Essential Oil Diffuser Necklaces

Hey! Today I want to share with you how to make a useful DIY diffuser necklace that is so fun to make and wear! The clay soaks up essential oil, and gives off whatever scent you placed on it. This is a neat way to take your favorite scents with you – and how better to do that than wear a beautiful necklace?

Want to know how? First, you will need…

-          Air-dry terracotta clay (from Hobby Lobby)

-          Toothpick

-          Small cookie cutter (we used a teardrop)

-          Embossing folder (these are made especially for paper embossing machines)

-          2mm cording

-          Fasteners (we used a lobster clasp, a jump ring, and 2 crimper-whatchamacallits to make 1 necklace)

-          Pliers (if needed for fasteners)

-          Parchment paper

-          Rolling pin

-          Large beads

-          Drop of your favorite essential oil

-          Scissors

The fasteners and cord were both from the ebay store bedazzlinbeads.

Before you start, put on an apron if you have one. It’s optional, but I recommend it. Read the directions on the clay carefully. The clay I used said to work at the clay with damp hands. The clay will get on your hands, making them look muddy. An apron comes really handy to wipe hands on! I also noticed that the dampness wore off quick, so I filled a spray bottle with water to wet my hands with every so often. My friend and I had great fun using the spray bottle… but by the time it was empty, we could not honestly say that we used it all for clay and hands… our wet hair proved it :-)

Lay out the parchment paper to work on top of.

Roll out the clay. You want it smooth and a consistent thickness; a little thicker than the 2mm cord – so maybe 4mm? Remember, it is better to be a little too thick than too thin!

Once your clay is rolled out nicely, then open up your embossing folder. Lay it across the clay and press down firmly. Your goal here is to get a nice, clean imprint in your clay. If it isn’t, redo it. When you get a clean print, hurrah! Now get your cookie cutter and cut out as many of them as you can. If the thickness on one of them is not consistent, then do it again.

Once you’ve got some cut out, take the toothpick and make holes near the top of each shape. Make sure they are not too big, but at the same time large enough for 2 pieces of cording to fit through. And definitely make sure that the toothpick made as big a breakthrough in the back of the clay as in the front! I learned that the toothpick doesn’t make as big a hole in the back, so you have to turn it over and fix the back hole if it is too small. Be very careful handling the clay. You don’t want to misshape it.

Follow the instructions on the clay for drying. Ours was air-dry, and it took 24 hours for them to dry completely. A larger amount of clay will take longer to dry.

Once the clay is dry, cut a long piece of the 2mm cord. If you aren’t sure how long to make it, compare it to one of your necklace chains. You will need just as long a cord. The length of the cord will also depend on where you want the diffuser to sit on your chest.

Thread the cord through the hole. Make sure you pull the cord through until the diffuser is in the center. Then put both the ends of the cord through the bead and pull the bead down till it is to the diffuser.

Using pliers (if needed), attach the fasteners to the ends of the cord. This is what our clasps looked like:

Now you have the necklace done, and all that is left is to apply the scent. On the back of the clay necklace diffuser, put one drop of your choice of essential oil. You will need to apply more essential oil ever so often to keep a strong scent. And you are done!

How did you like this tutorial? Is there anything I left out? I apologize for some of the pictures being upside down. I'll try to figure out why exactly they are like that...