Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Bath Bombs

Bath Bombs

NEVER in my life did I ever think that
I would like to make 'Bath Bombs'!

But the more 'YouTube' video's I watched on bath bomb making
the more interested I  became. 

This time last year is when I bought all the ingredients for making bath
bomb cupcakes (my first interest). 
I mixed all the dry ingredients together, covered
it, and put it on a shelf! And that is where
it stayed until recently.

This past October I set out to finish those bath bomb cupcakes!
But I decided not to make the cupcakes, 
and just go ahead and make the bath bombs.

I sifted all the dry ingredients again, just in case I did not mix
it well enough when I measured it all out last year.
Then added all the extra goodies.


All the video's I watched really stressed to blend
the mixture really well. I spent time mixing and rubbing
the ingredients between my hands over and over again
till I was satisfied.
I spritzed it with some Witch Hazel and blended
some more. Finally squeezing it in my hand
and dropping it without it falling apart. Yea!
 Armed with a couple of tips from a great bath bomb
queen, on filling and releasing your bombs from the mold, I filled my 
molds.  Waa laa! A perfect bath bomb!! 
Oh Ya! 
Well........I thought it was anyway, until the next day!

Somehow they didn't quite feel like they would stay together.
Being afraid to squish it too hard I thought they just
needed a few more days to 'set up'.   

A fellow soaper friend came over a day later, and  I told her I wasn't
quite sure about them. I gave her one to take home and try. She said: Well, seeing
it is mine now, would you mind if I squished it to see what will
happen? Nope, I says.....it is yours.

With
just a little pressure to it's sphere with her finger tips
my beautiful bath bomb became beautiful bath dust ! Arg! 

 She has been making bath bombs for a few years. So she knows
how to make them. She Suggested I use 
a basic bath bomb formula (which she gave me) 
and  make it without all the additives
 to see what bath bomb was suppose to feel like. 

Well, I did. Now I understood! But I also did not understand
what went wrong with the first recipe.
Because now that I the basic formula is clear, I knew 
 the recipe I had in the first place was a good one. So what went wrong?

After making bath bombs for a couple of months, I FINALLY figured it out.
 I went ahead and used that first recipe a few times since
and had great looking bath bombs that STAYED together!

So what was the problem? Maybe some of you have already 
figured it out. 
It was the Citric Acid. It was perfectly good 
citric acid, that was not the problem.
You just can not.....I'll say it again (for my sake)
you can not leave citric acid out of it's air tight container for any length of time, never mind almost a year!! It
will absorb the moisture in the air, and therefore be good for
nothing in a bath bomb. It will get hard, crusty lumps.
Yes, I covered the mixture, but it was not in an air tight container.
When I re sifted the old mixture I thought the hard crusty 
lumps was just the way of it.

 I was able to save that failed recipe by adding a half cup of citric
acid to it and mold them again. They came out perfect!
They were one of my best sellers!

Here is the first one I made BEFORE the squeeze!
Lavender/Rosemary Mint.
Looks pretty good huh! 
Sad. I was pretty sad. Lol
Here are the ones I made with just a basic recipe
my fellow soaper gave me.
'Energy'
They got a few 'warts' in them, but I was able
to squish most of them back into submission! 
I don't spritz as much Witch Hazel and 
that problem has been taken care of!
Here are some others I have made.
Cucumber Melon
Oatmeal & Honey,
Calendula,
and 
Sugar Cookie!

OK. I love to make bath bombs. 
I went on to make 8 different kinds!
And no......I'm not done yet!

Life is good,
Valerie

Thanks for stopping by!