Originally Posted by featherweight
I mix mine with:
1/4 cup vodka
2 cups water
few drops of Lavender essence
Vodka is made from potatoes so therefore it is starch.
I never get any flakeing from this mixture.
Frankly, I'm surprised you can get any noticeable body or stiffening with it at all.
ALL alcohol is made from starch (carbohydrate). Yeast eats the starch (carbs) and converts them into alcohol. The results of the initial fermentation are wine (carbs from fruit), beer (carbs from grain) or mead (carbs from honey). Further distillation removes some of the water and some of the alcohol fractions and leaves brandy, whisky, vodka, etc. Most of the original carbs are long gone after distillation is carried out.
In the theatre, an old costumer's trick is to spot clean with a 50% dilution of vodka with water; I've never observed any stiffening at all after cleaning with a much higher percentage solution of vodka than the one you gave above.