I’m making bath bombs again! I had two perfect batches of them under my belt and went to make a third today. If you want to know more about making bath bombs, Not Martha has a great guide and some links. The PDF guide I am learning from is not available right now, but it may come back soon… I hope so!
Anyway, the process is fairly simple but the techniques take a bit of practice. These make great Christmas gifts. Mine are being sold in a workplace holiday craft fair. Hey, I work with creative people! It makes sense!
Anyway, the basic process is like this:
- 2 parts baking soda
- 1 part citric acid
- Sift the above together
- Add color and scent
- Spray a little witch hazel on mix, work mix with hands (gloves are a good idea. I use the thin disposable kind)
- Add enough moisture that the mix just barely holds its shape when squeezed. This is the hardest part! Too wet and your bombs will stick and “grow” (form yucky lumps as the chemical reaction takes place). Too dry and they will crack. This will take practice. Err on the dry side!
- Put mix in molds
- Unmold bath bombs and allow to dry for a few hours
The tricky step, the moisture step, got me today. A good bath bomb should stick together just right and slip effortlessly out of its mold. A bad bath bomb will stick or crack or generally be a pain. I got four good bath bombs and two that stuck terribly to their molds. I was going to just pitch them when it dawned on me… these bath bombs can be saved!
I put the failed bath bombs back in the mixing bowl. I washed the molds and thoroughly dried them. Over the top of the bad bath bombs I sifted just a little baking soda/citric acid mix (I used 1/4 cup citric acid and 1/2 cup baking soda). Then I used my gloved hands to crumble the bad bath bombs in with the new mix. It’s not necessary to add more color or scent when working with so little base mix. Anyway, after that I added witch hazel again, this time getting the right consistency. When my test bomb fell effortlessly out of the mold and held its shape, I knew I had it!
Now I have 7 good bath bombs, 1 okay bath bomb (kinda misshapen), and 1 half bomb. Much better than throwing away the bad!
I’m experimenting with additions to my bath bombs… I’m using a little Epsom salt in my current batches. Sometimes I put the scent in with dendritic salt, which is just regular salt with a different crystal shape (sort of). I’m going to make a few batches of foaming bath bombs, which use a sulfate to make a slow foaming bath bomb. If you like Lush products, this is like what Haagenbath used to do. I’m going to try it with my vanilla spice bombs this year.
Anyway, bath bombs are a nice beginning foray into the world of bath product making. I’m selling lip balms this year and trying my hand at melt and pour soaps for Christmas gifts. It’s lots of fun and I always end up with bath products I can use. You can probably bet that misshapen bath bombs and half bombs will be staying in my possession.