our bubble recipe

I loved big bubble day!  I have my bubble makers and recipe all ready to share at my upcoming reunions this summer, though I fear they won’t work as well in dry Utah and Idaho as they did in our nice humid Pennsylvania (bubbles pop when they dry out, so shade + humidity = good bubbly conditions).  Maybe at dawn?  Maybe sunset for night-owl me!  We had four different recipes of bubbles between us, and several making-tools, and following is the favorite, though I should note that it is for big bubbles.  Little tools work, too, but this recipe only yielded one or two bubbles, not the series little bubble wand kits push out.

Audrey bubbling in my mom's pretty yard in Idaho, just-post-sunset

**desert roadtrip update:  while the humid Pennsylvania weather was bubble lovely (they definitely last longer), we've had happy bubble days in Utah, Idaho, and Colorado, all in drought and windy conditions, though I do recommend shade and especially dusk.  The wind definitely took away control, but was sometimes nice for young bubble experimenters; bubbles just happened!**

I found my original  on the Design Dazzle blog, here: http://designdazzle.blogspot.com/2011/07/link-up-party-and-super-giant-bubbles.html

I am not convinced that the cornstarch is a necessary ingredient since I haven’t seen it in any other recipes (and I read tons of them), and it doesn’t fully dissolve anyway.  I’m trying without next time.  My slightly-modified version is:

Stir vigorously to combine:

12 cups water

½ c. cornstarch 

2 T. baking powder (not soda)

3 oz personal lubricant, dissolved in ½ c. warm water first (I just used the WalMart store brand, though I’ve read that Astroglide is better, and a powdered obstetrical veterinary lube, J-Lube, is the bubble gold standard.)

Stir in gently, trying not to make lots of foam:

1 cup dish soap (I used ½ regular blue dawn & ½ ultra Joy, since that’s what I had when I got to this batch.  Most recipes are formulated for “regular” rather than “ultra” soap.  When I've used "ultra" soap, I've cut the volume back to 3/4 c.)

Let the solution sit overnight if you can.  It is universally accepted that it kind of gels up and is nicer.  If you can’t, at least an hour is nice.  Some bubble makers think that "cooking" Dawn makes it work better, and maybe the overnight soak lets the same chemical (alcohol?) additive evaporate that the "cooking" does (put the measuring cup of detergent in a pan of boiling water & remove from heat).  

I used a “Bubble Thing” sort of bubble tool.  I tried the sliding straw style, too, but it was harder to use.  The above link has one set of directions, but I think I made mine from another.  It’s a common one.  Use two 3’ dowels, thick cotton yarn (shoelaces, cotton piping, and an unraveled mop head are all recommended.  I braided some thinner cotton yarn, because that’s what I had!), and a washer.  Fasten each end of both a 3’ and a 2’ piece of yarn to the same points on the ends of the 2 dowels, tying to an eye-screw, or just taping or rubber-banding it on.  Have a washer looped through the 3’ piece to weigh it down, so when you stretch the dowels apart, the yarn lengths make a triangle:  one side is the 2’ length of yarn and two sides are the weighed-in-the-middle 3’ length. 

To blow giant bubbles: submerge the tips of the dowels and all of the yarn in the bubble solution.  Slowly pull it up out of the solution and open the bubble thing as far and you can.  Gently wave it in the air or walk backwards (note direction of any breeze) to form a large bubble.  Use smooth slow motions to close off the bubble by touching the wand tips back together.  It’s cool even when the bubble pops before it fully closes off.  Super cool when it does and floats up in an alien undulation!  Bubble play hint:  wet hands or other tools can catch bubbles without popping them. Jacob caught a few of the larger ones with a wet funnel and it was a pretty good show!

Ta da!

It’s crazy awesome.  Wholly “sense of wonder”–worthy!

**2013 update:

A new recipe for a new year! Session one of Springfield Camp 2013 will enjoy big bubbles again next Wednesday.  My first batch made me laugh out loud with bubbly joy a few weeks ago when I tried it at 11 on my front lawn by myself after finally getting a bottle of J-lube from a neighbor who is a vet.

From big bubble expert Edward Spiegel, pulled off a yahoo soap bubble fanciers discussion board:

Measure & mix together the powders: 6 g baking soda, 3 g citric acid, 1.6 g J-lube

Stir briskly into 1/2 c water. The mixture will foam up a bit, so allow room in the container. After it settles, pour into 
15 1/2 c. water and stir well but gently. Pour in 1 c. detergent and stir well but gently again!

I used Dawn Ultra and was happy, but Dawn Pot and Pan Manual (aka Professional) is the current US bubble world favorite. I'll report when I visit a supply store & find it.

I mixed it with about 1/4 the water as a concentrate, to have on hand and dilute later in batches.

--Valerie

**2014:
Found Surgilube at our local bump-and-dent 2/$1, so tried this recipe for my daughter's birthday party in May. It was great...but I think the weather conditions (humid, still, cloudy or sunset/rise) have made more difference than the ingredients. Also, the new bubbler's favorite dishsoap (manufacturers are always switching up formulas) is Dawn Hypoallergenic, easier to find than Dawn Pot & Pan.

92 g dishsoap
mix in: 1/2 t. J-lube
add: 40 g Surgilube
pour in: 1793 g room temperature tap water
mix & add: 1 t. baking powder & 100 g water

mix well, rest overnight

in DETAIL from the original bubbler:

http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/giant%20bubbles.htm#summary

Here's the best bubble solution I found for making giant soap bubbles. Please note that the mixing method is almost as important as the ingredients.

1. Using a scale, measure out 92 grams of Dawn Pure Essentials Hypoallergenic dish soap in a mixing container. Add the 1/2 compressed teaspoon of J-lube and stir in by hand using a beater from an electric mixer. J-lube mixes very quickly in pure dish soap. It doesn't clump as it will if added to water. (I found Dawn Hypoallergenic dish soap works better than Dawn Pot and Pan. It's inexpensive and available at Walmart.)

2. Add 40 grams of Surgilube and stir it in using the same beater.

3. Pour in 1793 grams of room temperature tap water.

4. In a small cup, measure out 100 grams of tap water and mix 1 compressed teaspoon of baking powder into it. Add this to the main solution.

5. Place the beater used for hand mixing in the electric mixer and mix the solution on medium high (5 on the 7 increment scale on my 220 watt mixer) for 90 seconds. I use the same beater for hand mixing and electric mixing because I want to avoid loosing even the smallest amount of the concentrated J-lube/soap solution. For the same reason I only use one container to mix in. Employing several invariably results in some of the J-lubed solution being left behind. Because it's so powerful, even small loses can affect results. The one exception is the water-baking powder solution. It's so thin all of it comes out of its container without loss. When using the electric mixer, be sure all of the beater's heads are below the solution's surface or it'll whip up a lot of foam.

6. Cover and let rest overnight before use.

 
Here's the best wick I found:

Before assembling the tri-string wick, wash the mop head before taking it apart in hot water but no laundry detergent. Laundry detergent has anti-foaming agents that might linger in the mop yarn and hinder bubble formation.

Two lightly twisted strands of Rubbermaid #24 Finish Mop yarn for the bottom string.

Four of the fuzzy green strands from a Rubbermaid Web Foot Microfiber mop head very loosely braided together.

While I've made tri-string wands up to 12 feet on a side, the best performance seems to come one that's 6 feet on a side. It's easier to use and produces longer bubbles, though admittedly not as big in diameter.