Needed : :

Incense powder

Water

Bowl for mixing

Stick and a spoon

Bamboo sticks

An underlayer like a smooth tile or a wooden plank

A small perspex or wooden plank for the final touch

A standard to place the sticks in

Possibly Latex gloves

details about this...

Phase 1 : Making the incense clay Take your incense powder now. In the beginning the exact amount can be a problem. Per stick you need a little less then a gram, dependent of how thick you roll. Start with 5 teaspoons of powder and add 4 teaspoons of water. Mix this together with the help of the stick, the spoon, and your fingers, until you have an elastic clay. You can add essential oil now. The oil can make the clay even more supple and elastic.  Adding oil now however will fill your room with scent, which can be overwhelming and a health hazard. Also you will loose high notes. After your sticks are dry you will have an other opportunity to add oil. Your final clay will have to be 'almost' wet. The amount of cracks and breaches are minimal then. You can test your clay by trying to make a small roll with your fingers, when it becomes a thin roll without crack you are okay and you can start with the next phase. If the clay is too wet and sticks to your fingers or to the tile the best thing is to wait a little, in the course of time the binder will absorb more water so that the clay will become dryer.When it stays wet you can add powder bit by bit and mix that. When your clay is too dry is is impossible to make a neat roll. Add water bit by bit, sometimes it is enough just to dip your fingers in water and start working on the clay. Finally when the clay is ready you can process it right away, but you can also put it in a closed bag and keep it under low temperature to make incense a few days later.

Phase 2 : Rolling Now the clay is okay you can start rolling. With your hands you make a small roll now and you will push a bamboo stick in it, at the hight of the 'handle'. Squeeze the clay around this part. Your writing hand now starts rolling and the other hand steers. (left-handed people have to see the photo's exact the other way round) Now you wil work the clay upwards by pushing it upwards and downwards with your fingers, at the same time turning it around with your steering hand. The most important thing here is the amount of pressure you exert with your fingers. When you push too hard the clay will fall off the stick, when you push too soft nothing will happen. Really work the clay upwards while turning the stick around. When cracks appear while rolling or small bits fall off, don't panic, just continue rolling, because the mass is sticky and elastic it will be repaired by the circular movements you make. Try not to make your stick too thick, that will make it more difficult. It is important that your stick hasn't got any cracks or breeches, when you let these dry they will become points where your incense stops burning because there 'is' nothing. At the end of this phase you can use the small plank to make the stick perfectly smooth. If necessary you can wet your tile a little with a few drops of water. With your hands you take off now the clay that is too much, and make the top and the beginning nicely round. Put the incense stick in the standard and clean your tile or plank with a damp cloth.

Further possibilities: Because the incense powder for a bamboo stick has to contain much charcoal, the sticks become of dark colour, almost black. Sometimes this is not beautiful or appropriate. To colour your incense stick you can use rolling powder. Rolling powder is often woodpowder so that your stick gets a nice wood colour. You can also add gums and resins to the woodpowder(usually light brown to white)for an extra aromatic dimension. You can put rolling powder on the incense stick in two ways: just sprinkle a little rolling powder on your tile and while rolling upwards you take a little of it and roll it on. This is the traditional Indian way to make a 'Massala'. It makes rolling more difficult because the powder absorbs water so that it can become too dry and cracks evolve. It is easier to apply rolling powder after you are ready with rolling. Just dip the stick in the powder, it will stick to it right away. With your small plank you can roll the powder a bit more in.

After the incense sticks are dry you can enrich the sticks with an essential oil or a self-made perfume. You can easily do this by putting a little oil in a bowl and paint it on the incense stick with a small brush. Let it absorb for half an hour, after which it is ready to burn, or to put into a wrapper.

Details

• Water : The binder in incense powder attaches to water so that everything is glued together. During the drying period the water that is too much will evaporate. Other liquids the water are also possible, as can be read from some ancient Egyptian sources: Wine is a good one(especially in combination with Myrrh it is surprising), but Honey is also mentioned.

• Mixing bowl : Choose a bowl from smooth ceramic material and with a flat bottom.

• Instruments : As a mixing stick I always use chop sticks from the restaurant, but a fork or a spoon suffices just as well. It's only hard for me to endure the shrill sound of metal against ceramic, and working with a stick is a little more accurate. A teaspoon for adding water is okay, but a straw is also possible. A knife comes in handy to cut of overlength and to make sticks equal in length. A dripper and a brush are useful when working with essential oils. A wet cloth is not an instrument but is useful to clean the underground when finished with a stick.

• Bamboo sticks : Bamboo sticks can be obtained in most hobby shops, sometimes in new-age shops, or at a chair dressers'. To make them yourself you can buy them as saté sticks and peel off something of it's diameter by using a tong for stripping electricity wire. A diameter of 1mm is ideal. The diameter of the bamboo determines how good the stick combusts, the thicker, the more difficult.

• Underground : A ceramic tile is perfectly smooth which will make the incense stick smoother also. A tile can easily be cleaned. Take care that the tile lies fixed on the table, for example by attaching an anti-slip layer to the underside.

• Small rolling plate : A small perspex or wooden plate from about 5cmx12cm. Handy for the finishing touch.

• Drying standard : The incense has to be parked somewhere, as it is not good to let it dry on the table or on the floor(although it does happen) Several options here: a chunk of wet clay, half an apple, hard foam, a baked one from clay.

• Latex gloves : This is a personal choice. I like it to have one clean hand after I'm done with rolling. However, contact with the matter lessens when wearing gloves. To reuse a latex glove it has to be washed- with the hand still in it, a weird perception!- and putting some talc powder in it. Let the accumulated sweat evaporate by drying the glove with the hole facing upwards Back...