A Touch Deeper.
Red Rose Water.
With reference to the previous chapter on tinting glove leather. Also clarifies one of the questions I had regarding water Isabella intended by l'acqua.
To preserve your complexion from heat and cold.
Take kid's fat with clear water, and blend them in a mortar. Melt the mass with two or three drops of scented water; drain it in a linen wrapped tight, and keep it.
When you'd like to ride forth, blend sweet almond oil with a little fresh white wax, as much as you think you need, with no more camphor than you'd fit on a pin's head and a touch of powder sugar candy; heat them together, stirring the mixture as you do, until it appears lighter; take it off the heat, and pour it into a glass vessel.
When you want to use it, dab a little on your hands and apply to your face to smooth and soften, and preserve your complexion from the extremes of sun or cold.
Isabella provides two recipes: the first based on goat's fat and probably yielding something like vaseline, and the other more subtle and fragrant.
poi quando ti vorrai servire in una caccioletta - It is always a very bad sign when the Early Modern word or phrase you're querying is primarily cited from the text you're working on . . . My feeling, given the context of a privileged sixteenth century Italian lifestyle and the sense of caccio that this is something like a cavalcade or chase; sunburn and chapping would certainly be an issue.
If any of you can shed further light on that, I will as always be most grateful.
e canfora quanto un capo di spilletta - Given the sense of the Modern Italian word, I would envisage this as something like a hat pin rather than something a seamstress would use, but in truth it's an idiomatic phrase for a dab of something, which is how I've translated the second occurrence in this recipe.
Camphor is overpowering, but also burns. I can appreciate the less-is-more approach here, which suggests consultation with Doctor Experience.
(Pictured: Or you could always wear a visard.)
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