Things You'll Need:
- Vetiver
- Lavender flowers
- Siam benzoin
- Dried rose petals
- Powdered cedar wood
- Makko powder
- Distilled water
- Mortar and pestle or hand crank coffee grinder or food processor
- Food scale
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Bowls
- Mixing spoon
- Notebook
- Wax paper
- Pottery dish
- Sand
- Match or lighter
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Step 1
Freeze the the vetiver, lavender flowers, Siam benzoin and dried rose petals, so they will be easier to grind. Freeze them for about an hour.
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Step 2
Pulverize your ingredients by class: woods first, then herbs, resins last. If your cedar wood is not powdered, put it in a clean hand-crank coffee grinder or food processor and pulverize it. Then, use the coffee grinder, food processor or a mortar and pestle to pulverize the vetiver, lavender and dried rose petals. Keep the Siam bezoin resin frozen until you are ready to grind it last. Resins are soft and should be ground last, because they make your mortar and pestle messy.
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Step 3
Measure out each ingredient. You want two parts cedar, one part vetiver, one part lavender flowers, half a part benzoin and a handful of dried rose petals. Choose your amounts based on how much incense you want to make. If you use measuring cups to measure out your amounts, record in a notebook how much of each ingredient you used, so you can refer back to the recipe later, in case you want to make this incense again.
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Step 4
Mix the dry ingredients together. Add the benzoin. Mix all ingredients together thoroughly.
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Step 5
Put the mixed ingredients back in the food processor or in a mortar and pestle and grind together again. This will blend the aroma of each ingredient into the other. Make sure you pulverize your ingredients into a very fine powder. You have now created a loose, non-combustible incense mixture.
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Step 6
Let your loose incense mixture sit overnight to allow the scents of the ingredients to absorb into each other.
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Step 7
Add makko powder. This is what makes your incense burn. You will need about 20 to 80 percent of your mixture to be makko powder. This is a trial and error process. Add a little makko powder and distilled water at a time. Mix with your hands. You need enough makko powder and water so the mixture can be formed into sticks. Keep track of the amount of makko powder you use, if you want to record it in your notebook for later reference.
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Step 8
Place a piece of wax paper on a flat surface. Use your hands to roll even sticks, about 1/4 inch in diameter, onto the wax paper.
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Step 9
Allow your sticks to dry. This make take a couple of weeks, depending on the climate. Keep the sticks out of the sun and away from heat while drying.
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Step 10
Choose a pretty glass or piece of pottery. Fill the bottom with sand. Anchor your incense stick in the sand.
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Step 11
Light your stick. If it doesn't burn steadily, you need to add more makko powder to your mixture. If it burns too fast, you need to decrease the makko powder in your mixture.
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Step 12
Grind up any sticks you think are made incorrectly. Correct the imbalance by adding more makko powder and distilled water or adding dry, pulverized ingredients and water. Re-form the sticks with your hands, lay them on wax paper and allow them to dry again. Remember to record any adjustments in your recipe notebook.
