DIY donut-shaped bath bombs!

Because the holidays are stressful.

by Stephanie Calvert on October 27th

(Owner of C3 Luxuries and StePunny Prints)

When I moved down here from Denver in the summer of 2018, I don’t know what I expected, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Everyone has been welcoming, eco-friendly and so incredibly encouraging. I love it! I feel like my dreams come true down here. If you live here and don’t feel it too, then you need to come meet my new co-op family at Eclectic Co. Which, if you are reading this, you have already heard of or at least met someone from Eclectic Co. I will actually be posting DIY projects for Eclectic Co’s new website on a monthly basis! Yay! We’ve finally launched online shopping and threw in a blog section for all of our small-biz-shopping best friends! *big hug & happy tears*

StePunny Prints was in Eclectic Co before October 2019, but under another name… and selling other stuff. In case you hadn’t picked up on it yet, I was in fact, making donut-shaped vegan bath bombs.

If you are curious as to why I stopped making bath bombs or how I got started in the first place, I’ve got a story for you, but it’s a story for another time (if enough people are curious). If not, scroll on down for the DIY steps and ingredients for making donut (or any shape you want) shaped bath bombs!

So to make bath bombs (, just regular basic bath bombs), you will need baking soda, epsom salt and citric acid (in terms of dry ingredients). Once those are mixed you will need to spray some isopropyl alcohol and mix some form of soft moisturizing agent. I use coconut oil because you can melt it, mix it and then as it cools, it helps harden your bath bomb without making it so heavy that it will sink in the tub. I would suggest starting with a teaspoon to a tablespoon(melted) of coconut oil. Mix the coconut oil in. 

Now, we both know that I didn’t start a bath bomb business with just those ingredients! Mine are way more involved. More skin loving agents and I had loud colors, scents, extra drizzles, designs and even food glitter (Because why not!?). I’m not making bath bombs anymore, but I AM hosting a class in the beginning of December at Eclectic Co with my DIY bath bomb kits and will be teaching tips and tricks. If I have extra kits they will be available for purchase after class.

A couple other commonly suggested ingredients are witch hazel and almond oil. I found that witch hazel actually causes skin irritations with some customers. I also opted against Almond oil as I didn’t want to exclude anyone with nut allergies.

Another challenge I faced was when I started having problems with the bombs being too hard and taking too long to dissolve, or they would never keep their shape and they would crumble. More often than not, they would dry with little warts all over them.

Turns out the heavy density and warts were because I was getting them too wet and/or activating them TOO much with the alcohol (70% isopropyl, poor me in the past didn’t know any better)… Which activates… causes bubbles (warts)… and then dries all bumpy.

Later, I found that the crumbling and not holding its shape was because I was adding too many moisturizing agents. So, too much coconut oil and fragrance/essential oils means it’s too slippery to hold a form when pressed, but I found a work around to get that extra soft love in there! 😉

Now, let’s talk about fun stuff! Colors and scents. These, next to mold shapes, are what make your bath bombs, well, bomb! If you are using what you have at home, normally essential oils and food coloring can do the trick. If you use regular food coloring, mix it fairly quick so it doesn’t activate the dry mix too much. When I say essential oils, I don’t mean just anything that smells nice, that’s an oil on the shelf at Walmart or something. You HAVE TO check the label, and make sure it can be used on skin. So, no candle specific oils or fragrance oils that you use to scent your bathroom with wooden sticks. They must be skin safe, and if you want a fragrance that you can’t find in skin safe essential oils, then I would go online and buy an ounce or two of an FD&C safe fragrance. Those fragrances are safe for skin, normally used in lotions, makeup, soaps, etc. Another idea is to actually use dried food or flowers. I have made a basil bath bomb, a Himalayan pink sea salt with grapefruit juice bomb, spearmint leaf bath bomb, or even vanilla with rainbow sprinkles so it looks like a birthday bath bomb.  So you have lots of options and combinations out there!

So you have the basic ingredients, but to make it top shelf you will need some other ingredients. On top of the dry and wet ingredients listed above, I found some others that help get you cleaner and softer after using a bath bomb. Now, when I say wet, that includes coconut oil because it gets mixed with the wet ingredients, even though it’s not always pourable.

This is what I would suggest to anyone making them at home for themselves or for a gift. Now, I’m not giving you my company recipe, I made a great deal of money on my special recipe, and I’m not gonna go giving it out for free, but I WILL give you a good simple version. Also, if I typed an ingredient in bold, that means you need it for the bath bomb to actually work, and then the rest is up to you. The proportions are important, and you need to avoid getting the dry mix wet (hence the 90% isopropyl alcohol) until you are spraying on the alcohol or using it in the tub.

 

INGREDIENTS:

DRY

 

• 2 cups baking soda

 

• 1 cup citric acid 
• ¼ cup epsom salt (fine grain works best)
• 1T cornstarch
• 1T cream of tartar

WET

 

• 1T coconut oil (melted)

 

• • 1T avocado oil

 

• 90% isopropyl alcohol (in a spray bottle)

 

• 1T Fragrance (optional)

(skin safe essential oils, dried flower petals, or natural foods like spearmint, basil, rosemary, etc)

• Coloring/dye (optional)

(food coloring would work fine)

UTENSILS

• donut pan (any size, or even another shape you would like to try)
• Measuring cups & spoons
• Mixing tool (wisk, spoon, or gloves if you want to use your hands and not dye them)
• Large mixing bowl (dry ingredients)
• Small microwavable bowl (wet ingredients)

 

Step one:

• Mix all the dry ingredients in the large bowl thoroughly, and set aside.

Step two:

• Heat and stir coconut oil until liquified.
• Mix fragrance, avocado oil and coconut oil together in the small bowl.

Step three:

• Pour small bowl ingredients into large bowl.
• Add a couple drops of dye and thoroughly mix (repeat until desired color is achieved).

 Step four:

• Spray all of the large bowl ingredients with isopropyl alcohol about 5-10 times.
• THOROUGHLY thoroughly mix.

Step five:

• Pack mixture into a tight “snowball”, if you can drop it into the bowl two or more times, ~1′-2′ above bowl, without it breaking or cracking, move to step six. Otherwise, repeat step four until you can do so.

Step six:

• Pack mixture into mold/pan until no more is left in the large bowl.
• Let it dry for 24 hours for best results

Step seven:

• Package for gift or throw in your tub and enjoy!

WARNING: Bath bombs are NOT intended for oral or internal use!

Thank you so much for reading and trying out our first DIY craft on Eclectic Co! I hope you enjoy your bath bombs, and come check us out next month for our new year’s DIY!

For extra fun, add sprinkles and/or food glitter spray to your pan before placing the mixture in them to get a batch of sprinkled sparkling donut bath bombs!

If you can’t come to our class on bath bombs December 5th or check out the store in person, be sure to support YOUR local makers and shops for the holiday season! Your local purchases impact your whole community for the better. 

Catch ya on the flippity flop, y’all!

THIS MONTHS’

ECLECTIC CO EVENTS

Eclectic Co.

Founded by Peri Bolts, November of 2018

Eclectic CO is the premier retailer for all things local to the Colorado Springs area. They are sustainable and handmade.  It started with the idea that there had to be a better way for artisans to reach their target market than pop-up shops and side-hustles.  Eclectic CO exists to meet the needs of both makers and consumers– a beautiful space for the socially and economically conscious to come together.

 

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Eclectic Co

214 ½ North Tejon Street

Colorado Springs, CO 80903