She Uses An Iron To Turn A Piece Of Scrap Wood Into A Clever Solution To Mask Odors

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What can you do when your house smells weird but you're trying to avoid those synthetic fragrances that can make your family sick? One clever YouTuber decided to mask odors by creating a DIY incense burner. To make it, Evrim Taşer Yılmaz used an iron to transfer a cottagecore-inspired print onto a small painted piece of scrap wood. She then used hot glue to add a decorative holder and wooden bead for holding sticks of incense.

Burning incense is practically mandatory if you love spending time in bohemian-inspired rooms that speak to your carefree side. Along with providing a secure hold on each stick while it wafts fragrant oils into the air from the burning tip, incense burners also keep the resulting ash from getting all over your mantle or tabletop. That means the piece of scrap wood used for this project must be longer than your incense, which typically measure between 8 to 11 inches. Since the aromatic sticks are so thin, the width is more flexible — but it must be at least 2 inches wide to accommodate a decorative holder.

You'll also need a few other supplies to pull off this project. Along with acrylic latex paint or stain for decorating the top of your scrap wood, you'll need a printed design that can be easily ironed onto the top or sides, like TransOurDream Transfer Paper. You'll also need a large bead, a short bottle, and some thin jute cord, as well as your trusty glue gun.

The cost of constructing your own incense burner from a piece of scrap wood is surprisingly affordable, especially if you already have a few craft supplies on hand. Although you will spend around $13 on the transfer paper, you can keep the entire project under $20 by picking up a travel-sized bottle, some jute cord, and pack of wooden beads at your local dollar store.

There are several ways to customize your incense burner, starting with the paint or stain color you select. From there, use an iron to transfer decorative elements of your choice to the top or sides of your scrap wood. Evrim Taşer Yılmaz added a row of small cottages to her incense burner, but flower medallions, tribal patterns, or even lettering are good alternatives. By hot gluing a small bottle to one end, you'll have a convenient spot to store extra sticks of store-bought or DIY incense. Wrapping the bottle with jute cord first keeps the earthy vibe going, but you could swap it out entirely for a colorful vintage bottle secured with E6000 or ditch the holder entirely for a sleeker look.

The final, and perhaps most important, step is adding a large bead with a little hot glue. Large wooden beads work well, because the hole is large enough to accommodate the end of an incense stick and wide enough to make sure it doesn't tumble out after it's lit to mask odors. Make sure you tilt the bead so that the hole is facing slightly upward before gluing it into place to help your incense waft into the air.