I've never tried making e.o. before, but I have played around with blending oils and making medicinal tinctures and infused oils. That being said, I would think that you'd have much better luck using the fresh herb, rather than dried, but I could be wrong. Drying an herb does intensify the volatile oils in it (which is why you use a smaller amount of dried herb in cooking compared to using the fresh), but I'm still thinking that it would be harder to *extract* those oils from a dried herb than a fresh one.
When I was making my own oil blends, I was looking for a base oil that could give me the longest possible shelf life before going rancid. The only two oils that I found, that fit my requirements were Jojoba oil and Mineral oil. There are pros and cons to both of these oils.
Jojoba never goes rancid or sour and absorbs readily into the skin, but can be really expensive.
Mineral oil never goes rancid or sour, is easy to find and is cheap, but it can clog pores and is a petroleum based product.
You could also try using vitamin E oil or grapeseed oil for a base/carrier oil. Both are very nourishing to the skin but can also get to be a bit expensive (especially in larger quantities). Or you could try creating a blend of base oils; this might keep costs down a little while giving you a very good, skin nourishing product.
A web site you could check out is www.brambleberry.com They primarily sell soap making supplies, but they have a fairly decent supply (and decent prices) of essential oils and carrier oils.

I hope this helps. I would love to hear how things turn out for you.

Best Wishes!
Becky