How to Make Natural Oils

Natural oils have been in use since before recorded history. Their applications vary widely from tools for alternative healing to use in massage and aromatherapy. Today it's common practice to purchase candles or oil-based air fresheners to enhance the environments in which we live and work. Making your own natural oils can be done at home using enfleurage. These oils are ideal for aromatherapy or massage. No complex equipment is necessary, and you may use flowers and herbs from your own garden. This process will take about one week and will produce a natural oil that will last for about 12 months if stored away from heat and light.

Things You'll Need

• 1/2 cup of oil (safflower, almond, grapeseed, soy, olive, jojoba, and so forth)
• Four to five cups of fresh and fragrant flower petals (you will only need one cup every two days)
• A wide-mouthed jar such as a mason jar
• A rolling pin
• A resealable plastic bag
• Cheesecloth or coffee filters
• Rubber band
• Funnel
• Tightly sealing dark-glass bottles for storage

Instructions

1. Place about a cup of the flowers into the resealable bag. Gently press out the air and seal the flowers inside. Take a rolling pin and crush the flowers by rolling over the bag several times. It's not necessary to press hard. You want to only bruise them.

2. Combine the crushed flowers and the oil in the plastic bag and pour the contents of the bag into a mason jar. Close the jar and place it in a sunny window for two days.

3. Open the mason jar and pour the flower-oil blend into a second container or jar that has been covered with cheesecloth or a coffee filter to strain out the flowers. Secure the filter with a rubber band. Throw away the old flower petals.Pour the oil back into the first mason jar.

4. Gather another cup of fresh flower petals and put them in the plastic bag. Bruise them again with the rolling pin. Place these flowers into the same oil made from the first batch of flower petals in step 1. Once again leave the floral oil in the mason jar in a warm and sunny place for two days. Strain out the flower petals. Discard them. Return the oil to the first mason jar or container. Repeat this process at least two or three times more, each time using fresh flower petals. By now you should definitely begin to detect the fragrance.

5. Use a funnel to pour the final concentrated natural fragrance oil from the mason jar to a storage bottle. Keep the resulting natural oil in a dark and cool location. Your oil will stay fragrant for up to one year.

Tips & Warnings

• You may be able to reduce the time the petals are left in the oil to one day instead of two. Warmer areas speed up the release of the natural oil fragrance. Be careful if you try to do this. Too much heat may destroy the fragrance oil molecules and ruin the resulting oil.

• Before pouring the floral oil through the cheesecloth or coffee filter, make a small indentation in the material over the mouth of the jar. You can do this by making the filtering material a shallow bowl shape before fastening it with the rubber band to the container. Pour the oil directly into this recessed area. This will ensure that all of the oil goes into the container and doesn't spill out over the sides of the jar to be lost.

References

• "How to Make Essential Oils"

Resources

• Different methods of oil extraction.