# Bubble Bath Bars - Cream of Tartar?



## Guest

I am a newbie but I know there are lots of highly skilled bath & body makers and chemistry gurus here and I could use your help.

I have taken several different recipes for bubble bars and tried each one. They all turned out well and seem to work about the same but each recipe is very different. One recipe I made has cream of tarter in it and one none.

Can someone please tell me what cream of tarter adds to the recipe and what it does as apposed to not using it in the bubble bars?







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## birdcharm

Hi, 

I have never made bubble bars ... actually, I've never taken the time to read their ingredients, LOL.  One can only try to poke their head around so much, you know.  Anyway, I would think that cream of tartar would make something puff up a bit, hold its shape, or perhaps become a bit shiny, in cooking anyway (for instance, meringue) ... not sure about bubble bars.  Now, the ones on the right look delicious ... do you fill those with a jelled something or another?  Now I'm curious, so I must go out and see what bubble bars include.  

I have been trying to think what I could make that is a small sample that is self-contained ... for instance, I was thinking of using a small candy mold for perhaps not a little soap or bath bomb, but something else and I've just started to give this some thought ... maybe I should be thinking molded scrub or check out what the bubble is all about!  I'm gathering these are hand-molded ... is that right? 

~ Kathy


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## ToniD

I don't know the answer to your question,   but wanted to say the bars sure are pretty.   I especially like the jelly roll one!


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## Guest

ToniD said:
			
		

> I don't know the answer to your question,   but wanted to say the bars sure are pretty.   I especially like the jelly roll one!


Oh, thank you!



> birdcharm
> Yes the ones on the right are bath fizzie thumbprint cookies and I fill them with cocoa butter to simulate the jelly. After I melt the cocoa butter, I let it cool quite a bit before I pour it (or spoon it). I also put the cookies in the freezer so they are cold enough to harden the warm cocoa butter pretty fast so not to activate the fizz.


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## lauramw71

I don't have any answers either but how CUTE are those???


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## Catmehndi

Well, in cooking, it's used to give the recipe a creamier texture - perhaps its properties are similar with the soaps?


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## birdcharm

It looks as though Cream of Tartar does both things ... product a creamier product (in certain frostings) and helps stablize other ingredients.



> Cream of Tartar
> Other names: potassium acid tartrate, potassium bitartrate, cream of tarter (common misspelling)
> 
> Cream of tartar is a by-product of the wine industry. A crystalline acid forms on the inside of wine barrels. The barrels are scraped and the sediment is purified and ground to form cream of tartar. Cream of tartar is used to stabilize egg whites when making meringue or as an addition to certain frostings to produce a creamy product.
> 
> http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/Dictionary ... -5100.aspx




~ Kathy


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## Guest

Quite frankly, I can't tell what the cream of tartar does. I have now tried about 10 different recipes. Some have no cream of tartar, others have some and some others call for alot. They all turned out a little different but they all seem to work pretty much the same. The main reason I wanted to know was due to the cost of cream of tartar. It is over $6.00 for only 2 oz. at the grocery store which is outrageous. I have since found it at supplier sites for around $8.00 lb. (much better).

Anyway, I have finally perfected my recipe and am a happy, happy girl.

I wanted my final recipe to be hard enough on the outside to withstand shipping, fairly easy to break and crumble in the tub and to bubble like crazy. The orange and white hearts shown in the pic above (scented in pineapple orange - YUM!) were my final recipe formulation and they are a keeper. Woot-woot!

Now I'm onto formulating a syndet shampoo bar!  :shock:


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## Midnightstorm

*Beautiful Bubble Bars!*

Those are absolutely beautiful bubble bars in the pic above! I have been dying to try bubble bars ever since I bought and tried the Lush Creamy Candy Bubble Bar while on vacation. But I am finding it extremely hard to locate recipes, and equally hard to decide which recipe to use for my first attempt. I need to decide soon though because I have got to get busy and purchase all the ingredients before I do anything. 

Like you, I've been very confused about the whole cream of tartar thing, since it is expensive. 

I know it is extremely bad manners to ask for a person's recipe, especially since many consider their recipes top secret because of the time and money spent developing them. And I totally understand that. But because of the differences in the few recipes I've found, and because of the expense of Cream of Tartar and the varying opinions on whether it is even necessary, I'm frazzled and confused about which recipe to use.

