Bath Bombs...UPDATE

[Guest]

bath bombs.

They crumbled on me. :cry: I'm convinced I just lack some essential gene that prevents me from making these **** things.

OK..then you were half way there!!!!....they did the same thing to me in the beginning. That is the kaolin clay that makes them powdery like that. All you need to do is add more oil until it's like wet sand...it sticks together in your hand. Then press into the mold.....firmly.

Let them set in the mold for about five minutes. Carefully remove them. Then let them cure on a drying rack for about a week.

They get hard as rocks the longer they cure.

 

[eucalypta]

I am so sorry LJA
When I add corn starch they float.... but I don't like the corn starch on the bottom of the tub nor on my body

 

[AshleyR]

Does anyone know why they "wart"? I just made some bath bombs... first ones in a very long time, and I used the Coastal Scents recipe. They started "warting" about 5 minutes after I made them. I kept pushing the "warts" back in, but they kept popping out. I've just left them alone for now but am 90% sure they're going to be cracked and warted when I go back to check on them later!

Is there anything I can do next time so that they don't wart on me?

 

[Shani]

Does anyone know why they "wart"? I just made some bath bombs... first ones in a very long time, and I used the Coastal Scents recipe. They started "warting" about 5 minutes after I made them. I kept pushing the "warts" back in, but they kept popping out. I've just left them alone for now but am 90% sure they're going to be cracked and warted when I go back to check on them later!

Is there anything I can do next time so that they don't wart on me?

Try lowering your liquids-i.e. water, oils, etc. Warting usually occurs when there is too much liquid.

 

[AshleyR]

Thanks Shani!

I made a whole bunch of bath bombs today and they all turned out AWESOME! I used 50% less oils in these ones and didn't even spray them with witch hazel this time because they already seemed damp enough without it. They turned out perfectly! YAY!

How long should I let them dry before packaging them? I'm planning to shrink wrap them for now and will probably package them in clear cello bags when I actually sell them. Should I wait to package them in 24 hours or so, so they are completely dry?

 

[Shani]

no prob Ashley. Yes, depending on the size of the bomb, I would wait a min of 24 hrs and a max of 48 before packaging.

 

[angbaby4974]

OK, so I've been reading this since it started & I have to say...I just made 14 perfect bombs!!! 7 scented with lemongrass sage & 7 with coconut lime verbena. I'm so totally stoked with these! I have to admit, I was a little wary at first, but I am so gonna add these to my line of spa delights!

 

[AshleyR]

I was surprised.... I had a pretty easy go at it too. Some tips:

- Sift your dry ingredients (I noticed my citric acid and borax had a lot of tiny hard clumps in it).

- Mix your dry ingredients in your Kitchen Aid mixer with the whisk attachment! When you add the oils/wet stuff, mix it again in the mixer for a minute or so on the highest speed. This REALLY blended mine well, and even my Wilton colours mixed in really good with minimul spotting!

- As sooooooon as the mixture holds together at all, start molding the bombs. I was positive my mixture was too dry (I didn't even use witch hazel the second time around and cut my oils in half), but those bombs came out the best!

- Package them air tight pretty much right after making them. I did a little experiment and shrink wrapped two of them about 10 minutes after I made them (they were already hardening), and left the other three unwrapped overnight. The ones that were wrapped looked great the following day, but the unwrapped ones had wee little fizzy bumps all over them. My house is not humid but the citric acid was set off a wee bit. I will package all of them right away from now on!

Hope this helps!

 

[angbaby4974]

Well, I woke up this morning to 7 warty bombs & 7 perfect bombs. The only thing I did differently was to use my stick blender to mix the liquids. I added the color to the liquids & it dropped to the bottom & wouldn't mix in, so I SB'd the heck out of it & added it slowly to the dry ingr. The warty ones aren't too bad I guess, kinda rustic looking. My daughter loves them. And, they float! (all of them, not just the SB'd ones.) I think incorporating the water into the oil helps keep the citric acid from fizzing up prematurely & causing the warts.

