

8. Games

9. Research Papers

The course will be “live” for six weeks, and the students are enrolled in the modules and study forum for six months. This is to try to mimic the “real world” perfume school where the students would be able to interact with the other students as the put their classroom learning in to action.

Much of the basic work will take this long. You will work at your own pace, but dedication to repetitive analysis of the aromatics, creating accords and evaluation of the skills set will realistically take the full year. This will be evident as the Primer is read, the Modules and tests begun, and the realization that the class is laying the foundation for a discipline of study that takes years to perfect.

The year will allow the student to begin to sharpen and polish their knowledge base and refine their skills. You will be able to network with the other students, and build friendships that will last a lifetime. Your effort and dedication will dictate what you get out of the class, and as a teacher, I feel that this format will allow you to feel connected. The students are coming from every part of the world, and there will be no isolation or solitary study—unless the student desires that, of course.

*Note: I am writing the Primer to be as comprehensive as a Primer can be, based on one I wrote years ago for the USGS on Alternative Futures Planning for the Natural Resources. If, after student feedback, I feel it needs revision or expanding, the students will receive a revised copy, at no extra cost except shipping, when it is completed.

This blog will be the quickest way to find out new information as we move forward towards October 6^th.

Thank you for your interest, and good luck and kind encouragement as you move forward in your quest to become a natural perfumer.