Happy Easter! Kaolin Bath Bombs Recipe

This recipe uses a fabulous British product - Cornish Kaolin Clay - and makes a ROCK hard bath bomb. Perfect for novelty bath bombs such as the massive Easter Egg shell pictured here.  

Colourful & calorie free, this was made using a cracked effect chocolate egg mould (you can now buy one here) which we filled leaving a hollowed out centre.  Doing so enabled us to "fill" the egg with 60mm bath bomb eggs.  The two halves were then simply tied together with curling ribbon so that the inner contents could be seen.

Using the clay appears to speed up the drying time and in turn helped with moulding such a large form.

In combination with Witch Hazel, this is a fairly easy recipe to use for all situations and one that you could adapt to make any kind of bath bomb fizzer.  

INGREDIENTS:

600g Sodium Bicarbonate
300g Citric Acid
50g Corn Flour
75g Kaolin Light BP Grade Clay
10ml Coconut Fragrance (any of your choice)
Acid Red water soluble powder colour
Witch Hazel spritz to bind 

METHOD:

Combine all of the dry ingredients thoroughly in a plastic or glass bowl kept for the purpose.
Add the tip of a teaspoon of powder colour and mix well. The colour will not be apparent until you add moisture, so don't be tempted to add too much.
Add your fragrance whilst mixing constantly with (gloved) hands
Spritz 5 or 6 sprays at a time with Witch hazel, repeating 6 or 8 times or until the mix holds together when pressed in the palm of your hand. The correct consistency is the same as is needed when making successful sandcastles - damp but not over wet.
Press into the mould with fingers, spreading evenly and leaving a hollow in the middle of the mould.
Set aside to dry for 15 minutes before removing carefully and allowing to dry completely (1 hour)

You can of course use the mix in any mould and adapt the colour and fragrance to suit.

Enjoy!



Chill Pill Bath Bombs Recipe

Cute Chill Pills!

How much do we LOVE this new mould?! 

So easy to use, this is a 2D tray style plastic mould that can be used for lots of crafting applications - soap, bath fizzers, mini melts etc. What's more, because it is produced with Food Grade plastic, it's also suitable for chocolate making*.

Our passion as you may have guessed is for all things fizzy.  With that in mind we thought we'd share with you our simple recipe for creating rock solid chill pills that you can package up to make excellent gifts.  

(Don't let us stop you from using this mould for your other crafts though! Let us know what you've used it for :) )

Of course, you can simply use your own favourite bath bomb making recipe for this mould if you prefer.

As these are small fizzers you don't really want to end up with crumbly fizzers therefore we've created a recipe using Witch Hazel as the primary binder and including Corn Flour for a smooth finish.  Witch Hazel will help create a strong solid fizzer.  All good when making and packaging gifts :)

This recipe is also what we'd term oil free.  Because of the size of these adorable fizzies, a lot of people will use them in a shower.  No slippy oils or butters here then please!

We've made ours in white. If you want to add either some colour though you can include a powder pigment/water colour or a liquid colour at the dry stage before binding with Witch Hazel. 

Note that if you use a liquid colour, it is likely that with this recipe you will end up with spotting due to the speed of drying going on. We like spots, but we know not everybody feels the same. 

This recipe will dry at this size in just minutes.  Once you've filled all 6 cavities you are safe to turn them out and go ahead and use the remaining mix to refill and repeat the process.  You could go on like that forever, so if you wish to make more or less Bath Fizzers simply reduce or increase the mix proportionately, keeping the ratios of one ingredient to another.

We suggest wiping the mould with kitchen paper before refilling to avoid the subsequent fizzers from sticking to any residue in the cavities.

To make around 12 Chill Pill Fizzers

Chill Pill Mini Mould

150g Sodium Bicarbonate

75g Citric Acid, Fine Grade

25g Corn Flour

Up to 5ml Fragrance Concentrate

Witch Hazel to bind

Gloves

Optional colour

Method

Sing "Hi Ho, Hi Ho, I must work quickly you know" whilst you place all of the dry ingredients in a plastic bowl (saved for B&B crafting) pop on your gloves and mix everything thoroughly with your hands.

