Yet Another Haul: A Springtime Skin Cream Formulation Project.

This is most of the liquid and oil ingredients used in my new skin care product that I’ll be producing.

Who would have thought? First, fragrances, second, a woodcutting project, and now, I’m on to working on a high-end skin care cream formulation - new territory for me. The inspiration for this project comes from a product sample supplier from Guangzhou, in China. I was peeking around, on the internet, a while back, trying to see what other Michelia Alba flower oils were out there, and I stumbled upon the Guangzhou HZL Biotech Co., Ltd. website. 

On the site, I found various extractive products and oils of Michelia alba, which is sort of the company’s flagship product, in their 10,000 acre planting grounds for these flowering trees, as well as for many other of the company’s offerings, which are oils, extracts, and powders of fruits, vegetables, etc. I liked their extensive catalog of botanical offerings, but I was moreso interested in learning more about the Michelia alba flower - I know that I had mentioned it somewhere, possibly here, on my blog, that I accidentally spilled a full container of my Michelia alba specialty reconstitution oil that I made - it spilled on to my bed, and I felt very noticeable anti-inflammatory effects, the morning after, for example, as well as that my room smelled like flowers for a week or more. 

So, even a reconstitution of the flower’s oil has therapeutic benefits. It piqued my interest, and I was compelled to send an information request to HZL Bio, and they got back to me, after several days, or so, and I started speaking to Iris, the company’s sales director and founder. She offered me a free sample of Michelia alba extractum, as it’s called, which is an extract of the botanical active products, more so than the fragrance components of the flower’s oil. All I had to do was pay shipping, which came out to about $75, with bank international wire transfer fees. I was excited to receive the package. 

Prior to receiving the last of the packages of items needed to do the job right, I formulated a fragrance oil component for the skin cream with the help of Google Gemini. We came up with the conceptual inspiration of the alpine flowering plant popularly known as Edelweiss. Apparently, the fragrance is a large portion clary sage (I used an absolute of clary sage), so it’s got a fresh and herbaceous streak about it, combined with some lavandin super essential oil, Angelica root, carrot seed oil, and ho wood oil, to round things out. So, there’s a really high-end fresh fragrance aspect to the cream, that I’m looking forward to exploring. It took some work to make it happen. 

The overarching basic premise of the skin cream is an anti-inflammatory, firming, anti-aging, and skin brightening/lightening effect, with various botanically-derived actives and extracts, along with hydrating compounds and copper citrate to help mimic the skin’s natural barrier, giving the cream an easily absorbable, nourishing, and therapeutic set of benefits, while the refreshing and light fragrance relaxes the mind, as well as the body.

Some small drips of Michelia alba extractum, in alcohol.

I made some notes highlighting the ingredients list and their purported therapeutic effects and benefits. 

Face Cream Notes

Celadon color

The particular color of this skin cream can be described as Celadon, which has a rich cultural history dating back to ancient China, where it was the color of masterful ceramic pottery or ceramic glaze, prized for its jade-like appearance and subtle crackle effect. The Chinese term for this word is 青瓷, which translates to blue-green porcelain.” In this cream, the celadon color can be attributed to an extract of Michelia alba flowers and copper citrate.

Chinese mi se “mysterious color”

#ACE1AF

“The” celadon color, or, close to it. 

Misty, dreamy, ghostly, pale, foggy

Source - https://www.theawl.com/2017/10/celadon-the-unseen-green/

青瓷 - “blue-green porcelain”

Michelia alba Extractum

Derived from raw flowers using steam distillation, the core active ingredients are Phenylethanol glycosides (Phenylethanol glycoside), verbascoside >15%, and echinacoside >10%. The product is certified ISO, Organic, HALAL, KOSHER, HACCP. The flowers are traditionally used as spice and as a medicinal herb. 

The production center is located in the Michelia Alba Industrial Park , Penshan Village, Bolao Town, Lingshan County, Qinzhou City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, where over 10,000 acres are dedicated to the cultivation of raw materials such as Michelia alba flowers.

Phenylethanoid Glycosides: Phenylethanoid glycosides (PHGs) are a type of glycoside compounds composed of phenylethanoid glycosides and glycosyl. Modern pharmacological activity research shows that glycosides with phenylethanol glycoside as the main component have a significant down-regulating effect on tyrosinase activity, can effectively inhibit skin melanin deposition, and can have great skin-whitening and beauty effects.

Widely distributed in Chinese medicine.

Verbascoside: Verbascoside is a type of compound with strong biological activity, which has anti-inflammatory and immune-enhancing properties. It has many physiological effects such as scavenging free radicals, repairing DNA bases, and treating liver fibrosis. Modern pharmacological activity research shows that glycosides with phenylethanol glycoside as the main component have a significant down-regulating effect on tyrosinase activity, can effectively inhibit skin melanin deposition, and have great whitening and beauty effects.

