Your Guide to Making Your Own

Hand-Crafted Incense Cones

Making your own incense for yourself or others for its aesthetic, ritual, or
healing benefits is one of the most rewarding practices of using aromatic plants.
In the Hand-Crafted Incense Workshop Series, I’ve walked you through some
of the foundational teachings that will make your incense crafting a more fun,
enriching, and successful practice.

Now that you have a few of the core teachings of incense crafting in place, and
you know what the 4 Basic Building Blocks of incense are (bases, binders,
aromatics, and water), it’s now time to put all of these elements together to
create well-balanced, fully burning, solid incense cones!

The following is a great incense recipe for people just starting out making their
first batches of incense. You can follow the recipe exactly as is, or if you’re
feeling adventurous, this recipe was designed so you can alter some of it’s
ingredients and experiment with using different powdered aromatic botanicals in
their place. Feel free to substitute other aromatics for the Cinnamon and Clove
in this recipe.

If you do choose to use different aromatic ingredients or spices, just be sure you
keep the amounts of Sandalwood, binder, and water that are called for in the
recipe the same. Only substitute other ingredients for the Cinnamon and Clove! That
way you’ll ensure your incense holds its form and burns properly.

© 2018 Evan Sylliaasen, The Northwest School of Aromatic Medicine. All Rights Reserved.
 Sandalwood Spice Incense Cone Recipe

Ingredients:

5 teaspoons finely powdered Sandalwood (Santalum album)

1/2 teaspoon finely powdered Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon finely powdered Clove
1/16 teaspoon (aka 1 Pinch) finely powdered Gum Tragacanth
3 1/2 teaspoon Water

Incense Crafting Tools Needed:

Small Mixing bowl

Measuring spoons
Condiment dishes or tiny cups/bowls for ingredients (optional)
Mixing spoon (optional)
Cone rolling surface (cutting boards work great!)
Drying surface (cutting board, a plate, metal baking pan, tin foil, etc.)
Mortar & Pestle or Coffee Grinder for powdering ingredients (optional)
(you can also purchase your ingredients in powdered form)

Natural & Sustainable Sources for Above Ingredients:

Sandalwood powder - www.etsy.com/shop/HigherMindIncense

Cinnamon powder, Clove powder - Starwest Botanicals, Mountain Rose Herbs
Tragacanth powder - www.etsy.com/shop/HigherMindIncense

© 2018 Evan Sylliaasen, The Northwest School of Aromatic Medicine. All Rights Reserved.
 Step-by-Step Incense Cone Crafting

Step 1 - Prepare Yourself

To start off every incense crafting session, it’s good to center yourself and
become more present in the moment before you begin. Do your best to dismiss
any daily or negative thoughts, stress, or frustrations you may have. The goal is
to put only good energy, thoughts, and intentions into your incense crafting. If
you’re experiencing heavy or negative emotions, it’s best to reserve your incense
crafting for when those feelings have been settled.

Step 2 - Prepare Your Ingredients

Gather all of the ingredients for your incense cone blend and start grinding,
crushing, and powdering your materials. Or purchase your ingredients in
powder form. For cones, using finer powders ensures proper burning of your
incense. Thicker consistencies don’t burn as well in this ‘combustable’ type of
incense.

Step 3 - Mix Your Dry Ingredients

Begin the crafting process by adding your base materials to your mixing bowl.
Then add each of your other dry, aromatic materials to the mixing bowl and stir
everything together thoroughly. Then use a fine sifter to add your powdered
gum binder to your other dry ingredients, and mix everything together
thoroughly to ensure there are no pockets of single ingredients.

© 2018 Evan Sylliaasen, The Northwest School of Aromatic Medicine. All Rights Reserved.
Step 4 - Add Your Water Element

Once all of your dry ingredients are mixed together, it’s time to add your water.
Start by adding 1/3 to 1/2 of your water first, then mix it in well. Then add the
rest of your water and mix your ingredients thoroughly. Adding and mixing your
water in portions like this allows for your dry ingredients to more evenly absorb
the moisture.

This is the most common stage at which most incense cultures will infuse their
prayers, intention, songs, mantras, positive thoughts, etc. into their incense: after
the water has been added, and during the mixing and forming stages.

