Cheryl's Bath Bomb Tutorial

• 1 C Baking Soda
• 1/2 C Cornstarch
• 1/2 C Citric Acid
• 2 Tbs. any light oil such as Sweet Almond, Grape Seed, Sunflower, FCO, Jojoba makes a very decadent bomb
• Fragrance Oil or Essential Oil to preference ~ a Tsp. or so is enough for me to scent this size batch. Any food grade colorant is all you need to color your mixture. Less is best to start with, you can always add more but never delete.

Melt and mix wet ingredients. Pour into the dry mix.

Making sure you mix it (with your hands, not tools!) as well as you can.

You will get a slight clumping action while mixing the oil, not enough to hold the shape firmly though. This can be your guide as to how much spritzing you will do with the witch hazel.

(Beforehand, prepare a small spritzer bottle with straight Witch Hazel.) While stirring the mixture with one hand, start spritzing your mixture lightly. You'll get a slight fizzing reaction, don't panic, this is normal. Do not over moisten your mixture. Just enough so your mixture will clump in your hand when squeezed together and hold it's shape when dropped back into the bowl.

This is where I add my scent (I used Suz's Angel) and colorant to the mixture. Blend well with your hand to incorporate the color and scent.

Now your ready to pack into molds. (About half way through packing into molds, you might need to spritz the remaining mixture again, just enough to moisten as it dries while your busily packing.)

I have taken pics of me packing into molds and a few of me doing them in a meat baller.

I am hoping you can see that they aren't that difficult to make using the baller. You just have to over pack both halves of the baller and squeeze very tightly together.

As you can see by the pics my baller broke which actually makes getting the bombs out of the baller much easier. I'm not recommending you break yours, but it was actually a good mishap.

In the pictures you will see I split the mixture in half and colored one yellow the other blue.

Let your bombs sit in the molds for a couple of hours, turn out onto waxed paper or any covered shelf where they can sit for 24 hours to completely dry.

I never attempt these in the summer when you have humidity, it's a complete waste of my time. I have tried numerous techniques to accomplish this in the summer to no avail even with AC and using the oven to aide in drying time. I have just resorted to the fact that these are a winter project.

Points of Interest:
1) I never use any recipe that calls for water, because you need to use a preservative anytime you blend oil and water. I have been doing these for well over 5 years and have never had any rancidity in my bombs. I am sure there is a shelf life you want to heed, but I have had some up to year old, still as nice and fragrant as the day I made them. Best to store them in an air tight container once completely dry or package them right away.

2) To make harder bombs, replace 1/2 C of the baking soda with any type of clay such as Rose, French Green or Bentonite. You get almost a speckled effect to the bomb ~ it's very pretty. You can also incorporate some dried herbs such as mint, calendula, lavender buds, chamomile to give them a very natural appearance.

3) Don't be afraid to use any butters instead of a soft oil for your wet ingredient. This will also make a harder bomb. Shea is a very nice decadent bomb, cocoa butter or mango. Melt the butter in a microwave on medium heat, you don't want this to hot. Now pour this into your dry mixture and incorporate well.