Original and simple ways creating holders for incense sticks.
Oriental scents can create a calming and peaceful atmosphere in the home. To feel lightness and tranquility, sometimes it’s enough just to light some incense and relax, inhaling the aroma and watching the thin stream of smoke.
Special stands for placing chopsticks are sold in stores. But if you don’t want to spend money or prefer to create home decor elements with your own hands, then in a few minutes you can make your own holder from available materials.
You will need:
– a round piece of wood,
- hammer,
– a small nail,
- stick of incense.
Wooden blanks can be purchased at hobby stores or cut from wood yourself and processed.
Drive the nail at an angle on one side wooden block. There is no need to hammer the nail in hard - its purpose is only to make a hole for the sticks. 
Then use a hammer to remove the nail. The hole for the incense sticks is ready! All you have to do is place the incense and enjoy the smells. 
The stand can be painted with special paints, varnished or glued with beads and other decorative elements. Together with a set of incense, this will be a great gift for family and friends. 
If you have not found a suitable wooden blank, do not despair. There are many other materials from which a similar stand can be easily made.
Making a holder for incense sticks from clay
Ideally, you can make a decorative holder from clay yourself. Moreover, it can be of absolutely any form, in the form of an animal, a person or a plant. However, in this case, firing will be required to obtain ceramic product. And not everyone has the opportunity to use muffle furnace. In this case, modern materials will come to the rescue.
So, an excellent material for making decorative stand will be self-hardening polymer clay. From it you can fashion a beautiful bowl, a statue of a small Buddha or a frog with small holes for incense sticks. Within 24 hours, the polymer clay will dry out and turn almost into stone.
You can also use plastic. This polymer clay needs to be fired, but in order for the material to harden, 200 degrees is enough, i.e. conventional oven.
Incense stands made of plaster and salt dough
Most economical option– creating a stand from salt dough. The ingredients are available in every home, they are inexpensive, and to make an amazing and unique accessory for incense, you only need imagination and a little free time.
To make the most simple stand in the form of a pebble with small holes for sticks, you will need wheat flour (1 cup), salt (1 cup), water (0.5 cup).
First, mix salt and water, then add flour and knead until a thick consistency holds its shape. After this, you can start creating the holder. Ready product After drying, it should be painted or varnished.
You can also cast a nice, stable figurine from plaster that will hold aroma sticks. To do this, just make holes at the top with a toothpick.
In addition, decorative gypsum products can themselves become sources of aroma if you drop a few drops of your favorite essential oil on them.
The same applies to dough crafts. It will take very little time to do. Previously, we wrote how to create such products.
The East has been trending lately. Many people have begun to become interested in oriental medicine; oriental motifs can often be found in the interior. Yoga is popular and different kinds therapy, including aromatherapy. If you are into aromatherapy, then you have probably used incense sticks. These sticks fill the room with pleasant smells, but when they smolder, they fall onto the table or floor in the form of ash. To prevent this from happening, incense sticks are placed on a special stand that functions as an ashtray. You can buy a stand for incense sticks or make it yourself if you want the decor to be original. And in this article we will tell you how to make a stand for incense sticks from polymer or ordinary clay.
Materials:
- clay
- rolling pin
- sheet metal(not necessary)
- wooden skewer or wire
- spray paint or varnish
- knife or metal molds
Making a stand for incense sticks
Prepare polymer or regular clay so that its consistency resembles plasticine.
Roll out the clay on a hard, flat surface, and cut out a rectangle from the resulting layer using a knife. Smooth the surface of the clay.
Using a small mold, apply a pattern to the surface of the clay.
Using a wooden skewer or wire, pierce a hole for the incense stick.
From a strip of metal, make a template with which one edge of the clay rectangle can be bent and fixed until the clay dries. Let the clay dry for 24 hours.
Burning incense at home or in any other room is not only a pleasant process, but also relatively dangerous. After all, here you will be dealing with a smoldering substance. To protect yourself and your home from possible fire, it is recommended to use special ones. The use of such stands not only makes the process of incense safe, but also aesthetically pleasing, such stands look attractive, and some of them are so beautifully made that they are a magnificent decoration for any room in which they will be located, and not just for the altar.
Based on the material used in the manufacture of stands, they are divided into wood, stone, metal and ceramic. The most popular material from which coasters are made is wood. This material is very practical, stands of various shapes are made from it, and there is no need to worry about the condition of the accessory, it will not catch fire from ashes and is not so easy to damage.
Based on the types of incense that the stands are designed for, they can be divided into base incense stands, baseless incense stands, and universal incense stands designed for both types. The main difference between these accessories is the diameter of the hole: the first type of incense requires holes of a smaller diameter than the second.
Conventionally, incense stands can also be divided by shape: rectangular, round and free-form. Rectangular stands include “ski”, “boat” and chest accessories. The first ones look like skis, flat with one end raised, in which there is a hole for a stick. These stands have one or two grooves for sticks. It, in turn, is located at a slight angle to the surface of the stand, the stick smolders and all the ashes fall onto the stand.
The “boat” stand resembles the previous view, but is curved on both sides at once and has a shape similar to a boat. These coasters are often made of ceramic. They reliably protect the surface from ash, are easy to clean and do not absorb the smell of incense.
The most original shape is the stand in the shape of a chest. Often it not only serves as a collection of ashes and a holder for already burning incense, but also as a storage place for incense sticks. At the bottom there is a pencil case where you can put sticks, and on the roof of the pencil case, which is also the bottom, the stand contains recesses for cone-shaped and baseless incense, and there are holes for sticks in the side walls. The lid of the chest has holes for the passage of fragrant smoke, so after you light the incense, you can close the lid and enjoy the unusual spectacle of smoke coming out of the holes.
