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!

Making a DIY soap mold with Mold Builder.

Making a DIY soap mold with Mold Builder.

I bet you have a favorite mold that you like to use to make your soap in. But because you always have to line your mold with freezer paper, which means measuring and cutting the 

paper to fit, you opted to buy a silicone mold or two.

I have done the same thing. But what to do with the ones you have to line?  Do they sit on the shelf and collect dust? 

Did you, or have you, contemplated giving them away, or selling them?

And what if you really like them? 

I have two such molds, and because I had to line them every time I wanted to use one of them I bought a few silicone molds to save me some work. 

Thanks to Cathy McGinnis at Soaping 101 who did a video on making your own liner with 'Mold Builder' I now have an 'all ready to use' liner for one of my favorite molds!  

Mold Builder cost me less to buy than three Crafters Choice's 2lb, white

silicone molds. That is about how many molds I can make out of 

the container of this Mold Builder! AND the liner

I made can hold three or more pounds of soap! 

 It did take me a day to make it (I just made one so far): layering one layer at a time (about 12 layers total), and waiting the 15 - 20 minutes for each layer to dry before putting on the next layer, but it was worth it. 

I love using this particular mold, and I'm so

excited to use it again without making

a paper liner!

Don't get me wrong. I do love my silicone molds a lot! But sometimes I just wanted a bigger batch, and a different size bar that my favorite mold could give me.

Follow the link to watch Cathy McGinnis's Video on 'how to' 

to fill in my gaps on how to.

First I made the box form out of foam board that fit inside my

wooden mold. It has to have NO wiggle room!

I completely covered it in clear packaging tape. Much thanks

for that tip from Katie White at Royalty Soaps! She says:
Cover the entire box with tape! Follow her
link and you till see what happened to her mold by
not doing that one step!

  

 Place form for the mold on a  sheet of cardboard or another

length of foam board. 

Then the first thin layer goes on! 

   A few more layers later..... 

You brush on a very thin layer of Mold Builder every

15-20 minutes! That's about how long it takes to dry. 

If you have a book you've

been wanting to read and can never

find time to hunker down and devour it....now's the time to get it out! 

Unless

other household chores are calling you that

you can do in-between layers. I played...um....Candy Crush! LoL

 

The next two pictures I took after 12 or more

layers of Mold Builder, and 24 hours later.

  

 

You need corn starch or baby powder when 

you release the mold from the form, because the mold is kind of

sticky, but not to anything but to itself. Kind of

like Saran Wrap. Dust the outside, and then

the inside as you release it.

    

I really liked this part. The mold came off 

really easy! I was so excited to find it worked!!!

  

The mold will be pretty flimsy.

  

I was even more excited to find how great it fit!

You definitely have to secure the sides up.

I just used clear tape to hold it in place.

 

OK! Now it's time to soap!

If you too have a mold hanging around that 

you love to use, but like the easiness of

silicone....try making a liner out of

Mold Builder yourself!

Trust me.....it was VERY easy!

And again,

a big thanks to Cathy McGinnis

and

Katie White

for their tutorials and tips!

Thanks for stopping by!

Life it good!

Valerie