[Liz]

My son and I made bubble bath to give to all of his friends for Christmas. I followed a recipe I got on-line which was virtually identical to most recipes I found. I bought the ingredients at a local all natural soap making supply store. We mixed:

4 oz. grated olive oil soap
4 cups distilled water
2 oz. liquid glycerin
3 drops lavender essential oil

The recipe called for "castille soap" but when I looked around on-line it seemed that castille soap was olive oil soap and the person at the soap supply agreed.

Okay so we mixed it all up and poured it into all the beautiful soap pumps I collected for this project. DS eagerly agreed that he should try it out. I put about 3 tablespoons of it in the bath tub and ... NO BUBBLES! I dumped more, still no bubbles. I thought maybe it hasn't quite all dissolved. My husband tried it in his shower the next day and no lather. Now a few days later the stuff has solidified! It's like very thick jello and it's in these soap pump bottles and I can't get it out!

When I showed the person at the soap supply my recipe, she said it wouldn't bubble but I had seen this exact recipe all over the Web (including here on MDC) so I didn't believe her. She said glycerin is not a lather enhancer, as some of the recipes claimed, she said "It's just sugar."

So I'm thinking I could warm up the bottles and the stuff should go back to a liquid. Then I'll dump it all in a bowl and add something but what? Please, all you soap makers, help me out.

 

[wednesday]

Hmmm...I don't have any advice, just wondering if maybe this recipe is meant for BLOWING bubbles as opposed to bubble bath. Still doesn't explain why it went SOLID, sheesh! Good luck!

 

[blazfglori]

I'm not a soaper either, but maybe the recipes with glycerin in them are for bars of soap and not bubbles?

 

[TOmomma]

As a scientist I can tell you that fat plus a strong base (eg sodium hydroxide (lye)) makes soap. I'm not seeing the base component in your recipe, so I'm not surprised it didn't bubble.

How to recuscitate it.....

let me think....

edited to add: try this link: http://waltonfeed.com/old/soaphome.html

 

[Liz]

TOMomma: The olive oil soap IS soap, you just grate it up and dissolve it in water to make it a liquid soup. I wasn't just fat.

blazfglori and wakeUpMamma: I got the recipe from Pioneer Thinking and it clearly says "Bubble Bath" so I know that's not the problem.

I'm wondering if the olive oil soap already had glycerin in it so now I have too much glycerin?

 

[Knittin' in the Shade]

glycerin is just a by-product of the saponification process (how soap is made) so generally, you can't really have too much, it won't really affect anything. However, it's always been my expereince with catille soaps I've made that while they do an awesome job of getting you clean, they do NOT bubble a whole lot. very little, in fact.

Basically, what you just did was make french-milled soap (where you grate/chop soap, add water and then let it set to make a harder, longer lasting soap) Most recipes I've seen call for the addition of a touch of dish soap and more water than your recipe called for. Maybe try adding those to see if that helps?

 

[TOmomma]

: Sorry! You think I could learn to read.

 

[Liz]

Thanks everybody. I'm just going to have to find the time to go back to the soap supply store and beg for forgiveness and help. It's so weird that there are so many versions of this recipe (an all natural recipe with no dish detergent or shampoo in it) on-line, including here at MDC, and I'm the first to actually try it out. Or maybe the "bubble" part is a misnomer, they just meant soapie bath. Of course, I'm up against the Christmas crunch on this. I'd planned to give this to all my son's friends so if it isn't going to work I have some major shopping to do and I REALLY don't want to do that!

Thanks again!

 

[Kari_mom]

Here is another idea for you if the bubble bath doesn't work out. One year a mom at preschool made playdough with her son, only she added cinnamon and ginger to the dough. Cut and shaped with a gingerbread man cookie cutter and packaged in a bag, it was a very cute gift my son enjoyed playing with for weeks.

 

[Scout]

Hi Liz,

I'm sorry your bubble bath didn't turn out! I know how unnerving it can be to have a craft or some homemade thing bomb -- especially this close to the holidays!

This may be too little too late, but here is a link to a bubble bath recipe on soapcrafters.com: http://www.soapcrafters.com/recipes_bubble.htm

I was going to make this for nieces and nephews this year but determined it was not cost-effective. The ingredient that intrigued me with this recipe was the Super Concentrate -- I think that's what makes it bubbly. You could also try e-mailing the people there. They may be able to help you repair your existing recipe.

Good luck!!

~Scout