Echinacoside: The therapeutic uses of echinacoside are very wide, including the enhancement of the immune system, anti-cancer effects, antioxidant effects, liver regulation, etc. It is also used for kidney deficiency, impotence caused by lack of semen and blood, nocturnal emission, frequent urination, low back pain and weak feet, tinnitus and blurred vision, irregular menstruation, infertility,intestinal dryness with constipation.

α-Bisabolol 

Alpha bisabolol is a natural monocyclic sesquiterpene alcohol, most commonly known as a primary constituent of the essential oil of the German chamomile flower. It has also been used for hundreds of years in cosmetics because of its skin healing properties including reducing wrinkles, skin toughness and repairing sun-damaged skin.

Neuroprotective, anticancer, anti-nociceptive (stops pain), cardioprotective, antimicrobial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant

Source - Health Benefits, Pharmacological Effects, Molecular Mechanisms, and Therapeutic Potential of α-Bisabolol

Nutrients. 2022 Mar 25;14(7):1370. doi: 10.3390/nu14071370 

Barrier-repairing, making it effective for acne, redness, and rosacea. Improves penetration of other actives. Apply it on to clean skin while still damp.

Source - https://www.forbes.com/sites/nomanazish/2025/08/18/bisabolol-is-the-soothing-skin-ingredient-dermatologists-want-you-to-know/

Roman Chamomile

Anthemis nobilis, more commonly known as Roman Chamomile, features an essential oil with a scent that can be described as fruity, aromatic, and warm herbaceous. It is primarily used for its calming, anti-inflammatory, and antispasmodic properties to treat insomnia, anxiety, and digestive issues like indigestion or nausea. It is widely consumed as herbal tea, used topically for skin irritations/wounds, and is also utilized in aromatherapy and cosmetics. 

Copper Citrate 

Copper Citrate serves as an effective source of copper ions, crucial for maintaining skin's structural integrity by supporting the synthesis of essential extracellular matrix proteins like collagen and elastin. This ingredient also bolsters the skin's natural antioxidant defenses and demonstrates antimicrobial properties, contributing to overall skin health and regeneration. 

Copper is one of nine essential nutrients for humans, as it plays a role in physiological processes for nearly all tissues, including the skin. It also contributes to making red blood cells and to the support of the immune system. The body uses copper to produce some hormones and is needed to make adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy generated in the cells for the body to run on.

Latest Haul: My New Hobby, Woodworking (Product Review

 So, the last haul that I brought in stirred up some trouble, in the form of a reddening skin condition on my leg. That blog article ended up dovetailing in to the context of this latest haul of mine, the woodworking tools and gear haul for the LED Backlit Sparrow Spiritual Mini Meditation Woodcut Panel project, essentially a reimagined take on a throwback decorative piece that I had in my old apartment and loft.

The original backlit spiritual woodcut panel art piece, which I custom outfitted with a base, glass panel backing, with LED strip lights inside, with stuff from IKEA. The woodcut panel came from Marco Polo Imports, in Santa Monica, now closed. (2011)

My 2026 contextually upcycled new take on a spiritual-themed and decorative meditation backlit wall panel, this time, in miniature form, so that I could accommodate doing the project from within my assisted care living group home housing environment situation. 

The project represents a change of pace, from “whatever” I was doing, previously… I guess it was a bunch of other product hauls and pigeon feeding, for the most part. Anyways, I gave the sparrows a feature part in this concept, as well as the medicinal flower inclusion, symbolizing a transition in to a different hobby, and perhaps some products in development along those lines. 

So, I initially imagined the mini sparrow woodcut panel, as part of a conceptualized product marketing campaign and branding mockup of ideas and imagery, through consulting heavily with Google Gemini artificial intelligence. I floated the idea of the original woodcut panel, from its origins in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, perhaps), and I wanted the theme to be representative of my friends, the birds, along the way, with a different flower that I’d been heavily researching and studying, over the past several months, leading up to today (early April 2026), the new flower being Michelia alba, a highly fragrant subtropical tree in the Magnolia family, that was found in my mother’s first home country of Hong Kong (Great Britain, China). 

My mother and I were both in to gardening, back in my teen years, growing up, and it was my retreat in to a change of pace, and it was something to work on, in between my school studies and getting in to trouble, here and there, myself. Eventually we purchased a Michelia alba tree, after seeing them available at San Gabriel Nursery. The trees were on the higher end of the price range for trees of that size, ostensibly due to the rarity that it was, here in Southern California, and for its prized fragrant flowering blooms, which appear throughout several months out of the year, in the scarce gardening regions 10 and 11, which is basically Southern California, Florida, and perhaps a few other small, scattered locations around America. Prior to purchasing one of the trees, I would commonly visit the trees at the gardening center to smell the flowers.