Stands round shape usually sold in the form of a saucer or lotus flower. Such accessories are most often made of ceramics, stone or wood. In Buddhism, the lotus symbolizes the primordial waters, spiritual unfoldment, wisdom and nirvana. The Lotus is dedicated to Buddha, the “Pearl of the Lotus”, who emerged from the Lotus in the form of a flame. This is an image of purity and perfection: growing out of dirt, he remains pure - just like Buddha, born into the world. Buddha is considered the heart of the lotus, he sits on a throne in the form of a fully opened flower. Inside the stand, most often even in the flower itself, there are holes into which sticks are inserted. Unlike the first type of stands, where the sticks are located almost parallel to the accessory, in flat and round stands they are in a vertical position. The recesses can also be different diameters for various incense.
The authors' fantasies are not limited to rectangular or round stands; there are various accessories in the form of figurines, for example in the form of an elephant or Buddha. The most popular is a figurine of Buddha holding a bunch of incense, at its top there are holes for the incense sticks themselves, there are also options for incense in the form of a spiral, they can be placed inside the stand, and the smoke will come out of special holes. And stands in the form of elephants or other animals have holes in the body itself.
A large selection of incense stands allows you to choose not only a convenient accessory, but also a stylish piece of furniture.
The East has been trending lately. Many people have begun to become interested in oriental medicine; oriental motifs can often be found in the interior. Yoga and various types of therapy, including aromatherapy, are popular. If you are into aromatherapy, then you have probably used incense sticks. These sticks fill the room with pleasant smells, but when they smolder, they fall onto the table or floor in the form of ash. To prevent this from happening, incense sticks are placed on a special stand that functions as an ashtray. You can buy a stand for incense sticks or make it yourself if you want the decor to be original. And in this article we will tell you how to make a stand for incense sticks from polymer or ordinary clay.
Materials:
- clay
- rolling pin
- sheet metal (optional)
- wooden skewer or wire
- spray paint or varnish
- knife or metal molds
Making a stand for incense sticks
Prepare polymer or regular clay so that its consistency resembles plasticine.
Roll out the clay on a hard, flat surface, and cut out a rectangle from the resulting layer using a knife. Smooth the surface of the clay.
Using a small mold, apply a pattern to the surface of the clay.
Using a wooden skewer or wire, pierce a hole for the incense stick.
From a strip of metal, make a template with which one edge of the clay rectangle can be bent and fixed until the clay dries. Let the clay dry for 24 hours.
Divide the stand into sections using masking tape and paint. Cover the top with spray varnish.
When the coating is dry, the stand can be used for its intended purpose.
Original article in English.
After a hard day at work, you want to relax. What can help in this matter better than incense? Our master class is dedicated to how to make incense sticks and other pleasant-smelling things for your home with your own hands.
If you want to make homemade incense in any form - pressed cones, figurines or incense sticks - there are a few general rules to remember:
- Measure each ingredient carefully, using electronic scales if possible.
- To grind the ingredients into powder (if they are not in liquid form), it is best to use a heavy pestle rather than a coffee grinder - you will be able to control the size of the resulting granules and literally turn them into dust (this is especially important when making cones).
Never try to grind tree resins using machinery - they will clog and very quickly break any blender or coffee grinder.
- Very soft and viscous resins, such as frankincense and elemi resin, are better to freeze a little before you start grinding - this will make the work much easier.
- If you add a little finely ground powder to the mixture ( tree bark like cinnamon or any spices), then the resins will not stick to the walls of the mortar.
- If you are using sandalwood bark or cinnamon sticks, it can be very difficult to grind them into powder with your hands. Replace them whenever possible.
- Herbs, inflorescences and petals are usually finely chopped in a blender, but many people like to first rub them in a mortar and use sharp knife or combine these methods. Try them all and find yours.
- The peel of citrus fruits (lemon, orange, lime, any others) can first be dried and crushed with a pestle, or you can grate it on a very fine grater and only then dry it - this will dramatically reduce the drying time.
- Honey or a couple of drops of wine are often added to dried fruits before they are dried until brittle and crushed, which gives the smell a very pleasant subtle tint.
Combine flavors and ingredients by following recipes or creating your own. Here, for example, is one of the popular combinations for incense:
- 1 part palo santo bark;
- 1 part Tolu balsam;
- 1 part styrax tree resin;
- a quarter of vanilla (ground into powder).
How to make incense sticks
Incense sticks are probably the most difficult to make because they require for a long time for impregnation and drying and a special base. To make 20 incense sticks you will need:
- 20 pcs. thin sticks each 28 cm long (preferably special base sticks);
- 12 ml. oil base or dipropylene glycol;
- 6 ml. aromatic oils or mixtures of ingredients;
- 1 glass test tube 25x250 mm;
- 2 pipettes;
- test tube holder;
- marker;
- dryer (non-automatic, regular for clothes).
- Wash and dry the test tube thoroughly, and then pour the oil base into it using a pipette. Mark the liquid level in the test tube with a marker.
- Add aroma oil. Here the ratio is 1:2, but depending on the chosen aroma and its intensity, you can change it (1:1 or even 1:3).
- Shake the contents of the test tube by covering the neck with your finger.
- Place the sticks in the test tube (thick part down). The mixture will cover only a quarter of the length of the sticks, but during standing time it will saturate the entire thickened part.
- Leave the tube for 3 days at room temperature. Don't cover it!
- After three days, remove the sticks and place them on the dryer. Do not place it in direct sunlight.
To check if the sticks are dry enough, blot them paper towel; if it is wet, you need to wait longer.
On average, this may take another day.
After this, put the sticks in a bag or box where you will store them, or immediately place them on a stand and light them.
