Rubbing alcohol and bath bombs

[Rachaellcarter]

So i have got some new dyes and some rubbing alcohol. I bloom the dyes and let them dry right out. I mix all the ingrdiants and all is good untill i spray with the alcohol. I spray and mix until the mix holds as i would with water. I make 1 bomb all fine then it goes down hill from there. The mixture seems to get weter and weter as time goes on. I just dont understand it?


I can recue it to a degree by adding a small amount of cornflour but these bombs end up kinda britle, dry realy fast and not great.

 

[BattleGnome]

What percentage is your alcohol? Is it at least 90%?
What kind of dyes did you get? I think you can add lakes directly to your dry ingredients.

At first thought I would say that your mix is too wet. The mix should be sandy and hold together on its own. If you’re up for trial and error right now, use less alcohol that you think you need. Start with half your usual and keep notes as you creep up to your usual amounts

 

[Rachaellcarter]

Thanks for the reply. Its 99.9% alcohol and they are straight dyes so need blooming in bicarb first if you want to see the colour before they hit the water.

Do you mean i should mix longer with a smaller amount? Does it noemaly take a while (longer than water) to get fully mixed? I will try that next. I cant see what else it could be as i assume alcohol doesnt draw moisture from the air?...... it sounds like a joke i know "what gets wetter as it drys" lol

 

[BattleGnome]

I don’t use dyes, so I’m not sure if they would effect things, from your description it doesn’t sound like it.

Alcohol doesn’t draw moisture from the air that I know of, but if it is extra humid by you then that will change the consistency. The use less thought that I mentioned is more along the lines of “if you use 4 sprays try 2 sprays” (or ounces or whatever your measurements are). I don’t know if the amount of time everything is mixed changes the amount of liquid you need but it certainly would hurt when making sure everything is dispersed. If changing liquid amounts doesn’t help you may need to take a look at your mixing method (by hand vs a whisk or electric mixer). Another choice would be switching to using a hard oil (coconut, she’s, coco butter) instead of alcohol

 

[shunt2011]

I'm assuming you are using powdered bath bomb colorant. I don't bloom mine I just mix it into the dry mix well. Post your recipe and we can take a look to see if anything is jumping out. I use cocoa butter or shea in my BB's. I do spray a bit of alcohol. Are you adding any additives that draw moisture?

 

[Sandra@SS]

I use sweet almond oil, and add the citric acid as the very last step before moulding. I often dont need an alcohol spritz at all. (generally low humidity here).
if you do start the acid/base reaction (accidentally) the reaction produces water, so it starts a little damp, and then gets really wet.