Here is what Gemini and I came up with, for a reconstitution formulation (a highly valuable feature):

### 10-Gram Trial Batch (Weights)

Since you're ready to mix, here are the weights for a **10-gram sample**. This is the safest way to test the balance without wasting your precious Orris or Lilytol.

| Ingredient | Amount for 10g Batch |

|---|---|

| **Linalool** | 5.30 g |

| **Lilytol** | 0.80 g |

| **Phenylethyl Alcohol (PEA)** | 0.70 g |

| **Benzyl Alcohol** | 0.60 g |

| **Benzyl Acetate** | 0.40 g |

| **Beta-Ionone** | 0.30 g |

| **Ocimene** | 0.25 g |

| **Geranyl Acetate** | 0.20 g |

| **Ethyl 2-methylbutyrate** | 0.15 g |

| **Indole (10% in DPG)** | 0.15 g |

| **Alpha-Terpineol** | 0.15 g |

| **Jasminlactone** | 0.12 g |

| **Beta-Caryophyllene** | 0.10 g |

| **Heliotropin Replacer (10% dil.)** | 0.30 g (This is 3 parts) |

| **Orris Butter (10% dil.)** | 0.10 g (This is 1 part) |

| **Methyl Benzoate (10% dil.)** | 0.05 g |

| **DPG (to finish weight)** | 0.33 g |

| **Total** | **10.00 g** |

Perhaps this gives readers a sense of the smell of the flower. It’s described as very sweet and fruity, while having some facets of other white flowers. 

So, I set out in trying to recreate my favorite visual piece in my loft and in my apartment, in a renewed form, a miniature woodcut panel featuring sparrows and Michelia alba flowers. 

To do this, I had to investigate the tools I would use, in order to complete the job. My search happened around the time of Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, and I found some great deals on tools and parts. 

———————

Break. Taking a break. Here’s some stuff to look at, in the meantime.     

The basic rotary tool kit, with bits, burrs, and a flex shaft.

Some wood carving burr bits.

Drill milling bits.

A 60° V groove bit

A tungsten carbide flame burr bit.

Some other wood carving bits. 

One of 10 various angle V groove bits.

Colored acrylic panels, for a choice of backdrop lighting for the finished art piece.

The original work’s carbon paper, which is used to transfer the tracing of the image on to the woodcut panel, prior to cutting it. 

The carbon outlines and details of the image, on the woodcut panel, with the cut out parts blacked out. 

The original work piece template, as a printing.

A prior version of the art piece, on the board, as a silhouette of the cut out portions.

An earlier version of the carbon tracing.

An imaginative pre-visualization of what the wood panel on backlit colored acrylic could look like. 

A color corrected original image of the art piece.

A grayscale image of the work, for bit depth judgment and for tracing. 

A 3D render of the flat image, as a pre-visualization tool.

Some Dremel 106 bits, for surface detail work.

A long and narrow carbide burr, for chucking out wood more effectively.

Neodyminium magnets, for attaching the acrylic panels to the wood piece (potentially). 

A more recent, angled view of the woodcut panel, where a good portion of the outlines has been completed.

The backlight framing shadow box, with a 5 meter strip light (one white color only).

The frame box, in prototype form, with mounting hardware holding the colored acrylic panel in place, with the backlights on.

10 mil Mylar sheets, for diffusing the light, prior to it hitting the acrylic panel.

Now, about 10 days in to the project, you can get an idea as to what the end product will look like. I’ve gotten a little bit further on the woodcutting panel, and I may have made some slight errors, in cutting out some of the wood parts, such as the birds’ beaks, in one or two cases, but perhaps that will be fixable before the woodcutting is done. I put together the backlight frame, after much shopping around, and I settled on a 5 meter USB-powered white only strip light, which was very cheap, from Temu. I tried some RGB colored puck lights, but the diameter of the lights wasn’t quite sufficient to cover enough surface area, so I guess I’ll use those in some other way. 

Overall, I’m pretty satisfied, so far, with the progress of things; I spent several nights and a couple of days out, doing the woodcutting outdoors, and creating the backlit LED box portion of the project was another task entirely. It’ll take some figuring out, still, as to how the woodcut panel will stick on to the acrylic, and I imagined that it could be done using neodyminium magnets, which are very powerful, for their size, so I purchased some. The entire piece is loosely constructed, mostly because I’d like to have the option to try out different colors of the acrylic panels, since this is the only prototype version of the product that I have, so far. 

Hopefully, in the next few days, I’ll have the silhouette carved out, and we can preview what the woodcut panel will look like, when mounted on top of the light box. 

This is what the woodcut looks like after several work sessions and 11 days later.

I went out and did a work session for a couple of hours, and I’m pretty pleased with the results, so far. The mistakes I had made are reparable, and I’m almost through cutting flush lines out of the cutout sections. I think I might be able to preview the work on the backlit panel this evening, if I put in one more work session, prior to this evening. 

