8 minute read
Kids’ Corner
Kids’ Corner BATH BOMBS
Make a unique present for friends and family this holiday season.
By Sari Custer, Chief Curiosity Officer at Arizona Science Center
What’s more fun than bathtub bubbles? Bath bombs have been around since 1989 and have recently found a resurgence in popularity. With this activity, you can customize all your scents and colors for custom science gift-giving!
SUPPLIES
• Silicone molds (soap/candy molds, muffin tins, or plastic eggs also work well) • Whisk • Mixing spoons • Wax paper • Large bowl • Small bowl • Measuring spoons • Measuring cups • Gloves • Eye protection • ¾ cup baking soda • ½ cup cornstarch • ½ cup powdered citric acid (buy online, at a local craft store, or local grocer with canning supplies)
EST. 2009
• ½ cup Epsom salt • ½ tablespoon water • 2½ tablespoon oil (coconut, olive, or other vegetable oil) • Optional: portable fan • Optional: 4 to 6 drops of food coloring (powdered food coloring works well) • Optional: 2 teaspoons skinfriendly scented essential oils (lavender, eucalyptus, rose, lemongrass, coffee, cinnamon, vanilla, peppermint … whatever you like! Available online or at your local craft store).
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Put on your safety gear, including gloves and eye protection.
Powders can be irritating. 2. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients (baking soda, Epsom salt, citric acid, and cornstarch) and mix until combined and clump-free. 3. In a small bowl, combine the wet ingredients (oil, water, scented oil, and food coloring). If you use scented oil, stick to about two
teaspoons. Roughly five drops of food coloring work well, but feel free to mix up different pigments and experiment with the color. 4. Very slowly add the liquid to the dry mixture — about one teaspoon at a time. Use the whisk to mix as you go. Slow down if you start to see the mixture fizz. The final mixture shouldn’t clump together and should have the texture of damp sand. 5. Spread the mixture into the silicone molds (or plastic eggs) and press firmly until it is fully and evenly packed in each section. Depending on size, this can make about 10 bath bombs. 6. Place the packed molds in front of the blowing fan or just set them out to dry. This can take up to a day. 7. When your molds are set, flip them over and very gently press the fizzies out onto a piece of wax paper. If they start to crumble as you do this, flip them back over and let them continue
to set in the molds for a while longer. 8. Test them! Once the bath bombs are set, try one out by tossing it into a tub of water. What do you observe? 9. To gift them, gently wrap your bath bombs in decorative bags.
If the fizzy does crumble, have no fear! The mixture can be poured into a bath and produce the same great effects.
WHAT’S HAPPENING?
The key ingredients here are citric acid (a weak acid) and baking soda (or sodium bicarbonate, a weak base). When the two ingredients are dry in their powdered form, they don’t react. But when you put the bath bomb into the tub, water causes the two key ingredients to mix, resulting in an acid-base reaction. Is there any change if you put the bath bomb in cold water versus hot water? How does the size of your bath bomb affect its fizziness? How does the color of the bath bomb affect the water?
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By Shay Moser
At last, the morning temperatures are in the mid40s, and afternoons are in the 70s. But inside any of the four Valley locations of The Foundry Hot Yoga & Fitness Studios, the room is 105 degrees and 45% humidity for students coming to the 26&2 Hot Yoga class, also known as Bikram yoga, a set series of 26 postures and two breathing exercises.
“Giving yourself a burst of pressure, called hormetic stress, can help boost your body’s functioning and help you build a tolerance to bigger tensions,” says Niki Fillmore, teacher and chief operations officer of The Foundry. “Heat also allows the muscles to be warmer, which makes it easier to stretch while also increasing blood flow to areas of the body that are deficient in oxygen and nutrients.”
