Making My Own Essential Oil

[Psalm 23]

I have been looking into using essential oils in my soap, and since they are so expensive, I am wondering if I can make my own. I have searched the web and found a lot of helpful sites, but am just wondering if anyone here has had experience with this.

I am wanting to try it in a crock pot to speed up the process a little, rather than putting a jar in the sun. (We never have sun here anyway. ) Can you use pretty much anything...herbs flowers or even fruits? I saw a couple people wanting to try apple peel...that sounds interesting, but would it really work?

And another thing I am wondering about. Can you use sweet pea flowers and stems, even though typically...isn't that plant poisonous?

Are there any big differences between using a distiller and just using a crock pot with some carrier oil? I would rather not build a distiller if I don't have to.


Thanks!

 

[JacquiO]

Many essential oils are steam distilled. Some are cold pressed or chemically extracted.

I have no personal experience making essential oils nor do I have any certifications in aromatherapy but I have had an interest in essential oils and aromatherapy for about 20 years, long before I got involved with candle making, soap and B&B.

It's an expensive and painstaking process making your own essentials oils. That's the reason why they can be so expensive. The cost of an essential oil has a lot to do with the cost and bulk amount needed of the raw material needed to produce a small fraction of oil. This is why orange oil can cost as low as $10 a pound and Rose oil costs as much as $5000 a pound.

Also certain materials when they are distilled can produce volatile gases so I wouldn't recommend it unless you had a background in chemistry and the proper lab equipment to do it.

However there are alternatives to using expensive essentials oils. One that I like to use especially when I make chamomile soap is to use a strong brewed chamomile tea for my lye water and adding some chamomile flowers to my batch. You can also do this with lavender, rose petals, peppermint or any other aromatic plant you can purchase at a health food store or herb shop.

The other thing you can make are tinctures which you draw out the flavors and fragrance of herbs and spices by soaking them in grain alcohol, vodka, brandy or vinegar. The most common of these is homemade vanilla extract.

Another alternative is to purchase the hydrosols which are a by-product of the steam distillation process. You can sub the water part of your B&B recipe with a hydrosol. These are less expensive substitutes for pricey essential oils such as German Chamomile, Rose and Neroli.

Here's some links you may find helpful:
http://essentialoils.org/knowledge-center/what/
http://southernsoapers.com/cart/hydroso ... -c-33.html
http://www.theherbarie.com/Hydrosols-c-12.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_5168258_make-ho ... water.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_2214005_make-a- ... source=ask
http://www.ehow.com/how_4513909_glyceri ... cture.html

HTH,
Jacqui

 

[Psalm 23]

Wow thank you so much for taking the time to write all that and give me the links!
I am a little confused now though. I am wondering if the method I am wanting to use is not going to make essential oil at all...it will be sort of a scented carrier oil or something? All of the websites I looked at said nothing about fumes...or the danger of them. So maybe what I was wanting to make in the first place was just a tincture? I don't know. Everyone called them EOs.

This is off of eHow too. (I love eHow!) It is one that I was thinking of trying: Is this really a method to make Essential Oil?

Step 1Pour the olive, sesame, canola or safflower oil into the quart jar.

Step 2Use the pestle and mortar to crush the peppermint and lemon balm leaves. Add half of the crushed herbs and lemon verbena flower petals to the jar of oil. Add half of the nutmeg and lemon zest. Stir well to blend thoroughly.

Step 3Cap the jar tightly. Set it in a very bright, sunny windowsill for at least 48 hours. Gently shake the jar every 8 hours.

Step 4Strain the contents of the jar through cheesecloth or muslin into a glass mixing bowl. Gather the cloth into a ball to squeeze as much liquid as you can from its contents. Discard the used plant material.

Step 5Return the oil to the jar. Add the remaining half of the crushed peppermint leaves, crushed lemon balm leaves, flower petals, nutmeg and lemon zest. Repeat Steps 3 and 4. The final straining renders the lemon mint essential oil.

Step 6Pour your fragrant essential oil into dark glass bottles. Cap them tightly, and keep for 6 to 12 months in a cool, dry, dark location.

 

[Healinya]

That's technically called "infused oil"

 

[Tabitha]

Like she said.

That is infused which is going to be super diluted compared to essential oil. Essential oils are costly because they are the most concentrated form of the fragrance. It is the fragrance.

Infused oils are oils with some fragrace (infused) in it.

I am going to say 1/4oz of true essential oil will be as potent if not more potent than a pound of infused oil.

 

[Psalm 23]

Ok. That makes more sense. Do you think infused oil would still work though? Or would I have to use so much of it that I would have to totally change my recipe to make up for the extra oil?

 

[JacquiO]

I think an infused oil would work and perhaps a little better in conjunction with a tea for your lye water but keep in mind just like with essential oils the heat from the gelling process can evaporate the plant oils and make the fragrance dissipate. You could experiment with a gelled and non-gelled soap to see what gets you better results.

I meant to say something about the Sweet Pea. You really shouldn't mess with toxic plants. There is no way to know how your skin or someone else's will react. There are a a lot of really nice smelling flowers out there that are toxic to humans. If your unsure of a plant you'd like to use be sure to look it up on the net and make sure it's not poisonous. Instead use a body safe synthetic fragrance to duplicate that particular scent

Also spices like nutmeg and cinnamon can be an irritant. Use sparingly.

Here's a list of some edible flowers that you may find helpful.
http://whatscookingamerica.net/EdibleFl ... rsMain.htm

 

[Eesil7we]

Psalm23, i used infused oil in most of soaps due to exorbitant price of EO. As Tabitha said, the scent is too mild and it fades almost to 'zero' scent as the soaps complete their curing process. Consider all effort put in to process the infused oil...i am seriously sorting out to buy EO.

 

[Psalm 23]

Eesil7We~
Thanks for your imput! It's always good to hear from people who have tried these kinds of things. I think I'll just forget about this making infused oil thing. Maybe it would work really well in MP. I don't think I want to take any chances of it fading to nothing in my CP though
Thanks again!