Crackling Bath Fizzy - made with Pop Rocks!

1 cup citric acid
2 cups baking soda
2.4 oz. Pop Rocks!
1tsp. melted oil (shea butter is a lovely one)
1/2 tsp. fragrance oil

Mix the baking soda, citric acid and Pop Rocks! until well blended. Once you’ve blended really well, add your colorant. Dry pigments or FD&Cs work best �?don’t add too much though �?the color shows up once you add the oil and fragrance oil.

Add your fragrance oil and your melted oil to your personal nose preference.

Stir the mixture well. When your batch sticks together when squished, you need to start putting it in molds �?time is of the essence. If you wait too long, the mixture will get hard.

Put the bombs in molds �?wait a few minutes and tap them out. Let them air dry for 3 or 4 hours and voila! Wonderful, hard bath bombs that crackle and pop in the bath. The harder you pack the bath bombs, the more dense, heavy, and durable bomb you will get.

Popping Bath Salts - made with Pop Rocks!

1 cup rock salt
1 cup Epson salt
1 cup Pop Rocks!
fragrance or essential oil
Optional: water soluble colorant

Blend your three ingredients together well.

Wearing gloves, drizzle the fragrance or essential oil into the bowl and mix well. If you choose to use a colorant, use a water soluble colorant like an FD&C or mica. Pigments tend to clump and not work as well as water soluble colorants.

Package the product up in an airtight container and enjoy the popping and cracking of the Pop Rocks! when you take a bath!

Butterfly Soaps

Materials:

One bar glycerin or lye-based soap (bar#1)
A second bar or scrap of glycerin or lye-based soap in a different color than bar#1 - big enough to use a cookie cutter with. Depth should be between 1/4 and 1/2 inch.
3 - 4 drops clear glycerin melt and pour soap
Small, metal butterfly cookie cutter
Soap paint

1. Decide which bar is to be the main bar (bar #1) and which is to be used to cut out the butterfly.
2. Cut out a small soap butterfly using a metal cookie cutter.
3. Melt a small amount of clear glycerin melt-and-pour soap. Using a plastic dropper, drop 3-4 drops of glycerin onto bar#1 and carefully press the butterfly against the melted glycerin. Wait approx. 10 minutes for it to cool.
4. Take out your soap paints and start playing. You can paint a sun, little antennae on the
butterfly, spots, grass - anything you desire. In addition, you don't have to limit yourself to just butterflies! Cut out stars, moons, flowers, etc. using the same procedure outlined in steps 2 and 3 and then paint to your heart's content.
5. Let paint dry for 24 hours before wrapping.

Chocolate Lipgloss
2 tsp. Petroleum Jelly
1/8 tsp. Honey
10 mini Hershey's Milk Chocolate Chips (any brand will do though)
1/8 tsp. Shortening (Crisco)

Carefully Mix all ingredients into a microwave safe container. Make sure they are all clumped together. (Do not put lid on) Heat at high power for 20 seconds, stir, then repeat until fully melted. Then pour into a small bottle, and freeze for 15 min, or until solid. Then you can apply it on your lips!

Sheer Lipstick
2 oz. beeswax
2 oz. jojoba oil
0.2 oz. aloe butter
2 tsp. zinc oxide
2 tiny scoopers of lip-safe mica.
lip balm flavoring

Hint: This is a very waxy recipe and might do better in a tube than the pots as shown.

Sheer Lipstick
2 oz. beeswax
2 oz. Grapeseed Oil
1/4 oz. Wheatgerm Oil
2 tsp. Zinc Oxide (by volume - optional - may substitute titanium dioxide)
4 tsp. lip safe mica (by volume)

The zinc Oxide will provide a opaque, matte effect to your lipstick. If you use just mica, you will have a more sheer lip balm.

Melt the beeswax in a double boiler. Once fully melted, add the Grapeseed and Wheatgerm oil. Pour your colorant into the double boiler and stir well. Let this mixture sit until mixture begins to thicken slightly (thus suspending the colorant better) and pour into jars or tubes

Colored Lipstick
This lipstick is a more waxy lipstick than the Sheer lipstick.

