Extracting Rose Oil

A few days ago my sweet Hubby brought me home some roses. They did not last very long, even with me cutting the stems at an angle each day and feeding it that little packet of powder. :(

I was trying to think up ways to save them or things to do with them before or after they died. I don't really want to flip them upside down and hang them everywhere because I usually end up crushing them and the pieces get messy. I did some quick online searches before I came to the idea of trying to extract the rose oil from them.

I am currently in the process of my first batch so I am not sure that this will work since they are far from fresh. From my understanding, fresh work best because they have the strongest rose scent.

There are two ways to extract the rose oil:
1) Steam Distillation (1) - This method uses steam to extract the oil and it more effective.
2) Solvent Extraction (1) - This method uses another oil to extract the rose oil from the petals.

I went with the Solvent Extraction method because it is easiest to do at home. I am definitely interested in the other method and will try that next time.

What you'll need:
-bruised rose petals
-glass jar with lid
-a sunny place for the jar to sit
- jojoba oil, almond oil, or grapeseed oil. If you don't have any of these olive oil works too. You simply don't want the other oils to overpower the rose oil. (I used jojoba)

      

I bruised the rose petals but twisting them and rubbing them between my palms. You can also put them in a plastic bag and mash them around. Then, cover the rose petals with the oil. I used only as much as I needed to coat the petals and I mixed it around with my finger.

Let it sit in a sunny spot for 24 hours.

I plan on doing this again but instead of adding jojoba oil, I will use the DIY rose oil that I extracted from this experiment, hopefully to get a better smelling oil.

*Pure rose oil is expensive because it takes so long to extract it and even that yields little. I wanted to experiment with this for the fun of it so only making a little bit doesn't hinder me from the time and little effort required.

 I'll let you know the results!

Also I found this video if you are interested in the steam distillation. I don't have a stainless steel bowl or pot lid that fits like theirs so I didn't think I could do it.

More Resources:

http://www.ehow.com/how_5659703_collect-rose-oil.html

http://www.gardenguides.com/67766-extract-oil-roses.html

http://blog.hgtvgardens.com/coming-up-roses-how-to-make-rose-oil-and-rose-water-at-home/