On a gloomy, rainy day there is only one thing better than a warm bath: a warm bath with a new hand-crafted bath bomb.
When it came to bath bomb ingredients, workshop facilitator Donna Raftis had it all. The room was filled with scents of lavender, lemon, bubblegum, you name it.
The bath bomb workshop took place at noon on Nov. 30 in the corner lounge of the B-building. A smiling Raftis greeted each student and provided a rundown of the supplies waiting for them at each table before they started making their bath bombs from scratch.
A bath bomb is a densely packed ball of ingredients that burst with colour and scent when dropped into bath water.
Raftis had energy for making bath bombs that spiked the already noticeably high enthusiasm in the room. Even for non-bath bomb enthusiasts, this was a workshop they wanted to take part in simply for the joyful environment.
Raftis explained that bath bombs became her specialty because her daughter was a fan of Lush Cosmetics and, as most Lush enthusiasts do, she spent lots of money there.
Eventually, Raftis and her daughter were offered a bath bomb business by Raftis’ cousin. It was an offer Raftis could not refuse.
Since then, Raftis has shared her knowledge and expertise with others where she can.
Loaded with questions from participants on how to get started, Raftis distributed instruction sheets to each table on how to get started. While participants began, Raftis roamed through the room offering help and useful suggestions to those who needed it.
Emma Kwan, an interior decorating student, was one of the first people in the room.
“I am here to have fun and to take a nice bath with a lavender-scented bath bomb,” Kwan said.
Kwan took to a table with her friends to get started on their bombs while eagerly waiting for the lavender oil to get passed to their table.
Step-by-step, students used food colouring, essential oils, rose petals, scented soups and baking soda and mixed the ingredients together in a bowl until it resembled the texture of sand before putting the concoction into a mould that makes the bath bomb.
The bath bombs, while all varying in colours, are round in shape and the size of a baseball.
Amanda Logan, events programmer for the Students’ Association at Algonquin College, knew Raftis prior to the event and felt with the colder weather and Christmas just around the corner that the workshop would be an enjoyable activity for students.
“A lot of students use bath bombs, and they are a good gift which is specifically why we programmed it around the holiday season,” Logan said.
Excited about each step in the bath bomb-making practice, Cuban Nguyen, a business finance student, took every step of the workshop with grace.
Constantly checking up on those around him to ensure their bath bombs were on the right path, Nguyen said, “I came to spend quality time with my lovely friends.”
Kwan ended the workshop with a beautifully made lavender bath bomb and Nguyen with a bath bomb of his own.
The event was scheduled to run for an hour but continued for closer to an hour and a half. Participants could not have been happier.
As students left the workshop with one or two bath bombs each, what was an undeniably cold and gloomy day on the outside radiated with warmth and happiness from the inside of B-building.