let me begin this post by saying… i am a beginner in the world of bath bomb making. i learned a lot in the past few days of making these and i'm here to share a little know how with you, my fellow "too broke to afford lush on the daily" friends. all of the mini bombs i made (about 35) cost the fraction of the balls you can get at the mall, but these aren't nearly as fancy. Mine smell amazing and will make your skin baby soft and your bath water pretty but they aren't full of glitter or confetti or flower petals or anything else crazy. They're just a nice, mid week bomb for your average consumer. Hands up!
my idea was to make a million of these, in all the same colors as those Valentine's day heart candies we all know and hate and pass them out to my girlfriends. They aren't too time consuming except for the waiting part and purple, as it turns out, is the hardest color to make so i'll be perfecting those a little bit BUT we're getting there, people! these were my first trial run and I just thought it would be fun to share in case anyone out there wanted to make some of their own for friends or for yourself this Valentines!
i like these mini bombs because 1. i think they look cute in a variety of colors and crammed into a jar and 2. i have no patience to wait for amazon to ship me my sphere mold and Michaels had mini heart molds. so there ya go! most of the ingredients that go into these are probably already in your cabinet at home (except citric acid… my god, that stuff was a nightmare to find. Cincinnati people- they have it at Clifton Natural Foods and that was where I found it after searching at Kroger, Target, Meijer and Wal Mart. It was a fun hunt, let me tell you. But the citric acid, I assume, is the star of your show that creates the fizzy goodness soooo it's pretty crucial.
you will need:
mini heart mold pretty similar to this one
bowl & spatula
D/R/Y
4 oz. baking soda
2 oz. epson salt
2 oz. corn starch
2 oz. citric acid
W/E/T
1 1/2 tsp. water
1 tsp. essential oil (i've used lavender and sweet orange. both are yum)
1 1/4 tsp. melted coconut oil
a few drops of food coloring, optional but recommended.
combine all dry ingredients.
combine all wet ingredients
sssssllloooowwwwlllyyyy add your wet to your dry, stirring with a spatula to combine. if you start to see fizzing, you're pouring too quickly. slow it down. once all of your liquid is in your bowl, continue to mix. you'll get a nice, clumpy texture… think wet sand. you should be able to pick it up, squish it in your hand, and it keep its shape.
add your mix to your molds and pack. them. in. tight.
let your bomb molds sit for about 15 minutes to set.
then, flip your mold over and gently (like petting a baby butterfly, gently) push the hearts out of the mold. if they don't come out easily, or pieces stick inside of the mold, they aren't ready. give them a few more minutes (this happened to me maybe 15 times. you can just take it out, add a baby bit more of water and try again. or just crush it up and have a nice bath tonight. whatever)
let your mini hearts sit out on the counter over night or for about eight hours to make sure they are completely dry and then yay!!
some. will. be. ugly. it's cool. they work the same. they smell like a dream and fizz and make your skin soft so it's fine. but just so you're warned, those grey looking ones? they're supposed to be purple… also, they aren't supposed to look like shit. but, i added waaay too much water while i was trying to make purple and they turned out looking like ugly little heart shaped rocks. but ironically they smell the best so what are ya gonna do?
anyway, they're fantastic and cheap and easy and will make great gifts for years to come. i have a sphere mold on its way to me as we speak and i plan on getting pretty brave with trying out scents and what not sooo report back!!
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