So, may I flirt with bad manners by just asking you if there is a generic recipe you would recommend for my first attempt? NOT your secret recipe, but just a starting point for a beginner? It doesn't have to be an awesome, fantastic secret recipe, just something that works  :roll: 

I only ask because I am at the end of my rope with trying to find and decide on a recipe. I just want to finally get started with my first attempt. I've done some legwork by finding out the ingredients in the Lush Creamy Candy Bubble Bar that I liked so much. But when I compared that with the few internet recipes I've found for Bubble Bars, I was confused again because of the difference in ingredients between the Lush bars and some of the home-made bars. For instance, here is the Lush ingredient list and what the Lush web site says each of the ingredients does: 


*Sodium Bicarbonate* – Softens water and promotes circulation. 

*Cream of Tartar (Tartaric Acid)* – Gives very frother bubbles. This bubble bar paste can be used to make an endless variety of different shapes. Mixed with Sodium Bicarbonate, it creats the lightness of texture in the product. We are able to add to the bubble bar paste softening ingredients for the skin, such as coconut milk powder, essential oils and solid bath melt mixture, plus colour and fragrance. 

*Sodium Laureth Sulfate* – Allows oil and water to mix. In Bubble bars it is used to create film-star bubble baths with masses of foam. The bars were invented with the belief that bubble baths had become a little limp, with just a thin layer of bubbles on the water.

*Fair Trade Cocoa* - _(the site did not list anything here)_

*Lauryl Betaine* - It is a hair and skin conditioner. It improves quality and stability of foam, making it more durable in the presence of oil and dirt.

*Laureth 4 *– Emulsifier. Helps the product mix and dissolve in water; without laureth-4, the product is hard to rinse from the skin. In our Creamy Candy Bubble Bar, laureth-4 helps to create a creamy, milky effect in the water. 

*Almond Oil (Prunus Dulcis)* - _(the site did not list anything here)

_*Cocoamide DEA* - Derived from coconut oil. Rich in fatty acids. Cocamide DEA is used in our range of bubble bars. It is a powerful surfactant and dissolves dirt and grease as you soak in the foaming bath. As a surfactant, it supports the action of the main surfactants in any foaming, cleansing product.

*Vanilla Absolute* – Highest concentration of vanilla aroma.

*D&C Red No. 33*

*Candy Flowers* 

So that's my delimma . . . chomping at the bit to try Bubble Bars, but very confused as to where to start. I'd love any tips you can give me for my first attempt at Bubble Bars!

Thank you so much!


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## Midnightstorm

*Pic of Lush Bubble Bar*

Here's a pic of the particular Bubble Bar that I tried and loved:
http://www.lushusa.com/shop/products/ba ... bubble-bar

. . . and here are Lush's other Bubble Bars:
http://www.lushusa.com/shop/products/ba ... ubble-bars


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## Guest

*Re: Beautiful Bubble Bars!*



			
				Midnightstorm said:
			
		

> Those are absolutely beautiful bubble bars in the pic above! I have been dying to try bubble bars ever since I bought and tried the Lush Creamy Candy Bubble Bar while on vacation. But I am finding it extremely hard to locate recipes, and equally hard to decide which recipe to use for my first attempt. I need to decide soon though because I have got to get busy and purchase all the ingredients before I do anything.
> 
> Like you, I've been very confused about the whole cream of tartar thing, since it is expensive.
> 
> I know it is extremely bad manners to ask for a person's recipe, especially since many consider their recipes top secret because of the time and money spent developing them. And I totally understand that. But because of the differences in the few recipes I've found, and because of the expense of Cream of Tartar and the varying opinions on whether it is even necessary, I'm frazzled and confused about which recipe to use.
> 
> So, may I flirt with bad manners by just asking you if there is a generic recipe you would recommend for my first attempt? NOT your secret recipe, but just a starting point for a beginner? It doesn't have to be an awesome, fantastic secret recipe, just something that works  :roll:
> 
> I only ask because I am at the end of my rope with trying to find and decide on a recipe. I just want to finally get started with my first attempt. I've done some legwork by finding out the ingredients in the Lush Creamy Candy Bubble Bar that I liked so much. But when I compared that with the few internet recipes I've found for Bubble Bars, I was confused again because of the difference in ingredients between the Lush bars and some of the home-made bars. For instance, here is the Lush ingredient list and what the Lush web site says each of the ingredients does:
> 
> 
> *Sodium Bicarbonate* – Softens water and promotes circulation.
> 
> *Cream of Tartar (Tartaric Acid)* – Gives very frother bubbles. This bubble bar paste can be used to make an endless variety of different shapes. Mixed with Sodium Bicarbonate, it creats the lightness of texture in the product. We are able to add to the bubble bar paste softening ingredients for the skin, such as coconut milk powder, essential oils and solid bath melt mixture, plus colour and fragrance.
> 
> *Sodium Laureth Sulfate* – Allows oil and water to mix. In Bubble bars it is used to create film-star bubble baths with masses of foam. The bars were invented with the belief that bubble baths had become a little limp, with just a thin layer of bubbles on the water.
> 
> *Fair Trade Cocoa* - _(the site did not list anything here)_
> 
> *Lauryl Betaine* - It is a hair and skin conditioner. It improves quality and stability of foam, making it more durable in the presence of oil and dirt.
> 
> *Laureth 4 *– Emulsifier. Helps the product mix and dissolve in water; without laureth-4, the product is hard to rinse from the skin. In our Creamy Candy Bubble Bar, laureth-4 helps to create a creamy, milky effect in the water.
> 
> *Almond Oil (Prunus Dulcis)* - _(the site did not list anything here)
> 
> _*Cocoamide DEA* - Derived from coconut oil. Rich in fatty acids. Cocamide DEA is used in our range of bubble bars. It is a powerful surfactant and dissolves dirt and grease as you soak in the foaming bath. As a surfactant, it supports the action of the main surfactants in any foaming, cleansing product.
> 
> *Vanilla Absolute* – Highest concentration of vanilla aroma.
> 
> *D&C Red No. 33*
> 
> *Candy Flowers*
> 
> So that's my delimma . . . chomping at the bit to try Bubble Bars, but very confused as to where to start. I'd love any tips you can give me for my first attempt at Bubble Bars!
> 
> Thank you so much!



