Diffusers to spread the fragrance of essential oils extracted from flowers and trees throughout a room can be made from a material that most people have at their disposal -- paper.
Paper diffusers made by Shinichiro Kanematsu in the shapes of colorful flowers, leaves and fans were recently on display at the Tokyu Hands Shibuya store in Tokyo.
Kanematsu, who teaches DIY diffuser workshops at the store, said: "They don't need to be made from fancy Japanese paper. You can use paper napkins, baking paper, tissues or any other paper you might have lying around," adding that highly absorbent papers are best for soaking up essential oils.
Kanematsu showed me how to make a paper diffuser in the shape of a double-layered flower from two rectangular pieces of Japanese paper.
First, decide how many petals the flower will have. Seven creases are necessary to make eight petals with one piece of paper, while five creases make six petals.
Fold the paper into pleats, making sure the width of each is roughly equal.
As shown in photo 1, create a petal shape by using scissors to cut one end of the folded pleats. Stretch the paper out, as shown in photo 2, before crumpling it to give it wrinkles, as shown in photo 3.
"When using thick paper, crumple it firmly into a ball. The wrinkles make the flower look more natural," Kanematsu said.
Next, flatten the paper out before wrapping it around and around itself, as shown in photo 4. The trick is to wrap the base tightly while making the top spread out. After wrapping the paper that will become the inner petals, wrap the other sheet around the outside in a similar fashion, using your fingers to make sure that the petals do not overlap, as shown in photo 5.
Prepare a box that will fit the flower, such as a tissue box with a notch in the top. Insert the flower into the notch and the diffuser is complete.
Dripping essential oil into the center of the diffuser will fill the room with an aroma as if it were a real flower. "It may be hard to make at first, but practice doing this using any sheet of paper you have at hand. Then you will have fun making different arrangements by using scissors to change the shape of the petals," Kanematsu said.
Variety of oils
Tokyu Hands in Shibuya has about 50 kinds of essential oils on its shelves.
"Come and see how they smell. We have testers at the store," sales clerk Norihiro Kobayashi said. In addition to standard varieties like orange, lime and lavender, refreshing oils such as eucalyptus and peppermint are popular.
"Different oils can be used in different ways, some for waking yourself up in the morning and others for calming yourself down before going to bed," Kobayashi said.
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