Soap Queen

Tutorials on soapmaking, bath fizzies, lotions and more

Tutorials by difficulty level:

Bath Bomb Surprise

Filed Under: Bath Fizzies

Difficulty: intermediate
Time: 30 minutes
Yields: 10 to 16
In honor of a fabulous employee!
Luke (pourer extraordinaire) created this project and we’re so lucky that he’s sharing it with all of us. Read his adorable tutorial below on how to make a Bath Bomb Surprise. There’s a short video at the bottom so you can watch to see the fizzy duck in action. Before I (badly) edited it down, it was over 2 minutes because the bath bomb kept fizzing for that long!

Ingredients
1 lb citric acid
2 lbs baking soda
Witch hazel (in spray bottle)
Rose Pearl Mica
Herbal essence Fragrance Oil
Hockey Puck Mold
12 Rubber duckies
Pigment scoop
Droppers

Directions (from Luke)

First, I used a large plastic bowl to mix the citric acid and baking soda together. I used a whisk for this step, and mixed for a good 5 minutes until I was sure the powder was properly blended.

Second, I used a pigment scoop to mix in a small amount of Rose Pearl Mica. I began with 3 heaping spoonfuls but continued to add a few more to darken the bath bombs (caution: bombs will darken after using witch hazel. Too much Mica tends to leave a ring around the tub. Easy to clean-up, but a possible annoyance). I blended this for another few minutes.

Third, I added .75 ounces of herbal essence fragrance oil, distributing evenly using the dropper. After adding the fragrance I used a mixing spoon to stir. Blend well for another minute or so. The concentration of herbal essence I used made a very potent bath bomb. In future bath bombs, I will likely use a fresher fragrance such as Champagne in lower quantities.

Fourth, I began to mix slowly while squirting witch hazel into the batch. When the batch began to thicken, I stirred and sifted using my fingers. After a few minutes, the batch began to thicken and clumped when squeezed which is the perfect consistency.

Fifth, Using the hockey puck mold, I took a handful of the batch and squished it to the bottom of the mold, packing it down. I placed the rubber ducky into the mold, and the packed around and above it until covered. I found when using the ducky, I added more of the bath bomb mix than I had intended, ending up with a tray of muffins. I packed these down with my hand, and set them aside.

Sixth, I checked on them an hour later. They were beginning to harden, and a few cracks began appearing on top. I decided to go for broke, and removed the bombs from the molds. They were still hard-packed, but I didn’t like their muffin shape. I decided to hand-pack them as if packing a snowball. After getting them into rough circles, I lightly spritzed the outside with witch hazel and smoothed them down. Satisfied with their shape, I let them sit out to dry overnight.

Voila! The bombs dried nicely, completely concealing the rubber duckies inside! A few had developed small cracks, but they weren’t deep and didn’t affect the ability of the bomb to stay together. The size of them allowed for a particularly long fizzy-period. The duckies from the first batch didn’t pop out of the bath bomb for over a minute and a half!

My girlfriend Erika did another small batch after me. She used twice the colorant (hence the warning of the ring around the tub). She managed to fit the duckies completely into the hockey puck mold while still completely concealing them. This allowed for a smaller, more durable bath bomb that still smelled just as fragrant. More of her batch tended to develop cracks, which may be attributed to the duckies expanding while the bombs were drying.

There you have it!
-Luke

Video Below (email subscribers – you need to click through to the blog to see it). In a large tub, the water would not discolor. Enjoy!

The best soap supplies on the internet are found at Bramble Berry. Click here to browse Bramble Berry.

 

Have a question about this blog post? Come join us at Bramble Berry’s Facebook page and we can help you out with any of your soapy questions!
Like it? Share it!

You may also like these

Watch Love Letter Soap Tutorial HereMake Perfect Lines + Learn to Embed: Love Letter SoapONE-5How to Color Handmade SoapFeaturedHow to Get Vibrant Colors in SoapMicaPaintingHenna2How to Mica Paint on Cold Process SoapfinalShimmering Sea Glass Cold Process

Become an email subscriber

Enter your email address below and you will receive all our new posts directly in your email inbox.

Previous Post:
Next Post:

34 Comments

  1. Old thread, I see – but I noticed the mold you used isn’t one you carry, at least not anymore. Can you suggest alternative molds?

  2. Can you make bath fizzies that bubble also. Can you put some liquid gel soap in them to make them bubble without using SLS?

  6. I wonder, would this work with something like the ADORABLE unicorn trinkets you have at Bramble Berry.com? I have some friends that would get a huge kick out of these!

  8. So many great ideas, so little money.. You really have some great ideas. Congrats on your award that you just got.

  9. I would love to make this bath bomb surprise with the duck inside. However, I notice that Bramble Berry does not have the hockey puck mold. Would your stainless steel mondo bath mold work as well? Thanks!

    • Totally listening – what a big mistake of ours to let that go dormant when the manufacturer went out of business =) We will totally fix that and have our soap mold company, soapmolds.com, make that same size. Give us a month or two! =)

      A-M

  13. OHNO!! I must post a retraction? I'm not sure "acolytes" is the right words, I meant "people who carry your products"/partners oh my! serves me right for socialising on blogs when I probably should be asleep!!!!! *BLUSH* so sorry for my blunder! (blame it on me being French-Canadian!)

  14. First off, what a wonderful idea, so cute, and I was cheering for the little duck to upright too!
    As for the sugar scrubs, your acolytes in Australia have such a recipe in their formulary, Anne-Marie… Two in fact. I'll post the link if that's ok? LMK.

  16. Gail,

    I love your idea! Way to really dress up a bath bomb and turn it into an experience!

  17. My biggest seller is my Spell Bomb that I put a tiny pouch of gemstones embedded inside, with a spell on the outside. Adults love getting the surprise as much as the kids!

  23. Kat, If you give me a link to an example of the solid sugar cubed scrubs, I'll check 'em out and see if they are something I can figure out for you. =)

  25. So cute! I used to put small foam shapes in bath bombs I used for my own kids, but it was sort of a mess for the 'toy'. I bet these are great! 🙂

    ~Erin

  26. oh that is really cute! I may have to make those so I can be a great Aunt Misty!

    the kids love little things like this 🙂

  27. I saw those, Megan and was wondering about the same thing. I noticed they were made in China and did not have any product info so i just waited….

    Anne-Marie,
    Is there any way you could post a recipe for those solid sugar cubed scrubs that i have been seeing? I noticed that they contain glycerin soap….but not sure proportions, etc. I tried mixing some of my sugar scrub with glycerin soap, but the product had not integrity to hold together and appeared to be just a grainy and loosely held together kind of mess……

    I looked on teach soap and did not find…

    It would be so appreciated! Thank you!

  28. At the dollar store they have those little capsule sized thingies… they are little foam sea animals or something. I plan to put those in some bath bombs, because they are so tiny, but expand when they hit water, easy to hide, but a fun surprise. Someday I want to use those washcloth things (that also expand in water), but those would be HUGE bathbombs!

  29. so darn cute and the two of you were squeaking and as excited as any two year old out there. That is fun, isn't it?!?

Trackbacks