Every boutique fitness studio these days has an origin story, and The Foundry is no exception. Owners and siblings Nicole and Todd Deacon, born and raised in Scottsdale, started practicing yoga in 1995 at the Old Town Scottsdale location, the first hot yoga studio in Arizona. Their teacher, Cintra Brown, studied with Bikram for about a decade before moving from Los Angeles to Scottsdale. Deacon completed her Bikram Yoga Teacher Training in 2005 and continued volunteering and serving as faculty for over 15 trainings. In 2006, Nicole purchased the Paradise Valley location at Tatum and Thunderbird, known as Bikram Yoga Paradise Valley, until they rebranded as The Foundry in February 2017.
The Deacons have remained firmly rooted in the 26&2 hot yoga methodology over the 16 years of owning studios, touting how they’ve seen thousands of people transform their lives for the better. “Parents are learning to be more patient with their kids, athletes are healing injuries without surgery, individuals are freeing themselves from medications, and countless others are feeling more empowered in their jobs and relationships.”
THE RIGHT HOT YOGA CLASS FOR YOU The Foundry strives to make hot yoga and fitness accessible to as many people as possible. “While I haven’t been a new student in a while, I still remember the first time I went and took my first class,” Fillmore says. “Being nervous to try something new is common, but the reward and the possibilities on the other side of trying a class are better health, increased energy, reduced pain and inflammation, and the list goes on and on. So, it’s worth it!”
For students who want to ease into the 90-minute hot yoga class or are recovering from an injury, The Foundry offers a Basic Yoga class sequence. It’s warm instead of hot, 60 minutes instead of 90, and features gentler poses that focus on opening the hips and strengthening the core. They also offer Hot Flow Yoga, which is a Vinyasa-based practice. In this class, students learn arm balances and headstands while flowing to vibey music. This class is excellent for learning new poses while getting stronger and more flexible.
“Hot yoga at any level is physical, but it’s also energizing,” says Fillmore. “Students start standing taller out of confidence after just one class.”
But it’s not just hot yoga. The Foundry offers a variety of Hot Fitness classes that have become very popular among its members. Hot HIIT, Hot Pilates, and Hot Barre are
The Foundry is a place available throughout the day at their studios. The fitness where people come to classes have louder music, and more energy, and hand weights transform, like the metal that is melted down and resistance bands create more strength and toning. and cast to create “We offer many ways to breathe, connect, and transform,” Fillart in a metal more says. Beyond their hot yoga foundry. and fitness classes, The Foundry offers workshops, meditations, teacher training, retreats, and group challenges throughout the year. “And you’re surrounded by a positive, like-minded community the whole time.” SO, WHAT DOES THE FOUNDRY MEAN? The Foundry is named after a metal foundry, which melts metal, and casts and creates pieces of artwork. “The idea behind our name is that The Foundry is a place where people come to transform,” explains Fillmore. “Like the metal that is melted down and cast to create art in a metal foundry, people are coming into our studios, into The Foundry Hot Yoga & Fitness Studios, to melt down, recreate, reshape, and come out a new person. You are both the artist and the art. You decide who you are and what you want to be. The Foundry is where you create that change, that transformation.” With their original Paradise Valley studio at Tatum and Thunderbird open since 2006, The Foundry has established quite a following. Now they have five studios in Arizona, including a brand-new studio in the heart of Arcadia at Indian School and 48th Street. They also have studios in TempeMesa, Avondale, and downtown Flagstaff. This year, they started franchising, and the first franchise opened in February in Thousand Oaks, California. Fillmore says The Foundry hopes to open more franchises with “intentional growth.” Find locations, class schedules, and more online. New students get five classes for $50. And be ready to sweat like it’s summer in Arizona. For more information, visit thefoundryyoga.com.
This content is sponsored by The Foundry.
ONE WEEK FREE
Bring this coupon into The Foundry Paradise Valley to redeem offer. Expires 1/15/23.
5 CLASSES
$50for
Bring this coupon into The Foundry Paradise Valley to redeem offer. Expires 1/15/23.
13637 N. Tatum Blvd. Suite 12 Phoenix, 85032
(SE Corner of Tatum & Thunderbird, next to Kid to Kid) 602-971-6999 www.thefoundryyoga.com
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