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Liquid potpourri is a scented oil that can be allowed to evaporate to add a fragrance to your home or burned over a candle flame in an oil burner. The basic recipe for making your own is to infuse a base oil or wax with spice or floral scents, making an essential oil. This can be diluted in a clean burning vegetable oil if needed.

An essential oil can be made of any strongly scented flower or pleasant spice. Roses are the most popular as is cinnamon and sage. Essential oils can be purchased and then diluted in jojoba oil or vegetable oil, or you can make your own. Commonly used vegetable oils include safflower, sunflower, and olive. Jojoba oil is the best to use since it is actually a wax and does not spoil. For essential oils, sweet almond oil, not bitter or extract, is commonly used with Vitamin E as a natural preservative.

To make an essential oil, the flower petals or spices are tightly packed and bruised, then soaked in the almond oil overnight. The next day the oil is strained and a new batch of flowers or spice is added to the oil. Cheesecloth is a useful tool in this straining process, which should be repeated about 4 times over the course of as many days, replacing the old batch of soaked items with the new each time. Once infused the oil can be funneled into dark bottles or vials and capped for storage. The essential oils have a shelf life of about 6-12 months.

To use the oils to scent your home, dilute in a burning oil and use in an oil burner, or set out in a shallow ceramic dish where it can evaporate undisturbed.

Learn more about this author, Alicia M Prater PhD.
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