Add your fragrance a couple of drops at a time and keep the mix moving with your free hand. 

Once you've added all of your fragrance, spritz the mix with Witch Hazel. Work steadily until the mix is holding together when squeezed in your hand.(Think sandcastle sand)

Take your mould and press mix into each of the cavities.  Compact the mix and level the base.

As soon as the cavities are all filled, you can turn the fizzers out carefully.  You might want to cover the mould with a plate or tray and use that to help turn out the fizzers without damage.  If necessary, apply firm but gentle pressure to the middle of the mould to release the fizzer.

Set your creations aside, wipe the mould with kitchen paper and repeat until all mix is used. (Keep singing!)

If wrapping the fizzers we suggest leaving them up to an hour to totally dry out and become safe to handle.

Enjoy!

Click here for our Keep Calm & Carry on Chill Pill making KIT

*As with all plastic moulds, do not overheat your ingredients or pour into the mould at high temperatures, whatever medium you are using. For soaps we recommend allowing the soap to cool for a few minutes before pouring but in the case of bath melts where you are using hot oils, it is necessary to exercise lots of caution - have the liquid oils as cool as is practical before you pour. You will find that oils & butters will still pour at quite low temperatures.

Top 10 Tips - Bath Bombs

As we've had many people asking for help with their Bath Bomb making recently, we thought it would be a good idea to revisit this earlier post.

Hand made bath bombs are a joy to use and so much fun to make.  With a few pointers, it's simple to learn to create your own bath fizzers easily at home and it's a great activity to share with children.  Once you've mastered the basics, you can create gifts for friends and family to be proud of.  After all, there's nothing quite like a hand made gift!

As always, feel free to contact us if you need more help 

1) Select your Citric Acid carefully; Super fine granules (table salt size) are best. Powder is too volatile, whilst coarse granules have a lumpy appearance and may "bobble" as your bath bombs dry out.

2) Be fussy about your Bicarb! Fine food grade Sodium Bicarbonate is best. Technical grade may contain unwanted impurities and granular varieties will result in a coarse looking bath bomb.

3) Want smooth bath bombs? Use Cornflour (Cornstarch) as 10-15% of your dry ingredient content. Cornflour also helps control the fizzing reaction between the ingredients as you are mixing.

4) Dry Ingredients = food grade.   Some of the ingredients such as Bicarb, Citric & Cornflour can be sourced in food stores.

5)Wet ingredients = cosmetic/toiletry grade. Fragrance, colours, etc should be purchased as cosmetic/toiletry grade.  Essential oils should be pure or blended with base oils.

6) Don't use water. Really, don't. Using water to bind your mix causes fizzing & expansion in the mixing process. Fact. Result = stressful and unattractive mad panic to get the mix to stick and mould without turning into a fizzing flop. (You can do it - but why?!) Vegetable Base Oils (Sweet almond, Grape Seed etc) or Witch hazel work well. Witch Hazel speeds the drying time so that your bath bombs can be safely handled/removed from their moulds within minutes.(depending upon the size of the mould) 

7) Spray your "wet" ingredients onto the mix. If using Witch Hazel to bind, always spritz from a fine mist "finger" spray. Oil can be "dripped" into your mix or sprayed on with the aid of a trigger type spray (the sort you get on a Febreeze bottle). Spraying helps distribute the oil more evenly and therefore there is less risk of some premature fizzing in the bowl.

8) Wear gloves and mix with your hands. You will learn to detect the correct consistency for making the perfect bath bombs, but believe me you will get there faster by using your hands as opposed to a spoon. Simply spray or pour with one hand whilst mixing with the other.

9) Ensure your moulds or containers are dry. Keep them away from the bowl when mixing/spritzing to avoid wetting them accidentally.  Sound obvious? Hmmm well we've been there.  Wet moulds = stuck & stranded creations! If this happens and you cannot remove your bath bomb - run the whole mould under the tap - it's preferrable to breaking the mould.  Alternatively, I've taken an entire-mould-stranded-but-otherwise-perfect bath bomb into the bath before. (Waste not want not as my Gramma said.) 

