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| Gelling Home-made Air Freshner |
I totally fell into the smelly jelly craze. I call it pinterest smelly jelly because a few weeks ago I found a picture on pinterest and decided to try it out.
Smelly Jelly
Delightful Country Cookin provided good jokes and simple instructions for a quick easy craft. I will repeat some of the instructions and tell you how I modified this to an Upcycled project. .First you will need to gather a few things.
- heat proof jars
- food coloring (optional)
- essential oil
- 4 packets Gelatin
- 1 tbs Salt (or Vodka)
- 2 cups water
- Small saucepan
- Whisk
- Stirring sticks
The first time I made this I used 7 small heat proof jars. The second time I used 3 colored shot glasses and two champagne glasses. Instead of essential oil I used Highly Fragranced Warming Oil (as it says on the bottle) which contains essential oils. I live in the country and the closest town is only 10-15 minutes away and it does have a Wal-Mart (that must be all it has since all the teenagers hang out there). It carries a limited supply of everything. And the warming oil was the closest thing to essential oil they had at the time. I used Knox original Gelatine, sea salt, tap water and I used two different plastic knives for stirring.
The food coloring is to make your smelly jelly pretty in the jar (if you gel it in layers you can make patterns). The salt or vodka is to keep the smelly jelly from molding. The essential oils is the smelly part of smelly jelly and the heat proof jar is only required for the mixing part. The gelatin of course makes the jelly part of smelly jelly.
After I gathered all my materials I placed a towel under my jars in case I made a spill. She suggests 2-3 drops of food coloring for each jar. I added 2 drops of food coloring of choice to each jar (my jars were small so I didn't need a lot of food coloring to get pretty smelly jelly colors). She also suggests 30 drops of essential oil and states the more you add the stronger the smell. I wasn't sure how much warming oil would be needed and I knew hot liquid would be added. I didn't want to over do it or under do it so I went with 20 drops of my warming oil into each jar.
It is time to make the gelatin. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil. When the water is boiling whisk in the gelatin until it dissolves. Then whisk in your salt and the other cup of water. Pour the hot gelatin mixture into your jars.
Use your stirrers to stir each jar. Be sure to use separate stirrers for different colors so you do not mix your pretty creations. Stir gently so you do not form the air bubbles on top. Clean all of your supplies while you wait for the mixture to gel and you have created smelly jelly!!!
I wondered if you could put this air freshener on a warmer so I tried it. The smelly jelly just became smelly liquid. Which was good because I used a jar from the first batch I made and it pretty much just cleaned the sides and top where it had hardened a little.
Here is the first batch I made 3 weeks ago. It hardened on the top but there is no mold and it still smells like the warming oil scent I picked out.
Good luck and be sure to send me pictures or suggestions!
