Apr 14 2008
Making Your Own Essential Oil
You really want to do your homework before you attempt to make your own essential oil. You can’t just wake up one morning and say, “What am I going to do today? I know!” In the long run, it’s actually much cheaper in time and money to buy ready made aromatherapy essential oils rather than make your own essential oils. However, it is the difference between ordering out rather than having a meal cooked from scratch.
Make An Informed Choice
In order to make any useful amount of essential oil, you need to know how to get the essential scent from the natural material. There are some materials that take special stills before they can deliver their tiny amounts of precious essential oil. You need to do your research to see what abundant natural material around your home can be made into your own essential oils without a lot of expensive and complicated equipment.
Your best bet is to go with an extraction method of making your own essential oil. This is basically where you cram as much natural botanical material into a bottle of oil as possible. This method tends to work only with certain herbs and flowers. This method does not work with resins or wood chips (which requires steam distillation).
You are committing days and weeks to the making of your own essential oil. Your best bet is to just one make one bottle of one type of essential oil so you get a taste of what is involved. If you like it, then you can decide whether investing in a steam distillery or planting a garden for more botanicals for your oils is for you.
What You Do
There are many recipe variations online and in books about how to make your own essential oil. Basically, you get a large glass bottle and half fill it with vegetable based oil like jojoba, olive or rapeseed. Then, you cram in as much petals or herbs of your choice as you can fit into the bottle. Let is sit out of direct sunlight in a cool dark place for a day. Shake it.
Every couple of days, strain the mixture through cheesecloth so all of the solids are removed. Give a good sniff and, if not strong enough, add more petals or herbs. Repeat the process until your oil is the desired strength. You can add other personal touches like citrus fruit rinds or other flower petals.
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