Aromatherapy

Lesson 1: The Journey Begins

Extraction: Do-It-Yourself Tips to Save Money and Have Lots of Fun!

Working with essential oils is both fun and educational. You learn a lot about yourself and the surrounding environment while embarking on an exciting journey. Sort of a Disney World of Aromatherapy!

To make the journey even more fun you may want to consider distilling your own essences. It is less difficult than you may think, and remember...practice makes perfect!

MAKE YOUR OWN HOME STILL

If you want to try your luck at distilling and have a lot of fun while doing it, all you need is a copper teakettle and some rubber or plastic tubing. Fill the teapot loosely with the herbs or flowers of your choice. When I started, I used rosemary, as Jeanne Rose suggests in her Aromatherapy Book, because it’s rather inexpensive and readily available throughout the year. You should also get some clean stones (e.g. river stones) and place them at the bottom of your kettle, to prevent the plant material from touching the surface.

Add enough water to cover your herbs. You can use either spring, distilled or deionized water. The rubber tubing you attach to the teapot spout should be long enough so that its center part can rest in a bowl of ice water and then go on to empty in a small bowl. This small bowl, called the receiver, should be placed about two feet away from the kettle. Make sure the portion of the tube that rests in ice water be level with the top of the kettle, while the receiver should be below.

Bring the teapot to a boil, then have the water simmer until half of the water has boiled off, vaporized and condensed in the ice water bath and finally collected in the receiver. Your final result will be wonderfully fragrant floral water with which you’ll be able to prepare your own cosmetic, creams, and shampoos. If you want to obtain the oils, you’ll have to decant the water in glass bottles, but it’s too much trouble for too little amounts.

A COUNTRY STILL

Take a large, chubby, clear wine bottle. Hang freshly cut flowering stems from rosemary or lavender plants upside down in the bottle. Let your bottle rest in a place where the heat of the sun can warm it up for at least eight hours a day. Make sure you check your bottle every day. After a few days, you’ll notice that the oil and water from the branches will have collected on the bottom of your bottle. This experiment will work only if you start with a very clean bottle and a very tight seal and your bottle receives enough sun for eight hours a day.

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