10) Don't over wet your mix; aim to achieve the same consistency that is needed to make really good sandcastles.  Damp enough to hold together but not sloppy. You can always add more moisture but if you've overdone it, it's almost impossible to recover your mix and adding more dry ingredient rarely helps.

11) Avoid steamy kitchens! Set your creations aside to dry in a damp free atmosphere.  If you've cooked a roast, rustled up some bath bombs and set them aside in your kitchen you may find when you return to admire them later that they've developed "bobbles". This is simply the damp in the air and can be avoided.

We hope these have been useful tips...We'd love to hear your experiences, so please do comment below :)

PS... ok so there are 11 top tips. Things don't always go to plan.... a bit like making bath bombs! Perhaps the best things in life are meant to be a little harder to achieve?  Philosophy aside, if you'd like a few more free recipes, hints and tips - why not sign up to our newsletter?  We won't spam you, but we will send you exclusive offers, the latest product news and free tips & recipes from time to time

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Top Ten Tips for Making Bath Bombs

1) Select your Citric Acid carefully; Super fine granules (table salt size) are best. Powder is too volatile, whilst coarse granules have a lumpy appearance and may "bobble" as your bath bombs dry out.

2) Be fussy about your Bicarb! Fine food grade Sodium Bicarbonate is best. Technical grade may contain unwanted impurities and granular varieties will result in a coarse looking bath bomb.

3) Want smooth bath bombs? Use Cornflour (Cornstarch) as 10-15% of your dry ingredient content. Cornflour also helps control the fizzing reaction between the ingredients as you are mixing.

4) Dry Ingredients = food grade.   Some of the ingredients such as Bicarb, Citric & Cornflour can be sourced in food stores.

5)Wet ingredients = cosmetic/toiletry grade. Fragrance, colours, etc should be purchased as cosmetic/toiletry grade.  Essential oils should be pure or blended with base oils.

6) Don't use water. Really, don't. Using water to bind your mix causes fizzing & expansion in the mixing process. Fact. Result = stressful and unattractive mad panic to get the mix to stick and mould without turning into a fizzing flop. (You can do it - but why?!) Vegetable Base Oils (Sweet almond, Grape Seed etc) or Witch hazel work well. Witch Hazel speeds the drying time so that your bath bombs can be safely handled/removed from their moulds within minutes.(depending upon the size of the mould) 

7) Spray your "wet" ingredients onto the mix. If using Witch Hazel to bind, always spritz from a fine mist "finger" spray. Oil can be "dripped" into your mix or sprayed on with the aid of a trigger type spray (the sort you get on a Febreeze bottle). Spraying helps distribute the oil more evenly and therefore there is less risk of some premature fizzing in the bowl.

8) Wear gloves and mix with your hands. You will learn to detect the correct consistency for making the perfect bath bombs, but believe me you will get there faster by using your hands as opposed to a spoon. Simply spray or pour with one hand whilst mixing with the other.

9) Ensure your moulds or containers are dry. Keep them away from the bowl when mixing/spritzing to avoid wetting them accidentally.  Sound obvious? Hmmm well we've been there.  Wet moulds = stuck & stranded creations! If this happens and you cannot remove your bath bomb - run the whole mould under the tap - it's preferrable to breaking the mould.  Alternatively, I've taken an entire-mould-stranded-but-otherwise-perfect bath bomb into the bath before. (Waste not want not as my Gramma said.) 

10) Don't over wet your mix; aim to achieve the same consistency that is needed to make really good sandcastles.  Damp enough to hold together but not sloppy. You can always add more moisture but if you've overdone it, it's almost impossible to recover your mix and adding more dry ingredient rarely helps.

11) Avoid steamy kitchens! Set your creations aside to dry in a damp free atmosphere.  If you've cooked a roast, rustled up some bath bombs and set them aside in your kitchen you may find when you return to admire them later that they've developed "bobbles". This is simply the damp in the air and can be avoided.

We hope these have been useful tips...We'd love to hear your experiences, so please do comment below :)


PS... ok so there are 11 top tips. Things don't always go to plan.... a bit like making bath bombs! Perhaps the best things in life are meant to be a little harder to achieve?  Philosophy aside, if you'd like a few more free recipes, hints and tips - why not sign up to our newsletter?