All about bath bombs

Bath bomb ratios 2 parts baking soda to 1 part citric acid and 1 part corn starch (optional).  Yes really that is it.

Now I wish I would have taken pictures of some of my bath bomb failures so I could show you what happens under different conditions.

Ingredients you can use to get your bath bomb to take a shape, otherwise all you have is a bath fizzy.

Most vegetable oils (excluding any that is a humectant like olive oil).  Here is a pic of ones that turned out fairly well.

Most butters (in very warm weather be sure to use a hard one that has a high melting point)  do not use coconut oil or babbasu oil in warm weather.  Some people think these are butters as they harden in colder temps but they are really oils.

You can also use witch hazel, but never use anything with water in it, this is what sets the baking soda off to expand and fizz.

Be careful how much witch hazel or anything else you use, and also you might need to check the humidity as most bath bomb makers say when the humidity is above 70% it gets into the bath bomb mixture and sets the baking soda into action and leave you with a wet mess.

You don't have to make your bath bombs into a round ball shape using a plastic mold.  You can also use any type of silicone mold.  Actually silicone molds are easier to get your bath bombs out of.  Make sure you give your bath bombs time to harden before you try to remove them or they will break apart in pieces.

Here is a picture of how I sell my bath bombs.

The craft of marketing

I picked to write about Lush in this article on the marketing craft because they are so good at it.  Sometimes I think that not only do I lack imagination but I don't get other people's imaginative ideas either, like Lush's gorilla perfume.  Here are the names of some of their Gorilla perfumes (solid perfumes):

Karma
Lust
Breath of God
Twilight
Yuzu (Japanese fruit)
Dirty
Icon
snowshowers
the smell of freedom

Could someone explain to me why those names would be appealing when they tell you absolutely nothing about the scent of the perfume.  I would so love to understand this type of marketing.  Is it just that the names are so catchy?

Here are some of the names they use for their bath bombs (nothing catchy in front of the term bath bombs).

butterball

twilight

golden slumbers

bon bomb

geo phyzz

sex bomb

dragon's egg

fizz o therapy

honey bee

mrs whippy

rocketeer

fairy jasmine

space girl

softy

Sakura

phoenix rising

tisty tosty

the sicillian

fluffy egg

Could it be that these names conjure up curiosity or that it just sounds interesting?

They also have a product called bubble bars.  It's kind of like bubble bath except in solid form.  You crumble it under running water just like you would pour bubble bath under running water.  I would also like to know if people really want scents like sea weed and fresh cut grass?  Maybe it's just that I am an old foggy but I always thought of scents that were appealing to be floral or fruity.

Here is an excerpt from their web site describing one of their products:  "Love the smell of warm milk with a bit of added spice? Hot Milk comforts with orange and patchouli essential oils and soothing coconut milk. Its delicate bubbles envelop you like a favorite old blanket then it wraps you up nice and warm and sends you off to bed with a big hug and a huge smile on your face. Soak in its frothy waters, slip into your favorite jammies and fall into your fluffy bed. Repeat nightly."

Does warm milk really have a distinct scent to anyone who doesn't have a really sensitive nose?  Plus I am really wondering about the bubbles wrapping you up nice and warm and sending you off to bed with a big hug and huge smile.  Do bubbles hug you?  I just never thought of things in this fashion being a big old pragmatist.  I can certainly see though how these types of imaging terms can be very appealing.

Lush says fresh handmade cosmetics, does powdered milk need to be fresh? They also like to talk about vegan and essential oils but honey is not considered vegan friendly.  Do chemicals need to be fresh? I have heard that baking soda does (sodium bicorbonate) but chemicals like the ever dreaded sodium laureth sulfate (a foaming agent, detergent and surfactant which means it stabilizes a mixture of oil and water or easier to understand it keeps the oil and water from separating), lauryl betaine (commonly found in body cleansers, shampoo and bubble bath, known to work well with water and removing dirt and oiliness), cocoamide DEA (another foaming agent used in soaps and an emulsifying agent as well) or limonene (an oil found in citrus peels, so not sure why they can't just list that as orange oil), linalool (this one is found in many plants and is generally used for scent), benzyl salicylate (used as a flavoring agent, as a fragrance ingredient and an ultraviolet light absorber), hydroxyoitronellol (an ingredient in fragrances found in Lime, Lemon, Sweet Orange, Petigrain, Sandalwood, Tangerine and Ylang ylang essential oils), citronellol (also used in perfumery and insect repellents), geraniol (commonly used in flavors and is also an effective plant based mosquito repellent as well plus also used in perfumery).  Some other chemicals they use include titanium dioxide (primarily used as a pigment and a sunscreen), iridescent sparkles(obviously just pretty sparkles), and what's up with listing perfume as an ingredient?  Does that mean they combine some synthetic perfume with their oils and why does the ingredients list often say oils not essential oil of?  THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN OIL AND AN ESSENTIAL OIL

