Wednesday 10 March 2010

How to Make Bath Bombs

How to Make Valentines Bath BombsHomemade valentines bath bombs are a great little craft to make for Valentines day and are lovely to share with your Valentine in the bath tub! The heart shaped Valentines baths bombs look really sweet and are so much nicer than shop bought bombs.

What could be more romantic on Valentines Day than soaking in a hot Bath with your Valentine watching these bath treats bubble and fizz in your bath, stimulating and soothing your skin. Relax and restore your body with a soothing scented bath bomb.

This bath bomb recipe is enough to make half a dozen fizzing bath bombs.

To make Valentines Bath Bombs you will need...

50g Citric Acid 100g Soda bicarbonate Half a teaspoon Red Food colouring 1 teaspoon Olive Oil 1 teaspoon Rose essential oils or a different fragrance if you prefer. And a love heart Ice cube tray to mould the bath bombs

Citric Acid and Soda Bicarbonate are available on Ebay and moderately priced.

Mix the Citric Acid and Soda Bicarbonate in a bowl with a spoon for a few minutes. You need to mix it really well so that the bath bomb fizzes properly in the bath.

Next add the olive oil and then the food colouring and then the essential oil. Give the mixture a good mix up again, to make sure that the essential oil is distributes though out the mixture.

The consistency of the mix should be that of damp sand.

Now pack the mixture into the heart shaped ice cube tray. Use the back of the spoon to pack it in tight. The firmer the bath bombs are made, the longer they will last in the bath. Leave the bombs in their moulds to harden for 5 minutes or so.

Turn the ice cube try upside down on a sheet of paper and give the back of the tray a tap with your hand over where you know the bath bombs are, and they should just slip out.

Leave the bath bombs to dry further for 3 hours. You can use them after 3 hours, but if you are able to leave them for 24 hours, they will last longer in water later.

Arrange your bath bombs in a soap dish with some flowers or rose petals and then you are ready to present them at the side of the candle lit bath.

If you have made the bath bombs well in advance, you will need to wrap them up in saran wrap, or some other cellophane wrapper to protect them from moisture in the air. Clear cellophane with a pint tint look pretty. Cut out a circle from the wrapping that is a bit bigger than the bath bomb. Place the bath bomb in the center and wrap the cellophane around it bringing all the surplus cellophane bunched up together at the top, like a little sack and wrap an elastic band around it. Tie a bow with plastic parcel ribbon over the elastic band to hide it.

Store your Valentines bath bombs in a cool dry place.

Want to add a little something extra?

Decorate your bath bombs with Loveheart sweets. Before filling the moulds with bath bomb mixture - pop a Loveheart sweet into the mould, writing side down, and them pack the mould in the usual way. When you turn the bath bombs out, they will have little messages on them. However the you wont be able to eat the sweets from the bath bomb, they are just for decoration.

Using a small amount of craft foam, cut a heart, which is a bit smaller than the heart moulds, and write a romantic bath time instruction on it using a permanent ink pen. This might be 'kiss my neck' or 'wash me' or 'Massage me', you won't have room to write very much. It's important to use a permanent marker pen, because other ink will just wash off in the bath water.

When you make your bath bombs, half fill the moulds and then add the foam heart, and them finish filling the mould with bath bomb mixture. Now you have a little Valentines bath game; drop a bath bomb into the bath and wait for it to release its instruction, whatever the bath bomb says, you have to do.