smell jars

The next big project I am working on is a collection of smells.  I carry little glass jars around with me in my purse, and whenever I encounter a new aroma I "capture" it in a jar (in other words, I wave the jar around in the air while sniffing and then cork it up).  I label each smell with a small paper jewelry label tied around the neck of the jar with a string.  

(I am just now noticing the trend of attempting to "capture" things that can't be captured in these different projects... first thoughts, now smells... hmmm.)

At first the collection was random - random smells from random places - but recently I decided to collect all the smells from one "place".  I have decided that the "place" will be a one hundred square mile radius around Alfred University, which I will label with its geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude). 

The resulting installation is still in the brainstorming phase, but I am considering hanging all the little jars from the ceiling (another trend) with fishing wire in the shape of a cloud.  A silver-leafed wooden ladder would be positioned under the cloud for people to climb up into an opening in the center of the dangling glass jars and read their labels - the ladder being a portal to this ethereal otherworld.