Tuesday, August 01, 2017

Incense for a Swap

I can't believe it's been almost a month since we blogged!  Last month at this time, Molly had decided to go across the country with her cousin to see what the west coast had to offer.  She took care of a big festival for us, finished off her daytime job, tearfully said goodbye to her internship (and beloved mentor Susanna) at The Rosemary House, and set about packing and saying goodbye to her friends.
 
 Maryanne and I took time out after finishing the Sept/Oct issue to attend the Sage Apothecarian Gathering in Syracuse NY last weekend.  There was a swap, and I signed up for it, deciding to make incense.  Thought I'd share it here, since I absolutely love it.  I should note that the sandalwood has been around here for at least a decade (or more) and we grew the white sage. 
Giant chunk of pinon with a little white sage, and tiny test cones.
Here's the recipe and instructions:
Pinon and White Sage incense tiles
5 parts Makko pwd
5 parts Yellow Sandalwood pwd (red Santal works great, or sub any wood powder)
1 part White Sage pwd
1 part Pinon resin
1/2 part Salt Petre
1/2 part Gum Tragacanth
water to moisten - I used White Sage hydrosol

blended powders, ready to mix with liquid
Combine all ingredients to form a paste, adding more water if it doesn't come together (like play dough) or more of one of the powders if it is too wet.

We rolled the dough out between 2 sheets of freezer paper and scored it, transferring it onto the screen to dry. One could also make cones.
Tiles cut and laid out on a screen to dry.  Turned after a day, and dried another 2.
To burn incense tiles, fill small fireproof dish with sand, gravel, or something similar. Stand the tile in the sand, and light.
Making incense is fun and relatively simple.  We have many of the harder to find ingredients on our site.  CLICK HERE.

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