How to Make Slime
3 September 2026
Which Candle Wax Should I Use?
16 September 2026
Potpourri is the easiest way into working with dried botanicals. There is no heat, no measuring and very little that can go wrong. It is mostly an exercise in choosing shapes and colours you like and letting them scent a room slowly. An easy recipe from The Soap Barn using our dried botanicals.
What you will need
- 1 cup senna leaves for structure and a soft green tone
- Half a cup hawthorn berries for deep red colour
- Half a cup calendula flowers
- 1 tablespoon coarse Epsom salts as a carrier for the scent
- 15 to 20 drops fragrance oil
- A large jar with a lid, and organza bags if you are making gifts
Method
- Tip the senna leaves, hawthorn berries and calendula flowers into a large bowl and turn them over gently with your hands. Handle them lightly, dried botanicals crumble if you stir them hard.
- In a small dish, drip the fragrance oil onto the Epsom salts and stir. The salt holds the scent and releases it slowly, which makes the potpourri last far longer than oiling the petals directly.
- Scatter the scented salt through the botanicals and turn everything over once more.
- Pack it into a jar, seal the lid and leave it somewhere dark for two weeks. This is the curing step and it is what makes the difference between potpourri that smells for a fortnight and potpourri that smells for months.
- Shake the jar every few days.
- After curing, tip it into an open bowl, or fill organza bags for drawers and cupboards.
Tips & variations
- Aim for a mix of shapes. Broad leaves, round berries and open flowers look far better together than three things of similar size.
- Keep the finished bowl out of direct sunlight, which fades the colour quickly.
- When the scent fades after a few months, stir through a few more drops of fragrance oil on a pinch of fresh salt rather than starting again.
- Browse the full botanicals range to build your own mix.
