2013 11 03 Flax Mix First Trial
Super simple bubble juice with easily found ingredients!
When I first discovered bubblemaking a few years ago, one of the first recipes that I found was the one at BubbleTown. It uses just flax seed, water and detergent. For whatever reason, I never got around to trying it. This past summer on there was a lot of discussion of tricks to use in low humidity. Flax seed water (more about that below) was mentioned as an ingredient that extended bubble life significantly.
This weekend, I made up a quick batch of very simple "flax juice" just to see if it was promising enough to pursue. It definitely is. I have no idea how it will end up comparing to other recipes, but it definitely works: for both small wand work and large bubbles.
Conditions wer…
2013 10 24 Giants and Super Giants with Uncle Bubble
I finally had a chance to attempt giant and super-giant bubbles under excellent conditions with Uncle Bubble Ultra Concentrate, and I am very impressed. It is the best commercial solution that I have used for giant bubbles. As you can see from the pictures and video, this juice is capable of creating world-class giants that have a lovely ghostless pop when conditions allow. My impression so far is that (like almost all bubble juice), it performs best when there is decent humidity and reasonable temperatures. Under poor conditions, it will perform better than other commercial mixes.
Though I have had some Uncle Bubble Ultra Concentrate since early summer, I was only able to use it under reasonable conditions very recently. I had one or two b…
Secondary recepie
Last blogposts bubbles was made from this:
1.2 liter lukewarm water
1/2 tablespoon (7.5ml) Carbonated water (I have a sodastreamer) Add this to the water.
15 grams Natrosol
20 grams Baking soda
Mix baking soda and natrosol in a jar then stir it into the water. Stir it now and then, I usually let it rest after I have mixed it well for a few minutes. I just touch it a little and when I feel it has started to set on the bottom I mix it well again and then stir now and then for an hour.
6 liters 5.5 dl of water
1/2 dl of carbonated water added to the 6 liters and 5.5 dl of water.
Add the natrosol mix and let it rest for a while.
I did this a total of three times, its around 27 liters of mix but my container is filled so removed 1.5 liters and added 500…
Bubbles
Today I went out with a tweaked mix. It have, if I think right now, 55:1 (water:detergent).
I still have to try some small things and then update my recepie here on the site.
Heres some bubbles from it.
On the Treatment of Diamond Braid Cord for Use in Bubbling
- 1 Bubbling with Diamond Braid Cord
- 1.1 About the Cord
- 1.2 Hypotheses
- 2 Side-by-side Garland Loop Testing
- 2.1 Materials
- 2.2 Cord Preparation
- 2.3 Limpness Observations
- 2.4 Garland Construction and Initial Testing
- 2.5 Results
- 3 Quantitative Analyses of Treatments
- 3.1 Treatment Phases
- 3.1.1 Coring
- 3.1.2 Washing
- 3.1.3 Boiling
- 3.1.4 Sodium Carbonate Treating
- 3.1.5 Bleaching
- 3.1.6 Abrading
- 3.2 Liquid Release Tests
- 3.2.1 Methodology
- 3.2.2 Treatment Effects on Cord Length
- 3.2.3 Treatment Effects on Cord Weight
- 3.2.4 Drip Release Tests - 2 Second Baseline
- 3.2.5 Drip Release Tests - Solution Release Over Time
- 3.2.6 Observations
- 3.2.7 More Questions
- 3.1 Treatment Phases
Diamond braid cotton cord, sold as utility rope or sash/clothes line, can make great bubbling material. But it takes some work to make it work well. Cori…
2013 09 Guar and Gelatin Mixes
- 1 Gelatin as an additive
- 1.1 Update Oct, 3, 2013
Based on a suggestion from Cobutterfly in this thread, I have had a couple of sessions using a mix that includes gelatin as well as guar gum as Cobutterfly has had success with gelatin extending the life of her bubbles. I am not having such good luck. Indoors with the Longevity Test setup, the bubbles have a similar average life expectancy as guar gum juice at the same dilution. Occasionally, a guar/gelatin bubble lasts noticeably longer but there are also some premature poppers.
I am experiencing a similar result outdoors with a tri-string -- although the difference is more pronounced. With the guar/gelatin mix, there have been a considerable number of times where I couldn't get the wand (70" top…
2013 09 24 Refining the Lightbox for Color Studies
Over the last few weeks, I have become very interested in more carefully studying and documenting how dilution, polymers and pH affect aspects of the soap film such as color profile, "toughness", longevity, etc. It has become clear that I need an easy-to-setup lightbox setup to study soap films using the Longevity Test setup. I have tried quite a few setups over the last few weeks with varying degrees of sucess.