Phase 1
4 oz. Castor Oil
4 oz. Jojoba oil
.5 oz. Beeswax
1 oz. Candelilla wax
1/4 oz. wheatgerm oil

Colorant phase
8 full teaspoons of lip safe mica
1 oz. Castor, Olive or Wheatgerm oil Hint: Castor provides more shine than Olive or Wheatgerm

Melt the waxes in a double boiler. Once they are fully melted, add the Castor Oil and Jojoba oil. In a separate bowl, add your mica to the liquid oil of your choice. Mix in well and make sure there are no clumps. Add the colorant mixture into your double boiler and mix well. Remove this mixture from the double boiler and let sit until mixture begins to cool and thicken (thus suspending the colorant through out the lipstick). Once cooled to an appropriate thickness, pour into jars or tubes.

Floating Bath Soak

3 oz cocoa butter
1 tbsp creamed coconut
1 tsp almond oil
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp powdered oatmeal
2 drops tangerine EO

Melt cocoa butter in double boiler, remove from heat. Mix creamed coconut, almond oil, honey and oatmeal, blend well. Add mixture to melted cocoa butter, blend well. Add tangerine EO (or your favorite EO!), blend in. Pour mixture into ice cube trays, chill until firm. Toss one into tub of running water and enjoy! Note: Use caution upon exiting tub, it may be a bit slippery. But, oh, what a soak!

Luscious Lip Luster

4.4 oz. Calendula-infused olive oil
1.7 oz. Shea butter
4.9 oz. Emu oil
1.3 oz. Beeswax

Melt beeswax gently over a double boiler (or in the microwave if no double boiler is available). In a separate container, heat the emu oil up until it is fully liquid. Combine the wax and all the oil, stir well. Add flavoring (if desired) and pour into containers.

Bath Jelly Recipe

1/2 cup melted transparent Melt & Pour base
2 cups water
1 envelope Knox unflavored Gelatin
1/2 oz Germaben II
Fragrance oil
3 or 4 colorants
3 or 4 small containers

Pour envelope of Gelatin into a bowl and set aside. Microwave 2 cups of water until boiling. Gently pour into the bowl of gelatin and stir until completely dissolved. In the meantime melt the M&P in the microwave. Add fragrance oil to the melted M&P. Slowly pour the soap into the Gelatin and stir gently. When mixed thoroughly, pour into individual containers and color. Place uncovered containers in the refrigerator until firm.

Empty Playdoh containers work perfectly and Bath Jelly can be colored to match the lids! Kids have a blast with this jelly. They can scoop it out and toss into running water, paint the tub and themselves, glob onto a scrunchie or washcloth and even bathe with it! The possibilities are endless!

Gardener's Recipe

8 oz. Melt & Pour base
2 T. white cornmeal
1-1/2 T. fine pumice
1 T. bentonite clay
2 tsp. of a citrus essential oil (orange, lemon, etc.) or fragrance

Melt base and scent. Stir in cornmeal, pumice and clay continually until it gets to a point where it will stay suspended in the soap. By this time, the soap will be quite thick and cool. Pour into molds.

Fragrance Stones

1-1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup salt
1/4 tsp. cornstarch
2/3 cup boiling water
1 tbls. fragrance oil
Colorant of your choice

Mix all dry ingredients. Heat water in a Pyrex cup in the microwave or on the stove. Add the f/o and the color to the water. Stir water mixture into flour mixture. Mix as best you can and then knead the dough with your hands. At this point you just want it to look like pie or cookie dough. Roll it out about a quarter of an inch thick. Cut into shapes or use cookie cutters. Another option is to stamp the flat shapes. Let the dough stones dry. They get hard as rocks and will last for months.

Honey Dust

1 cup arrowroot powder (sometimes called "flour")
3 tablespoons honey powder

Mix well together and store in an airtight container. This mixture will get hard if moisture is allowed to get to it. I also package a small feather duster for this. You may substitute up to 2 tablespoons of the honey with any flavored powder

Crushed grape seeds and almond oil

combine to form a soothing, refreshing facial scrub.

2/3 cup crushed grape seeds, packed
1/3 to 1/2 cup Almond Oil
1/2 tsp. vitamin E
45-60 drops of fragrance oil

Mix almond oil, Vitamin E and fragrance together in a glass bowl. Add the crushed grape seeds and mix well. Divvy up into jars. The crushed grape seeds will sink to the bottom - this is normal for scrubs of this type.

This scented body powder pampers the skin.

Its rice-and-chamomile base is reputed for softening and soothing chapped or sunburned skin.

2 oz. rice flour (or cornstarch)
1 oz. finely powdered white orrisroot (or arrowroot powder)
1 oz. finely powdered dried chamomile flowers
1 drop lavender essential oil or fragrance oil
2 drops orange fragrance or essential oil
3 drops violet fragrance oil

Combine the above ingredients, mix in the fragrance very well by pressing any lumps down with your fingers. Sift thoroughly and put into containers.