Just sent you a PM.


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## birdcharm

I agree that they are quite interesting ... but, for me personally, I would really need to play with that ingredient list ... not being a fan of the lauryl/laureth ingredients! If I can ever come up with anything on the natural side, I'll post it!!  They are very pretty though!  

When you ship them, are you wrapping them in a bakery type of wrapper?

~ Kathy


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## Guest

birdcharm said:
			
		

> I agree that they are quite interesting ... but, for me personally, I would really need to play with that ingredient list ... not being a fan of the lauryl/laureth ingredients! If I can ever come up with anything on the natural side, I'll post it!!  They are very pretty though!
> 
> When you ship them, are you wrapping them in a bakery type of wrapper?
> 
> ~ Kathy



I have found a (new) more natural product to use in my recipe. Took a while but I feel that it works just as well (if not better).

I have not designed the wrapping for any of my products yet because I am still in testing but I will probably heat shrink wrap everything as part of the packaging.

NOTE: the pictures above are test products and are not necessarily how my sell-able final product will be shaped.


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## birdcharm

I have seen that arrowroot powder can be something that is used in those, although I don't know how that would perform.  So, the cream of tartar is a performance thing ... I was wondering about that!  Also, I believe that you can substitute coco sulfate for the SLS, although I'm not sure about any other subtitutions.  

If your hearts are hand-molded, that's a great job, as hearts seem to be a bit tricky to do!  I did some once with other products and I finally found that if I first made a ball, flattened it, then "hugged" it with tips of fingers pushing inward at the top and and thumbs meeting at the bottom pushing together at the bottom for a point, that I was able to get a "plump" heart.  For some reason, heart-shaped things have a "cuteness" to them!  

I'm wondering, is this dough pretty pliable?  Can you make etchings in it?  Like, could you make little diagonal lines or anything on the top of a flat bar for design?  You have made me very curious about these ... I have made "bath bombs" for years, but never ventured in this direction, which I think I may enjoy.  It seems as though there are some more creative avenues with this than the salts.  Although, it truly does appear as though it takes a lot of work to figure out a recipe that works well.  I'm going to do more research, that's for sure! 

~ Kathy


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## Guest

birdcharm said:
			
		

> I have seen that arrowroot powder can be something that is used in those, although I don't know how that would perform.  So, the cream of tartar is a performance thing ... I was wondering about that!  Also, I believe that you can substitute coco sulfate for the SLS, although I'm not sure about any other subtitutions.
> 
> If your hearts are hand-molded, that's a great job, as hearts seem to be a bit tricky to do!  I did some once with other products and I finally found that if I first made a ball, flattened it, then "hugged" it with tips of fingers pushing inward at the top and and thumbs meeting at the bottom pushing together at the bottom for a point, that I was able to get a "plump" heart.  For some reason, heart-shaped things have a "cuteness" to them!
> 
> I'm wondering, is this dough pretty pliable?  Can you make etchings in it?  Like, could you make little diagonal lines or anything on the top of a flat bar for design?  You have made me very curious about these ... I have made "bath bombs" for years, but never ventured in this direction, which I think I may enjoy.  It seems as though there are some more creative avenues with this than the salts.  Although, it truly does appear as though it takes a lot of work to figure out a recipe that works well.  I'm going to do more research, that's for sure!
> 
> ~ Kathy



Although the recipe calls for SLSa, you could use any primary and co-surfactants that you wanted. There are lot of them on the market these days.