My first rough cut of the silhouette of the woodcut panel, on top of the backlit panel. 

So I spent a couple more hours on chucking out the cut out spots and straightening the edges up, between the form that was to stay put, versus the cut out spots. Someone had mentioned that it’s difficult to make out the subject matter, in this portrayal of the woodcut panel, so I’m thinking that it could be the color of the wood itself, or of the acrylic panel, or perhaps the piece would do better if it had spotlights or dome lights, overhead. I don’t know if I should try to define the forms of the subject matter more so, using fine drill milling, along the surface detail lines, I hadn’t planned for that. Essentially, the original woodcut panel was a more motif-based piece, based on foliage and flourish types of effects of the cut patterns, centered around a lotus flower - much simpler, and the foreground detail was still recognizable, despite that the piece was backlit. 

Next, I placed a white acrylic panel underneath the woodcut, for comparison with the original large form piece. I did some mockup dramatic color shifting, along with boosting some image component sliders here, lowering some others, there. I wanted to take a peek at what the piece would look like with some stain, along with more emphasis on the pencil lining that still exists on the wood, and here, I emphasized the contrast and black point. It gave me a sense of depth to the otherwise flat edged silhouette panel, as though the grooves had been defined by further woodwork (that still needs to be done). In any case, this visualization of the piece gives a far more relatable image, for its detail, and for its color, which would be achieved by applying some wood stain. I think that the piece will look something like this (at least, hopefully), or perhaps a bit better, for being naturally wrought, rather than digitally altered. I just wanted to get the piece to a place right around this spot, to check on the visual effect of the backlighting and to check out different colored acrylic panels, for reference. 

Here’s the panel with a spotlight, and another image with a dome light. Both add definition and detail, in otherwise natural light, and they’re both plausible display scenarios, for the end user.

Natural light and coloration, with a spotlight.

Natural light and coloration, with a dome light.

So, what remains to be done is the surface detail of the piece, making grooves and edging things off, here and there. Outside of trying some stain on the wood panel, which would come later, at the end, or close to it, some surface lighting adds a lot of definition to the existing cuts and tracing lines. 

Here’s what the kit looks like, in the dark. 

Next, I tried a turquoise panel. I’m pretty fond of this combination, in the dark of the night. The nearly black silhouette goes well against a luminous backdrop, and it reminds me of a Bash command line terminal aesthetic. 

Update: Sunday, April 26th, 2026.

I did some experimentation with completing the detail portion of the job, now that I had a decent silhouette worked out. Prior to that, though, I sanded down the corners and edges to remove the bits of wood that were sticking out. For the detail, I worked with Genmitsu v-groove bits, which are basically a set of angled bits, each a different angle, out of a set of 10. I used the sharper ones, maybe 20-30° degree angle bits, for engraving the surface layer portions, as though I were tracing over it with the rotary tool. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, but I finished it up, earlier this evening, and I put some stain on the wood, and it looks fantastic, in my opinion! Take a look. 

The woodcut, with its first layer of stain.

Here’s the woodcut panel on top of the backlit acrylic box frame, with some spotlight effect on it (otherwise the surface detail is darkened, a lot). 

I guess that the piece could be done over again, I was still learning technique as I was doing this first piece of mine. Maybe some of the parts could be gone over one more time, since there’s some small discrepancies between this woodcut and the original image. The piece looks a lot better miniaturized, which was kind of my concept, to begin with - mini meditation woodcut panels and 3D prints. It’s not all that much poorly done, after examining it some more, I think I just missed a few things, for the most part. 

This is the current look of the piece, the morning after.

Here it is, with a yellow acrylic panel.

After letting the situation (i.e. some of the birds look cartoony, and I suppose I ran the rotary tool a bit ragged, on some of the design features. Aside from that, there’s a few spots that still need hollowing out, and I caught wind of the memory of wood putty, which could be the missing link on some of these surface scoring and engraving blunders on the leaves and birds. There is, also, trim around the edges of the entire relief, which is comprised of bas relief floral and flourish motifs. What’s left to do is figure out if I’m rescuing the piece, or ruining it, by doing more “stuff” to it. Obviously a whole new second try on the piece with a new wood panel would probably turn out better than the first, but I have to figure out if I’m going to try this one again, or if I’ll move on to a different design. 

Continuing forth in critical analysis of the work that’s been done, so far, it came up that the piece is lacking depth and layers of bas relief, which are implied in the original generated image, so I might probably try to excavate some of the surface level of some of the design, to begin with. The wood piece is pretty sturdy, so I think it could hold up well, and have some more work done on it. 

Here’s the lavender-colored acrylic panel, with a dark silhouette of the woodcut. I feel that this one is pretty compelling, it reminds me of Halloween.