Sugar, Salt and Nut Scrub

1/2 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup ground oatmeal
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup salt
1/4 cup almond oil
45-60 drops fragrance or essential oil

Variation: Add 2 tablespoons of honey for an extra-moisturizing scrub.

Mix almond oil and fragrance or essential oil together in a glass bowl. Add the sugar, finely ground almonds and salt together in a separate bowl and mix thoroughly together. Add this mixture to the almond oil. Mix well with your hands to incorporate and you're done!

Solid Brown Sugar Scrub

4 oz. melted melt and pour soap
8 oz. grapeseed oil or Avocado Oil
3-4 oz. brown sugar
1/2 oz. honey
Fragrance oils or essential oils (20 drops)

Mix your grapeseed oil, honey and melted melt and pour soap together. Add the brown sugar and mix together with hands. You can add your fragrance or essential oils at any point during the mixing process. Divvy up into wide-mouthed jars. Wait 24 to 48 hours for the mixture to harden into a semi-solid mixture.

Brown Sugar Body Scrub

2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 - 1/2 cup almond oil
1/2 tsp of vitamin E
45-60 drops of fragrance or essential oil

Mix almond oil, vitamin E and fragrance or essential oil together in a glass bowl. Add the brown sugar and mix in well. Divvy up into jars and have a great time using it!

Solid perfume is fun and easy to make and is a wonderful idea for a personal, hand-crafted gift! You'll want some stylish little butter pots to hold your creations and Bramble Berry, Inc. has a terrific selection. To make your solid perfume, follow these directions:

For a 9 oz. batch (which will fill about 36 pots), you would use, by weight:

2 oz. Beeswax
3 oz. Shea Butter
4 oz. Olive Oil
.5 to 1 oz Fragrance Oil of choice

Melt all fixed oils together, and add fragrance oil to melted oils. Pour mixture into small jars or twist-up tubes and sell as a solid perfume!

Chunk Soaps are beautiful to behold and lots of fun to make. This chunk soap recipe and photo are by Fabienne Nichols.

First, use freshly made chunks, or ones that have been stored in an airtight baggie- if they're too dry, this'll cause non-sticking.

My overpour soap is --don't know the exact temp-- just "below" steaming. Opaque chunks (w/ titanium dioxide) will tend to melt "worse", so be careful, and overpour onto these at a bit lower temp. I do mostly "random" chunks, so don't worry about placement, but...

Do NOT freeze chunks. This'll get ya moisture, and, as someone points out, changes the soap somehow. If you're freezing soap to get out of the mold for bars, don't freeze all the way, just enough to do outside. Best thing is to be patient and let soap harden and shrink a bit. I'm a bit forgetful, and have left soap in overnight, yuck! So I almost never freeze.

Pour a bit of overpour in the mold (to prevent holes and bubbles on the top), grab a handful of chunks, spritz w/ rubbing alcohol, and "dump" 'em in. You'll want to spritz RIGHT before you place the chunks in, or alc will evaporate. A good spray, too, so that it looks wet all over, but don't soak. A FINE mister helps. Pour in more overpour, grab, spray, dump. Spritz what you've poured in if alcohol has evaporated when you overpour more. Pour, grab, spray, dump. Repeat. For the 32 oz delta mold, which I generally use for loaves, I pour a bit about 1/8 full, dump (after spritzing), then fill about 1/2 full, spritz, dump, spritz, dump, etc till full of chunks. This'll let you look at "design", and strategically place some if you're doing different colors, or stir them up a bit to get the look you want. Then do one more filling pour and dump. If you want the chunks all the way through, have some stick out of the "top" and trim later.

The alcohol PREVENTS the "bubble" look. It will help the overpour adhere. If you're getting any other effect from the alcohol, there's another factor involved. It's a pretty automatic, and fast thing after you do a bunch. If you start to get a skin on the overpour, spritz. If you get a skin on the over pour in the pouring pot, spritz. I do this with chunks in one hand,
alcohol spritzer in the other. Sorta plan the "design" before you go. I do a lot with marbled chunks, so don't have to worry about one color vs the other, but if I'm doing a couple different colored chunks, you may want to have one pile of "mixed" ones, but have them separate also, to fill in when the random grab doesn't appear random. You may grab a handful of mixed, but end up with most of one color...

Remember that a LOT of mp "artistry" is in color. I do opaque chunks with clear overpour, and transparent colored chunks with white overpour. Sometimes a loaf will not look "right", even though it was done correctly, it's probably in the colors, contrast, or lack thereof.