The heart shaped ones above were done with metal cookie cutters.

The texture of the bubble bar mix when it is ready is similar to dough until it dries and become hard and solid. You can make lines/designs on top of them and shape them in lots of ways since they are pliable.

Based on exactly what you want to do, you could adjust the recipe to make the mixture more wet or dry depending on the look you wanted to achieve.


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## saltydog

Those look great, ongrats on coming up with a great formula!

Like Midnightstorm, I have looked at many recipes and also am very confused as to which ones to try, but I do look forward to trying them some day..they look so scrumptious


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## Guest

saltydog said:
			
		

> Bergamot, those look great, ongrats on coming up with a great formula!
> 
> Like Midnightstorm, I have looked at many recipes and also am very confused as to which ones to try, but I do look forward to trying them some day..they look so scrumptious



Thank you so much! My suggestion would be to sty at least 3. Then you will have a good idea what you think works best. Thanks again.


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## soapqueen89

I read at another board, that you can substitute corn starch for the cream of tartar.  Corn starch is much cheaper and I haven't seen a difference in the finished product.

I have found though that the SLSA is a must if you want bubbles.  I made a batch without it, and got nothing but cloudy water.  I love lots of bubbles.


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## Guest

soapqueen89 said:
			
		

> I read at another board, that you can substitute corn starch for the cream of tartar.  Corn starch is much cheaper and I haven't seen a difference in the finished product.
> 
> I have found though that the SLSA is a must if you want bubbles.  I made a batch without it, and got nothing but cloudy water.  I love lots of bubbles.



Thanks for your input. You can use corn starch but they will not be as good as with cream of tartar. The cream of tartar will help them crumble under the running water. If made with corn starch they will be much harder (more solid like a brick) and not crumble as easily.

Of course you have to have the SLSa, it is the surfactant (what makes the bubbles). you could also use SLS or SLES. Any powder surfactant should work just fine.


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## Midnightstorm

*Still Trying to Find a Bubble Bar Recipe*

I tried this recipe for Bubble Bars because it seemed to have a lot of the same ingredients at Lush Bubble Bars, but somehow, mine came out hard as a brick. 

http://elementalbathco.blogspot.com/

I just can't figure out what I did wrong. I wonder if the amount of time you mix or knead the mixture has any bearing on how it comes out? 

As I've said on my Facebook page, I'm ready to throw myself off a cliff if I don't come up with something that works pretty soon  :cry:


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## bluedevil005

*I joined this forum just so I could ask you...*

Could you please PM me the recipe? I don't plan on selling my bubble bars, I just like making them for my boyfriend's son, and have had trouble getting them to turn out right (today I tried to make some and put too much witch hazel, so they grew and grew and grew.... oops).


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## bluedevil005

Also, I just wanted to add that your bubble bars look gorgeous!


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## Hazel

The lady who started this thread isn't a member. However, she was using the Elemental Bath recipe. You'll see the link to the recipe in Midnightstorm's post which which is right above your first post.


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## alwaysme07

I love your bubble bars, never made them before. but now I want to try them.


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## sdunakey

*Soap Queen Recipe*

I wanted to add that the Soap Queen recipe for bubble bars is very good.  There is also a version from Two Wild Hares  sold on Etsy.  It is pretty good.  I have not bought the recipe but I did buy one of her finished bars to test out and it worked great.  The colors are beautiful.  If the one I bought was from the recipe she sells, it would be worth the money.  It would save the time and money of experimenting.


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## shunt2011

sdunakey said:


> I wanted to add that the Soap Queen recipe for bubble bars is very good. There is also a version from Two Wild Hares sold on Etsy. It is pretty good. I have not bought the recipe but I did buy one of her finished bars to test out and it worked great. The colors are beautiful. If the one I bought was from the recipe she sells, it would be worth the money. It would save the time and money of experimenting.


 
This post is from 2011.  You may want to start a new thread as none of these folks are even here any longer.


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