Create a Personal Scent
By using the method of steam distillation we are able to distill items that are heat-sensitive, such as flowers or even clothes. This opens up a world of different scents that can be locked inside your jewellery. The method has been adapted to be done easily in your own kitchen.
Examples of Items to Distill
– T-shirt
– Sweatshirt
– Scarf
– Jasmine
– Bird-cherry flowers
– Lime-blossom
– Violet
– Lilac
– Rose
– Coffee
– Chai
– Earl Gray Tea
– Jasmine Tea
– Cinnamon
– Nutmeg
– Pepper
– Citrus fruits
– Lemon grass
– Lavender
– Mint
You Need:
– 1 saucepan with lid
– 1 small heat resistant glass jar or cup that will fit inside the saucepan once the lid is on
– Water
– 4 ice cubes
– Item that you wish to distill, eg:
– Clothing: 1 item
– Flowers: 3 stems
– Liquid: 100ml
How to Distill a Personal Scent, Step by Step
1. Place your jar inside the saucepan and then pour your water into the saucepan to surround the jar. The water should reach about half way up the jar.
2. Put your saucepan on the hob and heat until water is simmering.
3. Submerse the item(s) you wish to distill to the water.
4. Turn the saucepan lid upside down and place it on the saucepan.
5. Place the 4 ice cubes onto the middle of the lid.
6. Wait 10 minutes. Make sure the water doesn't boil over.
7. The steam from the simmering water will have now risen and been cooled down by the ice cubes on the pot lid. The scent particles have gathered in the water that after 10 minutes has been collected in the jar. Use oven gloves or similar to remove the lid and take the jar out of the saucepan.
8. Add around 10 scent beads to your distilled water and cover with a lid or similar. Allow to soak for 2 hours before taking them out using a spoon. The beads are now scented and ready to be placed in your jewellery.
Note:
If you wish to carry with you someone else’s scent, use e.g. a shirt that they have worn and then distill the item. We recommend you to not use a fragile garment, as it could be affected in the heat distillation process.
There are no rights and wrongs here - play and experiment with your choices of personal scents by distilling different items and different quantities of which you would like to have the scent from!