It's REALLY not as complicated as I've made it sound. Personally, though, I'd start with chunks in a smaller bar until you get the technique. That way you won't "waste" 2 lbs. You want the success with a smaller amount before going to a large loaf.

And don't throw out the "wasted messed up" loaf! Cut it up, and use some of those chunks, maybe smaller chunks, in a single bar, to get the spritzing and pouring down. Save some for shredding, and putting shreds in a loaf or bar. (ahh, THAT'S when I do freeze!, but that's another story)

Shaving Soap

Package this in a wide mouth jar and sell with a shaving brush!
2 pounds Bramble Berry Goats Milk liquid soap base
2 tbs. Calendula, ground
8 oz. melt and pour base
1 oz. of your favorite fragrance

Add melted melt and pour to the goatsmilk base; stir in fragrance oil and ground calendula. Pour into wide mouth jars; wait 24 hours to harden. Soap will get slightly hard but not hard enough to pour into individual molds.

Scented Stones

Great as room fresheners! You will need:
One ceramic or glass bowl,
1/2 cup flour (do not use self-rising flour)
1/4 cup salt,
1/2 tablespoon alum (available in drug stores),
1 tablespoon essential or fragrance oil,
2/3 cup boiling water and
food coloring (optional).

In ceramic or glass bowl, thoroughly mix dry ingredients.
Add essential oil and boiling water.
NOTE: scent will be strong, but will fade slightly when pastilles dry.
For colored dough, blend in food coloring one drop at a time until desired shade is achieved.
Blend ingredients to form a ball.
Working with a small amount at a time, roll dough between palms of hands to form small balls.
Note: cover unused dough to keep it from drying out.
Allow pastilles to dry.

Secret Garden Bath Teas

Makes one tea bag.
1 tsp lavender flowers (dried)
1 tsp rose petals (dried)
1/2 tsp lemon balm (dried)
1/4 tsp rosemary (dried)
1/8 tsp spearmint (dried) (just to give it a bit of a snap)
4 drops lavender EO
2 drops rose EO
1 drop patchouli (spelling?) EO

Mix well, put into heat sealable teabag.

Makes an invigorating bath!
One pound barley
One pound bran
One pound oatmeal
One pound brown rice
One-half pound bay leaves
One-half pound dried lavender flowers

Boil all of these ingredients in four quarts of rainwater for sixty minutes, then strain the mixture. Use 2 quarts of the liquid for each tub of bathwater. An extra rinse after this herbal bath is unnecessary and would deprive you of some of its benefits. Follow it with a vigorous
towel drying.

Natural Shampoo

Clean your hair with these natural ingredients
Churn the following ingredients in a blender:
1 oz. Olive oil
1 egg
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
* teaspoon apple cider vinegar.

Cleopatra's Milk Bath

Pamper yourself with this luxurious bath!
2 cups powdered milk (dry)
1 Tbsp. dried orange peel
2 tsp. dried lavender flowers
2 tsp. dried rosemary

Mix all the ingredients together and pour into a clear glass bottle. Use 1/2 cup of the mixture per bath - soak for 20 minutes. Tie a ribbon and a sprig of dried flowers to the jar for a ready gift!

Oatmeal Melt and Pour Soap Recipe

(1) Melt 8 oz. of white/opaque base
(2) Melt 8 oz. of clear base
(3) Optional: Grind up 1/2 oz. of Oatmeal in coffee grinder for a smoother,
lighter exfoliation. Also, the smaller the particle, the easier to suspend in the soap.
(4) Combine the two bases
(5) Add your fragrance oil - approximately 1/2 oz. (Oatmeal, Milk and Honey is a good one!) and stir in well
(6) Optional: Add colorant
(7) Add the oatmeal and stir. Wait 20 or 30 seconds - is the oatmeal sinking to the bottom of your bowl/Pyrex or is it staying suspended. If it is staying suspended, skip to step 8
(8) If the oatmeal is sinking, this simply means that your base is not thick enough to support the oatmeal. Either cover the bowl/Pyrex with saran wrap and wait for the base to cool, or stir the melted base until it is becomes thick enough to suspend the oatmeal.
(9) Pour your oatmeal soap into molds
(10) Spritz with alcohol to finish the soap and break up any bubbles on the top of the soap
(11) Wait 2 to 3 hours (or even better, overnight!) to pop the soap out of the molds. Wrap with saran wrap and you're done!.