I'm sooooo glad I tried these & I will definitely be making more!

 

[Galavanting Gifts]

LJA, I don't know if I should laugh or cry for you, I TOATALLY understand how you feel, my bombs don't just wart the explode out of their moulds lol, the other day I made some with next to no alcohole and NO other liquid and they still burst open, it's gotta be our humidity :x

I've given up now cause citric acid here is reallly expensive to buy.

 

[AshleyR]

I made another successful batch of these last night!

I think the warting could be caused by little clumps of citric acid in your dry mix? I didn't sift my first batch and had warts, but the last two I sifted them to make sure there were NO hard clumps and I didn't get warting.

Also, I've found both times if you wrap them right away - like 10 mins after making them, they don't fizzle. Mine were super dry but after letting some sit out overnight they had teeny fizzy bubbles all over them. I didn't have any issues with the ones I wrapped right away!

 

[LJA]

LJA, I don't know if I should laugh or cry for you, I TOATALLY understand how you feel, my bombs don't just wart the explode out of their moulds lol, the other day I made some with next to no alcohole and NO other liquid and they still burst open, it's gotta be our humidity :x

I've given up now cause citric acid here is reallly expensive to buy.

Sing it, sister. lol. I've made peace with it. They hate me and the feeling is mutual. Hrumph. :wink:

 

[Guest]

LJA, I don't know if I should laugh or cry for you, I TOATALLY understand how you feel, my bombs don't just wart the explode out of their moulds lol, the other day I made some with next to no alcohole and NO other liquid and they still burst open, it's gotta be our humidity :x

I've given up now cause citric acid here is reallly expensive to buy.

Sing it, sister. lol. I've made peace with it. They hate me and the feeling is mutual. Hrumph. :wink:

LJA you just crack me up..

Kitn

 

[Galavanting Gifts]

ROFL, mayby we need to start a "bath bomb victim recovery" club, and then ask all the successful Bath bombers to fund us in our endevor to restore us back to some sort of sanity lol.

 

[Guest]

bath bombs

It took me 15 batches of CP to get the technique down. So keep trying. It will pay off!

 

[heartsong]

x

okay, dumb question: :roll:

is a bath tablet the same as a bath bomb?

i know some are round balls, some are kinda muffin cakes, some look like a scoop of icecream,but technically do they use about the same ingredients?

baffled in alabama

 

[KSL]

I just made a batch.. tried to get fancy with two colors.. they're falling apart =( sitting here waiting to see what happens to them.... grrr... lol

 

[LJA]

Re: x

okay, dumb question: :roll:

is a bath tablet the same as a bath bomb?

i know some are round balls, some are kinda muffin cakes, some look like a scoop of icecream,but technically do they use about the same ingredients?

baffled in alabama

Yeah...the main ingredient being evil. :wink: Same thing.

 

[heartsong]

x

okay, another dumb question

have you tried a bath tablet maker? it's a tube that you pour your stuff in, place a wooden "pusher" to tamp it down and tap it with a hammer? these come out very hard.

www.ellensessentials.com (this is the one i have)

instead of using witch hazel, i use a little 100+ proof alcohol.

 

[LJA]

Re: x

okay, another dumb question

have you tried a bath tablet maker? it's a tube that you pour your stuff in, place a wooden "pusher" to tamp it down and tap it with a hammer? these come out very hard.

www.ellensessentials.com (this is the one i have)

instead of using witch hazel, i use a little 100+ proof alcohol.

I use 100 proof alcohol too, but only AFTER I try to make them. :wink:
I actually did contemplate a tablet maker. Maybe after some extensive therapy and a motivational casette tape, I'll try it again with one of those. I hate squishing them together in those ball molds like some nazi boob excerize from hell. My shirt ends up all powdery and gross, my arms hurt, my nostrils look like Lindsey Lohans.....ugh. All set with it. A mold I can whack with a mallet would be easier.