Gel air freshener -- is it worthwhile to make?

[DeeAnna]

I was reading a "cozy mystery" novel recently that had several recipes for food and craft items mentioned in the story. The novel had a recipe for a gel air freshener the heroine made from gelatine dissolved in water, scented with essential oils, and tinted with food coloring.

In looking on the internet, I see similar air fresheners touted by internet bloggers -- here's an example: https://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/how-to-make-your-own-gel-air-fresheners/ -- but blogger articles (and cozy mystery novels) are long on cute ideas and short on any info about whether they actually work.

Does anyone have any feedback about this type of air freshener? Does it actually do the job? Or is it just a cute idea? If you've tried it and like it, do you use preservative in this? edit: I see that some tutorials say the salt is used as a mold inhibitor -- I wonder how well that works?

 

[IrishLass]

I used to make 'smelly jellies' back in the day, using those water absorbent crystals that plant nurseries sell for helping your soil to hold in water/keep it moist (instead of gelatin). I would rehydrate them in water mixed with food color, and scent them and put them in a pretty canning jar with breathable lace screwed down to the lid, but they didn't give off much scent unless you were right upon them, inches away from the top of the jar. I stopped making them after I saw that I got much better scent throw by soaking corn cob pellets from the pet store (it's sold as bedding) in a jar with a determined amount of FO to soak for a week or so, and then once fully absorbed, transferring the scented pellets to one of those pretty drawstring gauze bags and hanging it up either on a hook in the house with an inch or so clearance away from the wall in a well-trafficked area, or from my rearview window of my car. The gauze gives the scent a 360 degree surface area to breathe, thereby enabling more of the scent molecules to waft out into the air (as opposed to having most of the scented surface area enclosed by glass.

I'd be happy to post my 'recipe' if you are interested!


IrishLass

 

[artemis]

I was reading a "cozy mystery" novel recently...

Title, please, and was it any good?

 

[DeeAnna]

Hmmm, interesting idea, @IrishLass. Thanks for bringing that alternative up -- I can see how it would work well.

I use a product called "Fresh Cab" in my camper and am very happy with how it performs. Fresh Cab is a breathable bag filled with small corn cob granules scented heavily with EOs. The product is advertised as a mouse repellent for enclosed spaces like camping trailers, tractor cabs, closets, basements, etc. I hadn't thought to adapt that idea to use with my own scents. Duh!

If you wouldn't mind sharing the details of how you make your sachets, I would be grateful.

***

@artemis -- The author is Cricket McRae aka K.C. McRae aka Bailey Cates or Bailey Cattrell. Website: http://www.cricketmcrae.com/

The series is "A Home Crafting Mystery". There are a total of 6 novels in the series including "Lye in Wait" where soapmaking and lye are key parts of the story and "Spin a Wicked Web" where spinning and yarn are instrumental to the mystery. The novel with the gel freshener recipe is "Heaven Preserve Us" that features home canning as the central theme of the mystery.

The heroine is a late30something widowed woman who runs a soap-making and B&B business. She has a habit of stumbling across dead bodies and then talks herself into investigating and solving the "whodunit", much to the frustration of local police detectives.

The stories are easy, mellow reads with likeable, realistic characters and interesting plot twists. There are several PG-rated romances that develop to spice things up. I read all 6 a few years ago and am coming back to read them again, so they're good enough for me to want to re-read.

I've also read her "Shotgun Moon," a much grittier murder mystery. Also very good albeit a more mainstream mystery novel -- it doesn't fit into the "cozy" mystery genre. I wish she'd do more of this type of story.

 

[artemis]

@artemis -- The author is Cricket McRae aka K.C. McRae aka Bailey Cates or Bailey Cattrell. Website: http://www.cricketmcrae.com/

Thanks, I will check them out! My current "cozy" author is Donna Andrews, with her Meg Langslow series. I think she's pretty funny, myself.

Anyway, back to the post topic!

 

[IrishLass]

If you wouldn't mind sharing the details of how you make your sachets, I would be grateful.

I measure out 3 tbsp. of corn cob pellets and mix them with 1 tbsp. of crushed walnut shells into a clean jar (both can be found at the pet store in the bedding area). Then I add 5 to 10 mLs of FO (depending on strength) to the contents of the jar and mix it around well until evenly distributed. Then I cover the jar and place it in a cool dark place to absorb, giving the jar a good shake whenever I think about it. The FO usually completely absorbs within 3 to 5 days, and when that happens, I stuff one of the drawstring bags with it and hang it up by the string on a hook in a room, or on the rearview mirror of my car, etc...


IrishLass

 

[DeeAnna]

Wowser -- super easy! I appreciate knowing the proportions you use, Irish Lass. Thank you for sharing! I will definitely give this a try. It sounds to me like this will be more effective than the gel fresheners for a larger space, and that's what I'm looking for.

When winter comes and the house is closed up, I enjoy playing with scents. Four dogs, three cats, cooking odors, and a wood stove can make the air smell stale. In addition to that, I work a lot of hours this time of year and a fresh, interesting aroma is a pleasant pick-me-up when I'm tired.

