# Bath bombs won't stick in mini mold



## icg (Jan 28, 2017)

Hi everyone. I made bathbombs yesterday and the large (80mm) ones worked amazing. Although I may need to add a bit more mica and fragrance. However, the mini molds, (30mm; around 1 inch) won't stick the 2 bath bombs. I added even more coconut oil, but then it just became a wet mess. Is there anything I may need to do to make it stick to a mini mold? 

It is a small plastic based mold with no handles or anything.


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## lsg (Jan 29, 2017)

I am not sure what you mean when you say the bath bombs won't stick.  Are you trying to make round bath bombs and saying that the two halves won't stick together?


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## Soapsense (Jan 29, 2017)

If you do mean the two halves won't stick together, I found with the smaller ones, that if I pack them too tight  they stick to the mold and not together.  So I loosely fill each half and mound the centers, then squish them together.


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## Luviesmom (Jan 29, 2017)

When you were trying to make the minis, were you nearing the end of your batch? The longer my mixture sits, the more difficult it can be to work with. If I'm making smaller bombs I start those first.


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## icg (Jan 29, 2017)

lsg said:


> I am not sure what you mean when you say the bath bombs won't stick.  Are you trying to make round bath bombs and saying that the two halves won't stick together?



I'm talking about the 2 halves


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## icg (Jan 29, 2017)

Soapsense said:


> If you do mean the two halves won't stick together, I found with the smaller ones, that if I pack them too tight  they stick to the mold and not together.  So I loosely fill each half and mound the centers, then squish them together.



I tried that and when I loosely fill them together, it falls apart when it comes out.


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## icg (Jan 29, 2017)

Luviesmom said:


> When you were trying to make the minis, were you nearing the end of your batch? The longer my mixture sits, the more difficult it can be to work with. If I'm making smaller bombs I start those first.



Wonder why that may be happening. I made big ones first though and the mixture was sitting for around 10 min. Maybe rubbing alcohol spray would help?


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## Luviesmom (Jan 29, 2017)

icg said:


> Wonder why that may be happening. I made big ones first though and the mixture was sitting for around 10 min. Maybe rubbing alcohol spray would help?



Maybe.  Bombs can be tricky. I rarely add more oil to  base mix. Maybe a few sprays of alcohol/witch hazel. Too much alcohol makes a powder too much witch hazel sets off the citric acid. 

If I have bombs that will not form into my ball mold, I spray each half with witch hazel and leave them in the mold for 3 or so hours.


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## NOLAGal (Jan 29, 2017)

icg said:


> Hi everyone. I made bathbombs yesterday and the large (80mm) ones worked amazing. Although I may need to add a bit more mica and fragrance. However, the mini molds, (30mm; around 1 inch) won't stick the 2 bath bombs. I added even more coconut oil, but then it just became a wet mess. Is there anything I may need to do to make it stick to a mini mold?
> 
> It is a small plastic based mold with no handles or anything.




I also use coconut oil, when you use them in the tub does the coconut oil float on the surface of the water very visibly, and clump on bottom of the tub when it is drained?


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## icg (Jan 29, 2017)

NOLAGal said:


> I also use coconut oil, when you use them in the tub does the coconut oil float on the surface of the water very visibly, and clump on bottom of the tub when it is drained?



I use some polysorbate 80. Maybe that prevents clumping?


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## NOLAGal (Jan 29, 2017)

icg said:


> I use some polysorbate 80. Maybe that prevents clumping?


Yes it does and I purchased some and will be giving it a try soon when it arrives. I see all of these formulas online that use oils and none mention adding anything to make the oils mix together with water and not float. Didn't know if others were just accepting the floating oil or not mentioning that they also use a surfactant?


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## BattleGnome (Jan 30, 2017)

SoapQueen had an article a while back about adding an emulsifier to a bath oil for the reasons you mention. Many people who make bath bombs do use SLS/A and probably don't have the oil slick issue.

I don't use an emulsifier yet (it's on the short list) and I might be an odd one out, but when I use one of my homemade bath bombs I find most of the oils end up sticking to me and not the tub. It's been a while (I just used up my overstock) but I think the only oil I used was coconut and in earlier ones I added cocoa butter.


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## icg (Jan 30, 2017)

*Bentonite clay*

Speaking of ingredients, do you guys use clay? I see lots of people using kaolin clay, but can bentonite clay be an alternative to make the bombs harder?


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## NOLAGal (Jan 30, 2017)

BattleGnome said:


> SoapQueen had an article a while back about adding an emulsifier to a bath oil for the reasons you mention. Many people who make bath bombs do use SLS/A and probably don't have the oil slick issue.
> 
> I don't use an emulsifier yet (it's on the short list) and I might be an odd one out, but when I use one of my homemade bath bombs I find most of the oils end up sticking to me and not the tub. It's been a while (I just used up my overstock) but I think the only oil I used was coconut and in earlier ones I added cocoa butter.



I see SLS & SLSA are very common emulsifiers and also very cheap. It's in just about everything, most soap, toothpaste, shampoo etc. I also read the ingredients on Lush's site and they use it. However I've noticed that there is a lot of people who are concerned with using products that have SLS in it because of it possibly causing cancer , and some people say it irritates their skin. So I have been a little reluctant to try that.


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