Most city dwellers are familiar with hobby and craft classes such as cooking, pottery and toy-making. But have you ever thought of making perfumes, essential oils, or soap on your own? Global Times has found several such classes that may interest you.

Aromatherapy

"Chinese people have become more familiar with essential oils in recent years. However, they still have much to learn about their utility and function," Wang Yiping told the Global Times.

Wang is a certified member of the International Federation of Professional Aromatherapists (IFPA), one of the world's largest professional aromatherapy organizations, which is based in the UK. Wang recently launched a series of classes in Shanghai to teach ordinary people how to make the best use of essential oils in their everyday life.

"Many people use essential oils only as cosmetic products," said Wang. "But the function of essential oil goes far beyond that." According to Wang, some essential oils have antiseptic qualities and others can help alleviate some diseases.

The classes, which Wang conducts in Minhang district, cover a variety of topics, from the categories of essential oils and how to distinguish superior oils from inferior ones, how to use seed oils with essential oils, and how to use essential oils properly.

Compared with the year-long professional courses that the IFPA offers, Wang's classes are more accessible, offering students easy-to-understand knowledge about essential oils.

In her classes, Wang provides students with the same essential oils that are used in overseas aromatherapy studios and academies. She also welcomes students to bring their own essential oils.

Opening Hours: 9 am to 4 pm

Charge: 120 yuan ($19) to 280 yuan per lecture (2 hours)

Add: Room 618, No.2, Lane 515 Jinhui Road 金汇路515弄2号618室

Tel: 1366-1984-822

Advance reservation required

Perfumery

Located in an old villa on the serene Xiangyang Road South, Xi Lin Han She has established a good reputation among city dwellers who like to take hobby and crafts classes. Adding to its successful pottery and baking classes, the hobby society recently launched a perfumery class.

Xi Lin Han She's manager, a woman surnamed Song, teaches the perfumery class. Song said she learned perfumery from the makers of the society's own handmade perfume brand, Irill.

In the perfumery class, students can choose from an array of oils and other compounds to make their own perfumes. On a wooden desk inside the room used for the perfumery class, there are 20 different kinds of perfume compounds for students to choose from. According to Song, each perfume compound includes more than 10 kinds of ingredients. Students are recommended to choose five of the compounds to make their own perfume. Perfume compounds available on the desk include top-note ones such as lemon oil and sweet orange oil, middle-note perfume compounds such as jasmine aroma and wood aroma, and base-note perfume compounds such as musk.

To make the perfumes, students mix the perfume compounds with alcohol and water in a test tube, before putting the mixture in a refrigerator for about 10 minutes.

"Girls who like floral or fruit fragrances can choose from rose aroma, lily of the valley aroma, lemon oil or orange oil, while guys can choose from the wood aroma compounds," said Song.

Xi Lin Han She offers intricate bottles for students to place their perfume in, and also provides different kinds of labels that students can use to distinguish their designs from those of the others.

Opening hours: 10 am to 9 pm

Charge: 69 yuan

Add: 514 Xiangyang Road South

襄阳南路514号

Tel: 5420-8032, 1351-2128-331

Soap-making

Ai Xiaohui, who majored in costume design at university, operates an online store in which customers can find different kinds of products Ai designs, including cushions, scarves and handmade soap. Ai recently started offering a soap-making class, which is held in a room on Daxue Road in Yangpu district.

"To design and make things is a great pleasure in my life," said Ai. "I also find satisfaction from making my products out of purely natural materials; some of the mass-produced products on the market are contaminated by chemical additives."

The materials used in Ai's class are all natural and edible, for example, olive oil, coconut oil, palm oil and apricot oil. Ai teaches students how to mix together different amounts of the materials, how to stir them until they are ready to be poured into molds, and how to take the soap out of the molds. The class lasts for a couple of hours, and at the end each student gets two pieces of soap that each weigh about 50 grams each. Ai said the two pieces of soap she gives her students have a combined value of 120 yuan, which is cheaper than other handmade soaps on the market.

"The materials we use are very easy to find, so students can make soap at home on their own after taking the class," she added.

DIY hours: until November 4, 2 pm to 5 pm

Charge: 120 yuan

Add: Room 101, No.11, Lane 63 Daxue Road 大学路63弄11号101室

Tel: 1381-6061-965

Reservation in advance needed