 

[dibbles]

Thanks for sharing Irish Lass. I also tried the 'smelly jelly' in a jar and wasn't happy with the result. After that I used small muslin bags with some sort of material used in potpourri (Natrasorb maybe - which is probably corn cobs) with a Christmas tree type scent and hung them on the tree. We do get a live tree, but it seems even the fragrance from those fades, so it helped keep the tree area smelling Christmasy. I'd forgotten about that, and will be picking up some corn cob pellets and revisiting that this year

 

[DeeAnna]

Thanks for sharing your experience with these fresheners, @dibbles. It's good to hear your point of view about both types.

Off topic, but since I'm the OP ... too bad.

@dibbles -- have you ever seen this website? https://www.cozy-mystery.com/cozy-mysteries-by-themes.html Did you know you can get cozy mysteries with gourd crafting as a theme? Or car racing? Geeze, I had no idea.

 

[dibbles]

@DeeAnna I had not seen that. My hubby reads the paper front to back every day, but rarely picks up a book. Maybe a golf mystery could entice him. It has to be more interesting than watching golf on TV. Or so it seems to me.

 

[Lin19687]

Is the Corn Cob like the Horse bedding pellets?
Don't they break down into dust when they get wet?

I was searching on this yesterday after this posting but can't find a solid Corn Cob locally except for the horse bedding pellets (which I use for kitty litter)

 

[DeeAnna]

No, corn cob isn't the same as wood pellets. It's smaller size bits and is used mostly for bedding cages for smaller animals.

The pellets are compressed pine. They're generally used for larger animals, although I also put pine pellets in one of my cats' litter boxes, like you do. I also have to give them a box with clay litter because they don't use the pellets for doing #2 for some reason. The pellets are way cheaper, very absorbent, control odor well, and are less messy. I wish they'd use the pellets only, but they won't.

 

[IrishLass]

My corn cob pellets hold up great. They have never-ever broken down in my FO sachets. The bag I have is called 'Natural Corn Cobs' made by Green Pet Products, Inc. It's sold as bedding for birds and small animals at Petsmart and/or Petco. I think Walmart carries it, too.


IrishLass

 

[beckster51]

I do this as well. I use Kaytee Kay-Kob that is corn cob pellets sold for rabbit bedding at PetSmart. Works great, doesn't break down at all.

 

[DeeAnna]

Actually I'm doing a trial with pine pellets right now, and I'm going to start one with walnut shell. I have both of these on hand. Ground corncob is on the shopping list for the next time I go to town.

Pine pellets are darker, bigger, and more "industrial" looking than corn cob. They also don't have the large surface area that the corn cob and walnut shell have. The pellets are not breaking down from the FO that I added about 1 1/2 days ago, so that's good. I think if it's not water-based, the pellets will stay intact. Pine pellets might not look and work the same as ground corn cob, but if it's all you've got, try it!

Ground walnut shell is not absorbent like pine pellets or corn cob, so I'm wondering if this will work as well if used alone. But I'm going to try it if only for the sake of science.

@IrishLass -- Would you share your reasoning for using a blend of 3 parts corn cob to 1 part walnut by volume? Appearance? Surface area? Long-term retention of scent?

 

[IrishLass]

Would you share your reasoning for using a blend of 3 parts corn cob to 1 part walnut by volume? Appearance? Surface area? Long-term retention of scent?

Longer retention of scent. I got the tip from someone over at the Dish forum years ago, but it's been so long that I can't remember exactly who anymore.


IrishLass

 

[NsMar42111]

DeeAnna, the problem with the pine pellets if someone is thinking of selling is there are people allergic to pine. I'm one of them! Pine dust on my skin makes me get welts and breathing the dust causes respiratory fun. I used the pine pellets for cat litter for years, but had to be careful about holding my breath and keeping it off me.

I've used the corncob bedding for making sachets before, it's what I do now when I want a smelly area . Haven't packaged them for selling but it's on the list!

 

[DeeAnna]

Good point about the potential for the pine being a trigger for allergies. I react strongly to black walnut dust, so I know what you're talking about. This is just for me, and I'm not reactive to pine.

If I were to sell, I wouldn't use the pine pellets if for no other reason than they look awfully unattractive. Even in an opaque bag, the pellets would be lumpy feeling and that's not appealing to me either. I much prefer the look and feel of the much smaller corncob and/or crushed walnut shells.

So allergies and aesthetics are both votes against pine pellets.

I have to say my first test with pine pellets and NG Apple Orchard FO is promising. I made the mistake this morning of opening the whole container of scented pellets to the open air, and my whole first floor reeked in a few minutes. This is one FO that works best when you only get a light whiff -- it's very Granny Smith apple-y smelling. But a heavy snort is awful.

To lighten things up, I put a couple tablespoons of pellets in a shallow jar and put the rest away. That reduced the strength considerably and it smells MUCH better. It's is still lightly scenting about 800 square feet on my main floor. Now to see how long that lasts.

 

[NsMar42111]

Black walnut dust, is it the same as ground walnut shells?

Wow, that's a strong FO!!!! Apples and pine would actually smell really good LOL

 

[IrishLass]

As far as I know, I don't think the dust is the same as the crushed shells, but hopefully DeeAnna will chime in to confirm/deny. For what its worth, the crushed walnut shells I have are in small, irregular solid bits about the size of poppy seeds or kiwi seeds....not what I would term as dust.

IrishLass