Home-made Bath Bomb recipe/tutorial

I made bath bombs recently to see how easy it was (and as another thing for my #heartswap parcel) as it could be a potential Olive Dragonfly Craft Club project.  I definitely think this one would be fun to do again!

I used a couple of on-line tutorials for the recipe but ended up adjusting it slightly so here's what I did...

Ingredients:
300g Bicarbonate of soda
100g Citric acid (This can be tricky to find since it seems it can be used for making actual bombs.  Despite what google says, none of my local pharmacies had it but I eventually tracked some down in my local Halal shop for just 49p!  It's easy to find on-line if you plan ahead.)
A few drops of essential oil of your choice (I used 2 mixes of essential oil - Deep Sleep and Total Energy)
A few drops of food colouring (I used green and blue)
glitter (optional)

Equipment:
A large glass mixing bowl
Kitchen scales
A water spray bottle containing clean cold water
Some kind of mould (I used metal cookie cutters but I think silicone moulds would be easier to get out without damaging the bombs.)
Rubber gloves (optional but recommended!)

Method:
Mix the citric acid and bicarbonate of soda together in the mixing bowl until you have a consistent texture.  Add the glitter now if you're using it and mix well.

Add a few drops of colouring until you get your desired shade.  Mix it in quickly before it fizzes up.  I found that mixing it with the essential oil first made it easier to get an even colour.  Also, rubbing it in like making pastry breadcrumbs was the most effective way to mix it so there were no spots of colour left.  If the mixture starts to fizz, just keep mixing the oil/colour in as quickly as you can.  Do not leave it to stand or it will start to set.

The next stage also has to be done quickly to stop the mixture from fizzing up completely.  A little at a time, while constantly working the mixture, spray a the water and keep mixing until it starts to just hold together when you scrunch it in your hand.  Don't let it get it too damp.

Still working quickly, press the mixture into your moulds and compress tightly.  Leave your moulds in a dry place to set for at least 20-30 minutes.  Mine weren't hard enough after this time (they tended to expand as they set - they may have been a bit too damp) so I left them for about an hour before removing from the moulds, I didn't want them to get stuck - another reason why silicon moulds might work better.  I then left them to set overnight.

Using the size of moulds I used, I only managed to make 2 1/2 bombs out of my first mix.  Next time I plan to use a silicon ice cube tray to make lots of little ones and a silicon muffin tray to make one large one.

 I added glitter to the green mix and managed to make a few more with this batch.

I then packaged them up with some some organza left over from the wedding, some polka dot cellophane, some wedding raffia and Christmas curling ribbon...

Keep in a sealed container until ready to use.