Teach Soap

I've been trying off and on for months now to make a decent bath bomb and I'm having no luck. I'm following the very basic recipe of 2 to 1 baking soda and citric acid (and spraying with a little bit of witch hazel). I'm not even adding color or fragrance right now and they are still not working out. First of all, they will not come out of my mold. I'm using the plastic clear circular molds they sell at craft stores. The two halves separate when I take them out. I've tried leaving them in for just 5 minutes, one hour, a couple of hours, and overnight. They always separate and either fall apart (if they'll only been in for a little while) or are totally stuck in there like cement (if left overnight). I figured out a way around this problem by lining each half of the mold with saran wrap and then I can pull the mold off without it coming apart or crumbling.

Once I do this, sometimes I have a nice looking bath bomb. But the next day (after sitting on the counter) they are flattened balls of sticky gummy substance. Why the heck are they so sticky and gummy? I can actually push on them and my finger goes in (like if you were to push your finger on a tomato).

Other times, I've had them actually expand and grow while in the mold. All of this sticky gummy stuff starts coming out between the two halves of the mold.

I don't know what I'm doing wrong. I live in Maryland and it's been pretty humid here, but the a.c. is always cranked on in the house. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong. I'm so jealous when I see pictures on Etsy of all the pretty bath bombs. I just can't seem to do it. Help!

Gummy?! Interesting! Bath bombs are not easy to perfect.

Where are you getting your ingredients? Are they fresh? You're definitely doing 2 parts baking soda to 1 part citric acid, right? Not the other way around? And you're not using any oils?

You should just be spraying enough to make damp sand. Not so its sludgey or crumbly. Like you can pinch it in your fist and you should see your finger marks. It helps to look at videos on Youtube, etc for bath bomb demonstrations.

Hmmm...wish I was more helpful!

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Rachel
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Try adding more ingredients. I've never tried using just sodium bicarbonate, citric acid and witch hazel (where's the skin loving ingredients?!) Try adding a 1/4 cup of arrowroot powder, so 1 cup Sodium Bicarbonate, to 1/2 cup Citric Acid and 1/4 cup Arrowroot Powder. Then I add about 1-1.5 tablespoons of a mixture of oils (including fragrance) and dump it in with some colorant, mix, add 5 sprays or so of Witch hazel. I've never had a failed bath bomb with this method. I put them in the clear circular molds (like the ones you said you use), I leave them in the mold anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and then remove the mold and let dry in a muffin tin with crumpled saran wrap in the bottom (to prevent flat bottoms).

And there goes all my secrets!
Good luck

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Nikki @

There is a huge difference between making a life and making a living; which one are you making right now?

Sorry I'm just now replying. We had lost power during the hurricane for a few days and it's finally back on!!!

To answer your questions Rachel, yes, my ingredients are fresh. I order all of my scents from a scent seller on Etsy. And I'm doing one cup of baking soda and a half cup of citric acid, not the other way around. I have no idea why it won't work for me. They eventually do harden (after at least a week) and I use them as bath bombs. They are nice and hard and smell great, but they look terrible (flat oval things that resemble a hockey puck only much bigger than a puck). I absolutely couldn't sell them or even give them as gift they are so strange looking. I follow all of the insturctions. I add just enough witch hazel so it stays together when I pick up a handful and squeeze it. If I add any less they would just fall through my fingers (like sand) when I picked up a handful.

Nikki, I'll have to try adding arrowroot powder. Where would I find that? A health food store? I'll have to try your method and see how it works for me.

Thank you both for the help!

Humidity could be your culprit. I did a class on bath fizzies a few weeks ago, and wouldn't you know, torrential down pour! Every one's fizzies either started fizzing right there on the table, or just got really soft and fell apart.
Humidity is a nasty thing when it comes to fizzies!

Best of luck, but I would wait for drier weather before attempting it again.

Brandy

Hello! I'm new to the boards, and new to bomb making too.

For my bombs, I use 2 cups baking soda, 1 cup citric acid, sweet almond oil, fragrance and liquid coloring. After I mix all of those together, I don't even need to spray with witchazel.

When you are pushing the molds together, I find it easiest to push and twist a little at the same time. When you're going to take them out, pinch the mold a little bit around the edges, and it should just fall out. (Mine do anyway).

Try the pushing/twisting/pinching method I just mentioned and see if that helps at all. They're a little tricky, but with lots of trial and error, you'll get it

WoooHooo!!!! I did it. I successfully made 2 very good bath bombs yesterday. I didn't have a chance to buy any arrowroot powder or any other ingredients so I just used baking soda and citric acid and I was able to unmold them and they did not fall apart or grow and turn sticky/gummy. They are a little bit flat on the bottoms from sitting overnight, but they actually look like bath bombs! I tried putting them in silicone muffin tins lined with a little bit of tissue paper to cushion them, but they still flattened a bit. Any tricks on getting them to stay perfect round balls?

Chrissy

Keep 'em in the bottom half of the mold overnight. Rest the mold on a glass or you could use your muffin tin so they don't roll over.

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Rachel
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