Step 5 - Knead Your Incense Dough

Next, knead your incense dough for 1-2 minutes or until it’s slightly warm.
Kneading raises the temperature of the dough and continues the mixing process.

© 2018 Evan Sylliaasen, The Northwest School of Aromatic Medicine. All Rights Reserved.
This helps the water penetrate the cells of the plant materials more deeply, helps
activate the gum binder, while also helping the aromatic components synthesize
more fully, enhancing the aromatic bouquet of your blend.

Step 6 - Mold Your Dough Into Cones

Once your dough is kneaded, it’s time to shape your dough into cones. Before
you begin molding, prepare your drying surface to place your finished cones on
as you shape them. Pinch off a small ball of your dough, around the diameter of
a dime, and place it directly onto your rolling surface (cutting boards or sanded
or polished wood work great). Start rolling your dough with the palm of your
hand or forming it with your fingers.

You’ll roll your cones out between the palm of your hand and your rolling
surface. To do this, place the outside of your palm (your pinkie finger side)
down on your rolling surface. Lift the opposite side of your palm (your pointer

© 2018 Evan Sylliaasen, The Northwest School of Aromatic Medicine. All Rights Reserved.
finger side) slightly, creating a 15-20° angle with your hand so that the knuckle
of your pointer finger is higher than your other knuckles. With the ball of dough
directly under your pointer finger knuckle, gently move your palm forward and
backward while applying pressure downward on your ball of dough. This will
create your cone shape. You want to make your cones about an inch tall. Your
cone’s base should be the thickness of a pencil or pen, or even smaller. Don’t
worry if your cones aren’t totally uniform or perfect. Over time you will perfect
this process.

Step 7 - Dry Your Cones

For the best results, incense cones are slow dried at room temperature (between
55 and 80 degrees). To speed the process up, you can place your cones to dry
next to a heat source. There are many factors at play during the drying process
that determine how long your cones will take to be completely dry. Humidity
and moisture in the air, the seasons, temperature, different ingredients, and other
factors all have a role in this process. Because of these factors, cones can take
anywhere from 1-3 days to dry out completely. Sometimes longer.

Halfway through the drying process, a day or so into your dry time, tip all of
your cones over onto their sides to allow their bottoms enough air to dry out as
well. Every 12 hours after you tip them over, roll your cones 180 degrees so they
have a chance to dry out evenly on all sides. After they’ve had the proper time to
dry, check to see if your cones are completely dry inside. Do so by breaking one
of your cones in half to see if there’s moisture in the center. If there is, there will
be a darker spot in the core of your cone. If this is the case, allow for another 12
- 36 hours to finish drying.

© 2018 Evan Sylliaasen, The Northwest School of Aromatic Medicine. All Rights Reserved.
Step 8 - Store, Cure, & Enjoy!

Once your cones are completely dry they’re ready to burn. Store your cones in a
sealable glass jar to maintain their freshness and aromas for years to come.
Relax, invite a friend over, burn and Enjoy!

...

The step-by-step process I just laid out for you is the exact blueprint for making
any incense cone recipe. Follow these steps and you’ll soon have your own hand-
crafted incense cones to burn and enjoy on your own or with friends. Use this
process to make medicine for yourself, family, or patients; create cones for
sacred and ceremonial purposes; or craft your own incense for fragrant
enjoyment and pleasing the senses.

There’s nothing quite like the enchantment you feel when you step up to the
incense crafting table. There’s definitely a sense of magic that arises when
working with such heavenly aromas and special, even sacred plants. The good
energy, thoughts, intentions, and work we put into making our aromatic
creations pays off even more when we see people’s blissful faces after
experiencing our incense, and when we hear profound stories of the healing,
transformation, and beauty that our creations initiate and awaken in people.

You now have the skills to make your own incense for whatever purposes and
intentions you desire. So put your new found knowledge to work and start
creating experiences of healing, pleasure, and sacredness today through the
Ancient Art of Incense. Thank you for joining me on this journey!

~ Evan Sylliaasen

© 2018 Evan Sylliaasen, The Northwest School of Aromatic Medicine. All Rights Reserved.