How To: Make fizzing bath bombs

Janice Cox shows how to make fizzing bath bombs like the ones you see in bath and beauty boutiques or department stores. These bath bombs can be very relaxing when dropped into a warm bath and can be given as gifts. She starts with about a cup of citric acid crystals which is also called powdered vitamin C or ascorbic acid. Citric acid can be purchased in places that sell wine and beer making equipment and online. The next ingredients come from right out of the kitchen cupboard: a cup of baking soda, a half cup of cornstarch, and a half cup of light oil such as almond oil or canola oil. You can scent the mixture by using a couple of drops of essential oils, and color by using a couple of drops of food coloring or accomplish both by using natural herbs and spices. Use your fingers or a spoon to mix all the ingredients until you have a soft dough texture. She tells you that you can be as creative as you want by using anything you can for molds such as muffin tins or other items and by sprinkling herbs, colored bath salts, sugar, dried rose petals or lavender into the mold before putting in the mixture. Or you can simply roll the mixture into balls. After pressing the mixture into the molds or rolling it into balls, let them sit for a couple of hours or overnight. Then just flip them over to release them from the mold. You can then package them in cellophane bags or put them in large jars and decorate the containers if you want to give them as gifts.