The best homemade scented chalks

Making scented chalk at home is simple, fun, and a great creative activity, especially if you want to enrich it with natural scents. They're ideal for adding fragrance to drawers, closets, and wardrobes.

You can prepare them with talcum powder, combined with some essential oils.

With talcum powder and lavender

You only need 3 ingredients and ice cube trays to make scented chalks that protect our most delicate items of clothing such as wool sweaters and cashmere garments.

Necessary

• 200 g of talcum powder
• About 100 ml of vinyl glue
• Lavender or lavender essential oil cedar

Method

• Place the talcum powder in a large bowl and gradually pour in the vinyl glue by the spoonful.
• You should obtain a smooth, uniform, and malleable mixture that doesn't stick to your hands and has the same consistency as plasticine or modeling clay.
• At this point, add a few drops of lavender or cedar essential oil, which keep woodworms and moths away, and form little balls that you will crush in the molds of the ice cube trays so that they take their shape.
• Now place them in a drawer to solidify for a few hours.
• Take out the chalks, add a couple more drops of essential oil to each one and put them away in cupboards and drawers.

A very simple recipe for scented chalks starts with powdered chalk combined with cornstarch, which makes the chalk smoother.

• chalk powder (modeling or decorative plaster)
• cornstarch (optional, makes the plaster smoother)
• 60–70 ml of water
• Food coloring or tempera (optional)
• Essential oils to perfume (e.g. lavender, lemon, orange)
• Stampi in silicone or cookie cutters

• Mix the solids

In a bowl, combine the chalk and cornstarch. If desired, you can also add a little powdered food coloring.

• Add the water

Slowly pour in the water and stir constantly until you obtain a smooth, lump-free paste. The consistency should be similar to thick cream: neither too runny nor too thick.

• Fragrance

Add 5–10 drops of your favorite essential oil. Stir well to evenly distribute the aroma.

• Pour into molds

Fill the molds with the mixture, leveling the surface with the back of a spoon.

• Drying

Let the chalks dry for at least 24 hours. For a more durable finish, you can leave them for 48 hours. Avoid removing them from the molds too early, or they will break.

• Finishing

Once dry, you can sand the edges with fine sandpaper if you want a smoother result.

• Flour and baking soda

Ingredients

• 4 spoons of flour (type 00 or wholemeal)
• 4 spoons of sodium bicarbonate
• 2 spoons of cornstarch
• 3 spoons of water
• 5–10 drops of essential oil (lavender, orange, lemon, mint…)
• Natural dyes (turmeric, cocoa, beetroot powder, spirulina) optional
• Stampi in silicone or cookie cutters

Method

• Mix the dry ingredients

In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and cornstarch.
If you want to color the chalks, add the selected natural powders.

• Add the water

Add the water little by little, stirring until you obtain a firm, malleable dough, similar to play dough.

• Fragrance

Add the drops of essential oil and mix well.

• Drying

Let them air dry for 24–48 hours. If you want to speed up the process, you can bake them at 50–60°C for 1–2 hours, checking that they don't darken.

• Finishing

Once dry, you can sand them with fine sandpaper or leave them as they are.

How to refill scented chalks

To refill your scented chalks and avoid changing them too often and unnecessarily, simply wet them with a little water, but without overdoing it. This will make them softer and more porous. Then, apply a few drops of the oil you used previously (lavender essence  o Pink are the most suitable) and the chalk will be ready to last a few more months, perfuming your spaces.