Aromatherapy Shower Disks Tutorial

I have been looking at how to make bath bombs for a while now, but we don't really have a functional bathtub to use, so I sort of just put that idea aside all together. Then one day, while I was looking for DYIs on Pinterest, I saw many ideas for shower tarts. All of the posts had the same basic recipe, so again nothing new or proprietary. These shower disks are great to pop on the bottom of the shower when you have a cold or the flu. The tart melts slowly, while you shower, and the steam mixes with the essences to help you open up your nose and soothe your lungs. Here is what I used:

Ingrediens for 12 tarts:

- 2 cups of baking soda
- 2 TBSP corn starch
- 1/2 cup Water (please keep in mind that I am at high altitude, so I need more water for most baking, if you are at sea level I advise stating with less water and add it in small increments)
- Eucalyptus essential Oil

This is a super easy project that anyone can do, you don't need to be a baker or a good cook for this project. I just measured the ingredients and started by placing the dry ones in a bowl. I mixed them well to incorporate the baking soda to the corn starch.

I then added the water slowly and incorporated with a fork mixing well.

I had to make sure all the clumps were gone. Mixing took A LOT of elbow grease, as the mix is pretty dense. I took a break when my arms got tired and got back to it after a few minutes of rest. 

When the mix was at the right consistency (no lumps, thick and dense) I spooned it into molds. The best way to do this is using silicon molds. They are easy to work with and to peel off of the tart after baking. But paper liners, in a tin muffin pan, will also work. Beware though, you will loose a lot of your tart...as it sticks to the paper liners, but it will do in a pinch. To make sure I got all the air bubbles out of the mix, I gently dropped the molds on the counter...

...the air bubbles came to the surface and I just gently popped them with my fingertips.

I then placed all molds on a cookie sheet and placed it in the oven at 350 degrees. 

I baked them for 25 minutes and removed them from the oven.

At this point they were not completely bone dry, so I let them cool down fully to help with hardening. I then peeled the molds off and left them air dry on the counter (covered with paper towels) for 48 hours.

The final step was to add 10 drops of Eucalyptus oil to each tart (other oils that will work are mint, tea tree, pine, or a combination of mint and lemon, or lavender eucalyptus, etc).

Finally, I placed the tarts in a glass jar for storage. Since I wanted to gift some of the shower disks, (along with my coffee scrub) I got two interesting jars at ARC thrift store and ordered cork tops. This is not the cheapest option, the best thing would be finding a container that has its own air tight lid, but I could not find anything that I liked. I wanted the set to look really cute and perfect for my sweet friend S. so I ordered the corks from widgetco.com They have pretty much any cork size. Make sure you read carefully, on how to measure your container to choose the right size cork, before ordering.

And this is the final product. I think they turned out nice. The labels and silver marker were purchased at Hobby Lobby. I wrapped some twine and added a 'made with love' charm, just for fun.

^__^