Workshop: Incense Making
Since the days of ancient Egypt and Rome, incense has been used for purification, ceremony, devotion and pure pleasure. Today, with 5,000 years of tradition and aesthetic refinement at its core, the use of incense is reaching new levels of popularity.
Join us for a unique one-day session exploring the ancient, devotional art of incense. This creative, practical workshop focuses on using premium fragrant materials, such as resins, herbs; fruits; flowers seeds; spices and essential oils selected for their historic, therapeutic, fragrant and magical resonance.
You will be introduced, via smell and touch, to a variety of plant botanicals including essential oils, understand their history, their uses and how to select and blend them to create your own beautiful and unique incense.
We will then make two sets of incense: the first will be a batch of incense cones made together as a group, and this will be followed by guidance through making of a set of loose incense individually, where you will be able to select your own choice of ingredients with which to make this bespoke.
We will also explore:
History of incense and types of incense
Fragrant botanical ingredients, essential oils and binders and how to work with them
Safe preparation and creative blending guidelines
Troubleshooting, tips and tricks to ensure your cones burn evenly and smell great
Safety, dilutions, storage, creating a formula and record keeping
This session is ideal for anyone who is fascinated by incense, enjoys experimenting with plants and fragrance and who wishes to make clean, therapeutic and bespoke incense for their personal use or as gifts.
**Please note the cones will need approx. 24 - 36 hours to fully dry out at home** - please bring a shallow lunch box or similar container, to store and transport your cones home safely!
Meet Tanya
Tanya (TIDHA, MIFPA) trained as a Clinical Aromatherapist, which led to further studies in natural perfumery. She now combines her clinical work with delivering events and workshops in blending, botanical skincare and perfumery; and provides conceptual fragrance ideas for events, museums and public spaces. She has a passion for unusual ingredients, botanical history and use of plants in folklore. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter @perfumemistress and find out more about her work on her website here.
Price: £85/ Free for Southwark residents
Free places are available for Southwark residents aged 19+. Each resident can claim 1 place per academic year (Oct 23- Jul 24). To check whether you are eligible, please click here.
To claim your free place, click ‘Book Here’ below, and enter code ‘SOUTHWARK23’ under ‘Redeem Coupon’.
You will then be charged a £10 deposit in order to claim your place, this deposit will be refunded to you after you attend the workshop.
Please note that you will be required to fill in a Southwark Council form, including some personal information, in order to confirm your place on a workshop. Your place will not be confirmed until this has been completed in full.
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