Of course they also use the body safe colors that are either D&C or FD&C colors, but isn't there something all natural that can create vibrant and beautiful colors.  Plus I have to admit I do not understand why people want their Bath and Beauty products to have beautiful colors.  I also wonder why so many of their products have gardenia extract.  Plus do most people really like the scent of patchouli?  I have heard it's scent gets better with age.

I checked out their toners and the price for one of them was 3.3 fl oz. is $8.95 and 8.4 oz is $19.95 (tea tree, juniperberry and grapefruit waters plus limonene and methylparaben and of course perfume.  I easily found the reviews for this one but you have to scroll down (and maybe select a size) to find the list of ingredients.

So my final question is does the market really demand that their products look gorgeous and smell wonderful and be fun or are there people who buy products just because they believe in the "all natural ingredients" or "environmentally safe" products, or even support the handmade industry?  Or have these things just become catch phrases that people use like the word organic which the law then cracked down on and created a strict system of documentation and inspections before businesses could use the term organic.

Best scrap booking cutter there is

The latest version of Bosskut gazelle cutter is currently on preorder sale for only $419 at www.Bosskut.com and comes with extras like extra blades and vinyl cutting blades plus an extra cutting mat.  They don't stop their either.  I spoke with Terri at Bosskut today (yep you can actually talk to a live person) she said this version also comes with $100 worth of Bosskut designs that they sell on the web site, this is in addition to the 700 designs that come with the software Funtime III.

Now you can't sell the digital design, they are copyrighted, but you can cut them and lay them out any way you choose and sell the work you did with this machine.  You can't do that with Winnie the Pooh characters, they are totally protected and you would have to buy an expensive license to sell any work featuring those characters.

BossKut extended the pre order sale, but it probably won't go on for more than a few days. Then the bonus package goes away and the price goes up. The capabilities of the latest version of the gazelle are second to none, toptenreviews.com rated them in the number two spot, but there is no comparing this machine to the number one cutter because the price of the number one cutter is much higher.

The black cat cougar has been called the gold standard of electronic die cutting machines but the price I saw was $740) plus their customer service is not rated as highly as Bosskut's, so if you need a machine that doesn't have a few of the bells and whistles that the cougar does, buy the Bosskut gazelle. I highly recommend it from spending hours on the web doing research into forums and reading what scrap booking enthusiast have to say.

You can read the top ten article on cutting machines at toptenreviews.

I was so impressed by what I have read and learned that my boyfriend will be buying me one as a Christmas present. I tried my best to convince him to buy it on the pre-order sale, but he is kind of funny about money. I would buy it myself but I have invested all of my money in a vegan skin care business. Selling online is tough especially for hand made artisans.

I asked Terri what were all of the materials were that the BossKut gazelle could cut and she said she wasn't sure because they haven't tested the machine on every material it might be able to cut. I just sort of laughed and said okay, what materials do you know it can cut. Of course it can cut cardstock and vinyl, in addition it can cut chip board, thin acrylic (thin means less than 1 mm thick), magnet sheets, shrink dink (never heard of that one before), it can also engrave thin metals.

It is a printer, cutter, engraver and embossing machine all in one. I probably have missed some features. I will be encouraging Terri to add any comments about anything that I may have missed.

How Easy is Crafting

There are always different types of crafts that go in and out of popularity.  I remember (yes I am revealing my age partially) a craft called tufting.  It involved using a tool to push yarn through a stretch out template (can't remember what it was made of, it was so long ago).  You could make rugs or wall hangings that looked like animals or butterflies or almost anything.

I know creating soaps and lip balms have been really big but I think the hottest craft is scrap booking.  Of course there has also been sewing and crocheting or knitting.  Felting is a type of sewing that is done with felt materials.

There are also many who like to create jewelry and try to sell it online, same with soaps, and most of the above stated crafts.  So what is going to be the next hottest thing in crafting?  There are also many who handcraft bath and beauty products. 
Even though this may not be a hobby for many there are still artists out there who do wood working, wire wrapping, and work with all kinds of metals and even some who sell unique looking painting, plus I have found a few who work with glass and who create beads.  Is creating beads going out of style?

Leave me a comment and tell me what you think or know.