Household Cleaning & Scenting Blends

Carpet Deodorizer

Ingredients:

5 drops Peppermint
5 drops Clove
10 drops Lemon
20 drops Lavender
1 16 ounce box of baking soda
Directions: Add the baking soda to a large bowl and then add the essential oils. Be sure to mix the oils into the baking soda well. Since lemon essential oil is normally yellow, it is essential that it is mixed well into the baking soda so that no undiluted lemon oil stains your carpet. This blend may be adapted to use your favorite essential oils, but strive to add essential oils that offer antibacterial and disinfectant properties to give the deodorizer an added benefit (the oils in this blend work to accomplish that). After you have blended the oils into the baking soda, the deodorizer can be stored in a glass jar or airtight container.

Instructions for Use: Sprinkle the deodorizer onto your carpet. You can find powder sifter containers suitable for body powders and carpet deodorizers. Alternatively, you may use a clean, discarded spice container that has holes that permit you to "shake" the deodorizer onto your carpet). Allow the deodorizer to sit on your carpet for 10-20 minutes and then vacuum normally.

Herbal Tincture
If you grew and dried herbs in the garden or if you live down south and they often grow year round you will enjoy making tinctures. This is an old fashioned and inexpensive way to easily enjoy aromatherapy and natural plant based aromatics on a daily basis or on a budget. You can use homemade liquid herbal tinctures in place of some of the alcohol or water that a recipe calls for to naturally fragrance your sprays and mists.

Ingredients, Packaging & Supplies

Air tight, sterilized glass containers
Enough chopped fresh herbs to fill each container halfway
Dried herbs can be used instead to make more concentrated herbal tinctures
High proof vodka or Ever Clear can also be used.
Cheesecloth or a fine grade strainer

Instructions

Chop your fresh herbs so that they naturally begin to release their aromatic oils.
Place your herbs in each container using the measuring guidelines shown above.
Fill with alcohol. Allow enough room at the top to ensure that there is room for the alcohol and herbs to mix well when shaken.
Store in a cool, dry, dark area. Shake each container at least once per day for 30 days. Strain the tincture with layered cheesecloth or a fine grade strainer.
The tincture can be used at this stage, but you will achieve a more concentrated and aromatic tincture if you repeat the process by adding more fresh or dried herbs and again shaking each container once per day for 30 days. Once again, strain the herbs from the tincture. Your tincture is now ready to use in your room mist, body spray, linen spray and facial toner recipes. See the categorized listing of recipes in AromaWeb's Recipe Box for recipe ideas.

What is a Tincture?

A tincture is a liquid herbal extract made with alcohol as the solvent. Glycerin can be used as the solvent in place of alcohol. Glycerin based tinctures, however, do not last indefinitely and are not as convenient for use in personal care applications. Glycerin based tinctures, are best suited for use in personal care applications that normally work well with glycerin as an ingredient (i.e. salt/sugar scrubs and mouth rinses).

Safety

Be sure to stick to herbs that are known to be safe for use in the applications that you want to use them in. I recommend that you do added research by Googling the type of herbal tincture that you want to make and searching for additional safety information applying to the specific tincture.

Alcohol can be especially drying to the skin if not mixed in lotion, glycerin or oil. Water and oil on skin is drying and not recommend unless there is only a small amount of achole. The type of alcohol used in products matters. If denatured alcohol is used, the ingredients used to make the alcohol unfit for consumption can potentially be harmful when used on the skin. In oral care products, studies seem to indicate that products that contain more than a small amount of alcohol can significantly increase the chances for a variety of oral cancers. For mouth care I use glycerin tinctures. The choice is yours. I personally avoid all oral care products that contain alcohol. I do use skin care and home fragrancing products that I make with my herbal tinctures. I occasionally will purchase household or skin care products that contain limited quantities of alcohol from quality-conscious artisans/small manufacturers. I use these products in moderation.
My favorite herbs for Tinctures: Rosemary, peppermint, lavender, calendula (I use glycerin) and cat mint.

Homemade Potpourri
How to Dry Flowers, citrus peel and cones for Potpourri

1. Collect materials from the rose stem as the flower reaches fully open maturity, but before they turn brown. Gather small cons and pods. Dry them until crisp on a screen, cookie sheet or any flat surface.

2. For each quart of material you collect, add 1 tablespoon of fixative. Dry lavender, oakmoss, sandalwood or orrisroot are good choices and are available in chopped form at many herb and spice shops or drug stores.

Exotic, Citrus Blend

3 drop Jasmine
9 drops Sandalwood
12 drops Bergamot
6 drops Grapefruit
5 drops Oakmoss

Floral Citrus Blend

12 drops Bergamot
5 drops Lemon
8 drops Grapefruit
4 drops Ylang Ylang
6 drops Cedarwood

Christmas Tree Blend:

8 drops Fir Needle
8 drops Spruce
7 drops Cedarwood
7 drops Juniper

Holiday Blend

11 drops Orange
6 drops Ginger
8 drops Cinnamon
1 drop Nutmeg
4 drops Frankincense

Introduction: Unscented plant materials such as whole flowers, petals, leaves, pine cones, and wood chips are used for potpourri. It's fun to dry your own to make your own very special potpourri.

An easy way to find fresh flowers and other items suitable for drying is to check your own flower garden or back yard. Ask your local florist if they'll save flowers with broken stems and other items that they can't sell but will sell to you inexpensively. Roses with missing petals are great for potpourri because you can pluck all the remaining petals, dry them and turn them into potpourri.

Making the Potpourri Essential Oil Blend: Choose one of the above blends and add your oils to a dark colored glass bottle and mix well by rolling the bottle back and fourth gently. By making a small quantity of your chosen blend, you can later "refresh" your potpourri later by adding more drops of your blend. You of course can also experiment with your own blends of oils. It is suggested that your blends include essential oils or absolutes that are considered "fixatives." Fixatives are oils or materials that increase the "staying power" of the aroma. Oils that have fixative properties include Benzoin, Cedarwood, Frankincense, Myrrh, Oakmoss Absolute, Patchouli, Peru Balsam, Sandalwood and Vetiver.

Scenting Your Potpourri: Mix your desired assortment of flowers, petals, leaves, wood chips, etc. Choose a bowl that you would like to display your potpourri in and place your potpourri into this bowl. Choosing glass or glazed ceramic bowls work best as the essential oils can absorb into porous surfaces. Using a pipette, dropper or the orifice reducer that may be built into your blending bottle, sprinkle 5-8 drops of your blend onto your potpourri. Based on the strength of the chosen blend and the amount of your potpourri materials, you may need to adjust the number of drops that you use. When the aroma weakens, add more drops of the blend to refreshen the aroma.

 

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