Before we went “green” a few years ago, I think it’s safe to say that
I was completely obsessed with commercial air-fresheners. Spray
fresheners, plug-in fresheners, scented candles, you name it. Every room
in our home had some sort of air-freshening device that left a strong,
fruity, cheery scent in the air.
Now that I know better (thank God!), commercial air-fresheners have
become a thing of the past. And now that we don’t live with the constant
strong scents in our home, it gets pretty overwhelming when we’re at a
friend or family member’s house and all we can smell is those strong
chemicals wafting through the air! Ughh, I still can’t believe we ever
used those things, but as we’ve removed them from our home, our sense of
smell has become much more sensitive to all those chemicals. I can
barely make it through the cleaning and laundry aisle at the supermarket
without getting a headache or watery eyes or a very irritated nose.
Homemade air-fresheners is an area that I’ve dabbled in only slightly
because until now I was just in the “no smell is a good smell” camp.
And that’s still very much true, but sometimes you just want a gentle,
light scent to tickle your senses and lift your spirits.
I’m going to be experimenting with a few different options over the
next few weeks, and today I’ll show you how easy it is to make some
homemade reed diffusers – you know, those little jars of scented oils
with all the sticks popping out of them? Yeah, those…
There are five items you’ll be working with here and all of them can be sourced pretty inexpensively.
The Jars
I picked up these jars from the thrift store for $1 each. I didn’t
know what I’d use them for but I knew I just had to have them, and I’m
so glad I got them because they’re perfect for this project!
When choosing your jars, look for small, short jars with a narrow
opening at the top. The smaller the opening, the slower your oils will
evaporate. My jars had somewhat large openings but luckily, they came
with cork tops, so I just drilled about a 1″ hole into the cork and
voila! Smaller opening!
Examples of jars you can repurpose for this project include old
perfume bottles, small oil bottles, small vases, spice jars and shakers,
etc.
The Reeds (Sticks)
Technically, you’re supposed to use reeds made from rattan because it
contains small channels that help the oil travel up the stick to scent
the room. But I’m using regular bamboo skewers I picked up at the dollar
store and they’ve been working ok so far. I did just order some of
these reeds online
to use once these diffusers stop working. Just make sure your reeds are
about twice as tall as your jars so they can distribute the scent
well.
Carrier Oil (Base)
From what I’ve read online, it seems the most common carrier oils to use are
safflower oil and
sweet almond oil,
as they are lighter oils that will travel up the reeds more easily. I
had just picked up some inexpensive grape seed oil (a fairly light oil)
the other day so that’s what I used. You’ll use about 1/4 cup of oil for
each diffuser, depending on your jar’s size, so try to source
inexpensive oil, even if you have to order it online. Along with my
reeds, I also ordered some
safflower oil to have on hand for the next batch.
If you can’t find these oils, or don’t want to use oils as your base,
you may also use plain water as the base. However, your diffuser base
will evaporate much more quickly. Also, you’ll need to add some alcohol
to help the essential oils bind to the water (see note below).
Essential Oils (Fragrance)
This is where it gets fun! You can either play it nice and simple
with one or two essential oils, or you can get creative and experiment
with different oil blends to create all kinds of lovely aromatic
concoctions. Here’s a great list of
essential oil blends that you can try.
For your 1/4 cup of carrier oil, you’ll use about 10-15 drops,
depending on how strong or light you want the scent. I blended 2 oils
for each of my diffusers – cinnamon and lavender for the living room,
and spearmint and rosemary for the bathroom.
You can find essential oils at your local health food store or order them online from
Amazon or
Mountain Rose Herbs.
Alcohol
You’ll also add a splash of alcohol (about a teaspoon) to the oil
mixture to help the oils travel up the reeds more effectively. You want
as high a concentration of alcohol as you can get – at least 90%. You
can use either perfumer’s alcohol, rubbing alcohol, or vodka. We don’t
drink alcoholic beverages, and I don’t have access to perfumer’s
alcohol, so I used 95% rubbing alcohol I picked up from the drug store.
Homemade Reed Diffusers (Air Fresheners)
Simple, easy, and inexpensive homemade version of commercial reed diffusers.
- Small jar with small opening
- 5-6 reed sticks or bamboo skewers
- 1/4 cup carrier oil (safflower or sweet almond oil)
- 15 drops essential oils
- 1 teaspoon alcohol (optional, and should be at least 90%)
- In a measuring cup, add about 1/4 cup of your carrier oil.
- If using alcohol, add a splash into the cup and stir thoroughly to help it bind with the oil.
- Add about 10-15 drops of essential oils and swirl the mixture to blend well.
- Add the oil mixture to your jar.
- Insert the sticks into the jar.
- After a few hours, flip the sticks over and insert the dry end into the jar to saturate the other end.
- Continue
to swirl the jar and flip the sticks over about every week or so until
the scent has diminished. Then, you can just add some more essential
oils to the mix, swirl, and start again!
- Once the sticks become completely saturated with oil, they lose the ability to diffuse and will need to be replaced.
By Sarah @ Nature's Nurture
