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Jul 12, 2023

Local artists aiming to build the next world's largest bath bomb

by: Isabel Schonemann Posted: Aug 11, 2023 / 03:58 PM EDT Updated: Aug 11, 2023 / 07:45 PM EDT Burlington, VT– A group of local artists are trying to construct the next world’s biggest bath bomb, but

by: Isabel Schonemann

Posted: Aug 11, 2023 / 03:58 PM EDT

Updated: Aug 11, 2023 / 07:45 PM EDT

Burlington, VT– A group of local artists are trying to construct the next world’s biggest bath bomb, but they’re doing so to bring awareness to Vermont’s recent flooding. Once completed, the ‘Mother of All Bath Bombs’ will highlight purity in polluted waters.

“It was a direct response to the flood, but it grew bigger. It’s not just the floods, it’s climate change,” says Jake Blend, the creative director of the Mother of All Bath Bombs Project.

Blend and his team of artists have big goals. They’re making the next world’s largest bath bomb to bring awareness to the filthy floodwaters left behind in July.

The meaning behind the idea hits home for Jake Blend.

“Part of the symbolism was me feeling the effects of the flood and having gone through the process of having just one event rip away my entire life; I know what it feels like to lose everything. I felt what was going to be the stages of grief that we’re all going through, but this is my love letter to Vermont,” explains Blend.

Blend says the idea sprouted from a simple brainstorm, becoming much more later in the creation process. Currently, he makes four-inch ‘luxury dice’ out of custom molds, but said he wanted to make a product that was more affordable.

“I love bath bombs so much, I thought, what if I came up with a new product,” says Blend.

He wanted to use the same molds to make bath bombs.

“So, my molds didn’t work, and I was left over with about 10 pounds of bath bomb mix, and I was like, ‘I want to treat myself, make the biggest one I can,'” he says.

In the Guiness Book of World Records, the current biggest bath bomb is 200 pounds, broken in Indiana in 2018.

Blend says lots of research goes into breaking a world record, and surprisingly, a lot of math. He had to calculate the diameter, circumference, and density needed to break the current record. He’s aiming for a 300-pound bath bomb.

Blend is constructing the Mother of All Bath Bombs to be safe for the environment.

“With enough funding, we’ll have bioengineered bacteria that will help clean up the site and reduce, and pretty much digest microplastics. The bath bomb will be pH neutral, it only produces CO2 gas, and it’s all natural, up until the dyes,” says Blend.

Blend is hoping to launch the bath bomb during Burlington’s Art Hop in the Barge Canal, a polluted site.

Artist Max Kravitz says the team is bringing ideas of purity and self-care into a field of toxic waste.

“The idea of a bomb is usually something very masculine, something very aggressive, but we’re doing a bath bomb,” says Kravitz.

Will C is part of the team of five, helping to make sure the dyes are all natural.

“Discussing water and the environment can be a really heavy thing, and I view art and making things beautiful and creative as a way to add levity to very serious and real situations,” he says.

The team aims to unite Vermont in a creative way.

“I shared my dreams with my friends, the most genuine, authentic people I’ve ever met, it became an environmental activist statement. It became more than a simple dream; it became a reality because I shared it with other people. In tragedy, sometimes the best medicine is laughter,” says Blend.

Jake Blend also currently holds the world record for largest spirograph.

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