How to Make Incense & Its Products

Homemade incense allows you to choose your scents.

Incense makes up an important part of several religious ceremonies, including Catholic mass and the Japanese tea ceremony. Pagans also use incense for meditation and as a part of rituals. Others simply use incense to freshen the air in their homes or as an outdoor deterrent for mosquitos and bees.

Whatever your reasons, making your own incense allows you to choose your own scents, and everyone will appreciate the reduced expense of homemade incense.

Things You'll Need

• Wood powder
• Dried herbs
• Essential oils
• Powdered resins (optional)
• Bowl
• Makko powder
• Warm, distilled water

Instructions

1. Add about 1/4 cup of the wood powder of your choice to a small bowl. Sandalwood, ash and elm are popular choices. Crumble your chosen herbs until they're very fine. Add about 1/4 cup of herbs to your wood powder and stir until thoroughly mixed.

2. Pour about 1/8 cup of your chosen resin into your incense mixture. Resins are usually sap from a particular plant. Dragon's blood, frankincense, copal and benzoin are popular. Stir the mixture thoroughly and let it sit overnight so the ingredients can marry.

3. Add about 20 drops of essential oil into your powdered mixture. If using two oils, add 10 drops of each into the mixture. If using four oils, use 5 drops each. Mix so all the powders are coated with oil.

4. Add up to 1/4 of a cup of makko powder to your incense mixture. This wood powder burns easily and helps your incense stick together. Stir the powder thoroughly so it mixes evenly with the rest of your incense.

5. Pour a cup of warm, distilled water into your incense about a tablespoon at a time. Mix each tablespoon in thoroughly before adding the next. When the incense reaches the consistency of warm putty, stop adding water.

6. Scoop up a little incense mixture in your hands and roll it between your palms to make a cylinder. You can pinch the top of the cylinder to make cones or flatten the sides of the cylinder to make incense bricks. You may also simply make cylinders. Allow the incense to dry for about a month before using.

Tips & Warnings

• Produce your own incense from start to finish by grinding your own materials. A nut grinder works well for herbs and resins. You can grind wood, too, but break it into very small pieces before grinding. Grind resins last so you don't have to clean your grinder until the end of the process.

• The ratio for makko powder is about 25 percent makko for incense without resins and 25 percent to 80 percent with resins. About 50 percent with resins works well.

• Research the herbs and resins for your incense carefully if making ritual incense. You want to choose items that work well together (i.e. don't pick fiery herbs for use with water-element resins) and fit your purpose.

References

• Scents of Earth: How to Make Incense
• Botanical: Incense Making