Finally, I'm getting around to sharing some pictures from Stage One!

First, a photo of raw ingredients.

There are three things to be seen in this picture.

1. In the background, there is a bottle of 94% grain alcohol which I purchased recently in Québec at the SAQ (Société des Alcools du Québec) for about $60.00. I'd like to remind readers that for an ideal product, this is not really recommended--the percentage is nearly right (one would like it a bit higher, but that requires some advanced techniques), but it is made from grain (and should be made from red wine), and as a commercial production, it is not alchemically tuned to the user (in this case, me). However, it serves very well as a kind of "training wheels".
2. Just ahead of that, you can see a little baggie with 16g of Melissa Officinalis, which I grew and dried myself. This was what I intended to put into my tincture, originally.
3. In the foreground, there is another little baggie which contains the stems from which the 16g of leaves were stripped. Since stems contain very little Sulphur (essential oil)as well as being difficult to make into small bits (PoN lessons suggest cutting into 3mm lengths), I think it would be counter-productive to put them into the tincture itself. On the other hand, since they are part of the original plant, it feels wrong to me to simply throw them away. Therefore, I'm saving them for the next stage, where they can be used to mark the signature of the plant as well as provide some additional Salt.

Here you can see the Mason jar I used. It is an old type, which was to be fitted with a rubber ring as seal. There are two problems with this: 1) I don't have any rubber rings to fit it, but more importantly 2) rubber leaches nasty flavours when it comes into contact with the alcohol. Since there will be some shaking going on, that's going to happen.

So, instead I used a piece of waxed paper. You can also see the glass lid that comes with this jar: this minimises artificial substance use like the metal, plastic, and rubber lids which are offered for more modern jars.

Also note on the right side of the jar the sticker I applied, upon which you can see my mark indicating 1/3 of the height of the jar, i.e., the point to which I wanted to fill the jar.

Here is my equipment. From the left:

• A 500ml B-class graduated cylinder, with an accuracy of +/-4mL. It's important to use the top half of the cylinder when measuring in order to minimise relative error in calculations. Many people, it seems, do not measure their products; but as I'm really just starting out, I think it would be good to benchmark materials for a while until a get a feel for relative quantities and ultimate yields.
• A glass 75mm funnel. Glass is preferable to plastic since plastic can become contaminated and/or leach flavours.
• My marble mortar and pestle. It's a nice shape, but can only do small quantities (a few teaspoons at a time), though it does a good job because of the large grinding surface.
• In the foreground, a thermometer which I use to record temperatures.

Next, safety equipment. I really should have shown this first, because ONE CANNOT STRESS SAFETY SUFFICIENTLY! Even such a simple experiment has some drawbacks (the inhalation of plant dust from grinding, I have found from experience, can be unpleasant; and depending upon the substance perhaps could even have bad consequences). Adopting good safety habits early minimises the risk of serious hazards in more advanced work.

Here you can see the results of a bit of grinding. It is almost inevitable to have some spillage--this is why I have the mortar sitting on a clean surface from which I can retrieve it. Also: this is a wooden surface (a natural product), which aids my comfort level, since the counter top has a plastic laminate surface. I don't much care for having artificial substances in contact with my alchemical materials. It could be that I'm making too much of an issue of this, but subjective comfort is important to an operation: those who feel they should do certain things and avoid others should act accordingly, until experience shows them that this is unnecessary. Remember that in alchemy, it is not just about the substance we work on--it is equally as much about our relationship to the substance in question. (And yes, the bread board is a laminate which contains glue; I intend to replace it for the next time!)

Here is the jar with the 16g of Melissa in it. As you can see, once ground, the level in the jar has become sharply reduced (when it was unground, 16g came more or less to the mark on the side). As a consquence, I decided to process and add the 16g I had originally intended for a second jar. (Its stems will go into the next stage as well, of course.)

Here is the jar with 32g of ground Melissa. PoN lessons suggest one have 1-2cm of room once the alcohol has been added. The herb does swell a little once the alcohol is added, so I probably have a bit too much herb in there. Next time I'll try it with may 30g.

Finally, the jar with the alcohol added. This photo was taken right afterwards, so you can see that the Sulphur is being drawn out very quickly. (The photos have date stamps within them, so if you download them, you should be able to get the exact times.)

I have some photos taken at later times which I will post eventually, as well, so you can see how the solve (Latin: dissolve, more or less) progresses.