First bath bombs ever! (don't laugh...! :P)

[Rah]

Welll because I'm currently in rented accomodation, and I already had a slight surface-stripping crisis at home when I accidentally flung lye all over the kitchen, I've had to settle for slightly less dangerous and corrosive crafts. So I thought I'd try my hand at bath bombs!

I went and bought all the stuff yesterday... it cost a fair bit so I am kind of disappointed with how they turned out. I mean, I got through two whole tubs of bicarbonate of soda! Luckily the most expensive ingredients, the EO and the citric acid, are still mostly left.

My problem came when I couldn't find any moulds. I had to settle for some mini silicone cup-cake cases I had lying around. I made some vanilla bombs using citric acid, bicarbonate of soda, olive oil and vanilla essence (the artificial kind used for flavouring cakes... I didn't want to get extract because it was like a pound more expensive.) They smell very lovely and are rock solid now, but I kind of squished them by accident so i don't really want to take a photo, hahaha!

I then thought "maybe I can make lumps of it to use as frosting on top" so I made some green, peppermint bath bomb mixture with peppermint EO and green food colouring. Unfortunately, I realised too late I'd left all my piping bags at home, and all I had was a syringe, which didn't work because it only put pressure on the back of the mixture instead of all around. HOWEVER, the syringe itself made a pretty good mould becase it compacted the mixture really well, so I made some sort of... tablets with it instead.
I also put love hearts in because it's valentine's soon, and it stopped me from eating them. aha!
Here is a photo, they are pretty ugly but they WORK and also they smell so amazing it's everything I can do not to eat them:

Anyway, yes, aside from them being really ugly and wonky, at least I know HOW to make them now, and I know if I can get hold of something to mould them in I can make some GOOD ones!

Yay for making bath bombs instead of doing work...
Rah
x

 

[IanT]

they look pretty! dont beat yourself up! the first few times you make things, its not about how they look its about learning the process, once you know the process and dont need to concentrate so much on the doing of the craft, you can concentrate on how to make them look nicer!

 

[Rah]

Thank you I suppose I'm just sore because the ingredients cost a fair amount! But I will definitely work on it.

 

[IanT]

lol yeaaah thats one of those things about this hobby lol...can tend to be quite expensive!

 

[Overthemoon]

They're cute! Nothing is ever perfect the first time.

I am in love with making bath bombs. I haven't used olive oil in them yet. but I've used grapeseed and sunflower. The oil is so nice. If you want to experiment, may I suggest trying Natrasorb (tapioca starch) as part of the dry ingredients? It makes the water feel so good.

 

[Rah]

IanT - Yeah, that's why I used cheap food flavouring in the vanilla ones. And I'm just going to use them myself so if it dries my skin or something, it's my own fault.

Overthemoon - It was quite fun and easy! I only used olive because it was all I had and I didn't want to buy anything else from the healthfood shop as it was all quite expensive, but I will definitely experiment in future! The olive oil made them smell quite olive-y, which was annoying... olive and vanilla don't really mix too well.
I've never heard of tapioca starch... I will have to have a look for it!

 

[Overthemoon]

You should, one of the great things it does it hold the scent. I couldn't find a recipe with it so I just figured it out for myself. Well worth it, and it's cheap!

Still though, I love the bright green of your bombs!

 

[Rah]

Oooh, I'm all for nice strong fragrances so I will have to try it!

Thank you, I just used a few drops of green liquid food colouring and mixed it in really well with my fingers.

 

[Esther]

They're adorable! I don't think they look bad at all....simply hand crafted, which means they're usually way nicer.

I promise you if give a few as gifts, especially to a little girl, you'll hear just how nice they are.

 

[carebear]

when I have bath bombs that crumble, I mash up completely and mix with some butters to make bath melts.

 

[Cattleyabubbles]

Gorgeous

They're not ugly at all! Just make sure DH doesn't try to eat them as well. LOL Like IanT said, "it's about overall learning process". In due time you'll be making bath bombs that it'll be jaw droppers as you gain further experience making them. Plus it's therapeutic too!