I am using inexpensive lighting and camera equipment and hoping to come up with something that other people can use, too. So, that anyone that wants to study their soap films can be spared the wasted hours that I have had.
I have wanted to make sure that the colors are saturated and that there are not too many confusing reflections a…
2013 09 20 Exploring Dawn Pro color profiles using the longevity test
Recently, it has become clear that it would be helpful for bubble juice mixologists to have some "baselines" that they can use for determining their detergent strengths and the related soap film thickness (via the color profile). It also seems clear that some solid baselines can be used to help us understand the way that our various amendments influence the soap film.
Analyzing, video of bubbles made outside is tricky because it is often hard to get the right lighting conditions to make a proper evaluation and one is subect to variables that can influence one's conclusions.
So, I have been trying to find a setup that would enable me to get consistent results across multiple sessions that will also be easy for others to replicate. So, that we…
Central Spreadsheet for Bubble Attempts
Hello all, I'm a relative new bubble enthusiast who is still working on perfecting his mixes. One of the things I have started doing recently is journalizing my attempts at bettering my bubbles. It would be great to have a community spreadsheet to which everyone can contribute data in a more easily analyzed format. For example Guar Gum Bubble Juice:
This would allow people to compile the information instead of trying to individually solve people’s questions in comments. I’m not sure if that is possible on a Wiki page. Your thought and ideas are highly appreciated.
Rubbermaid products in Europe
One of the best materials for the wicks is made from the RubberMaid MicroFiber Webfoot mop head. These are made in US and are nearly impossible to find in Europe.
After using nearly 2 weeks on finding a source for these here in Europe, I stumbled on the following address:
NewellRubbermaid
Halifax Avenue
Fradley Park
Lichfield, WS13 8SS
United Kingdom
http://www.newellrubbermaid.com/
One could call +44 01543 447 000 and ask for the "Rubbermaid Commercial" department.
I've got ahold of a guy from Sweden, Joacim T. He's the representative of Rubbermaid products for the Nordics (and I'm from Denmark which is the part of the Nordic countries). You might want to talk to someone who's a representative for your region in Europe.
2013 09 18 pH, Dawn and new video setup
Finally, an indoor video setup that can be used to capture some of the nuances of color profiles that occur at different dilutions -- an important exercise for refining bubble juice. And, I was able to see that adjusting the pH of Dawn Pro has a significant impact on the soap film.
It has been driving me nuts that to do dilution testing and compare film thicknesses I have had to go outdoors with tristrings. My attempts to capture the nuances of color profiles has always failed indoors. I have tried numerous setups. In the past month, I have spent a few minutes a day trying different setups and finally found one that seems to be pretty useful. It involves going into the laundry and putting a floodlight on the ground pointed away from the wa…
2013 08 28 pH and Mixing Order
This entry was written at the end of August, and I apparently forgot to post it. It refers to tests performed 2013/08/28/
It looks like mixing order makes a difference with some ingredients.
During the period since it became generally accepted that baking soda/citric acid and/or baking powder are beneficial to bubble juice that makes use of Procter&Gamble detergents, there has been a lot of discussion as to whether mixing order makes a difference. For the most part, people have indicated that they had the best results when baking soda was added early and the citric acid added while all water was present. With baking powder, it has seemed that it was most effective when added when all the water was present.
While debugging eGoo, I mixed up 'fr…
Recepie experiment
I have been annoyed with my recepie, I do use a scale and still result varies.
Today when walking home something hit me about the mix of baking soda and citric acid, how it can become carbonic acid. My thought is that sometimes the reaction can start even if recepie is followed, therefor make the mix more acid than itended, and even make it become increasing acid over time.
Thoughts:
What use is the baking soda and citric acid. Do each of them add something to the mix or is it the combination or maybe both as mix and as separated ingridients. So today I decided to test one theory that it actually is the reaction making carbonic acid that reacts with the mix.
Reaction and result seem to prove that my theory at least partly is correct. The mix …
2013 09 17 Guar Gelatin Mix
Wiki member Susan(also known as Columbine the Butterfly) has suggested that Knox gelatin can be used to improve longevity in dry conditions -- even when it is hot and humidity drops below 30%. Like me, Susan reports that she has not found glycerine (which I have tried in ridiculously large amounts) to be useful for extending bubble lifetimes (at least of medium and large bubbles) in these conditions.
I mixed up some juice according to her recommendations though I have not had a chance to really test it. I will update this post when I get a chance to do a real test.
She recommends 4 packets of Knox gelatin per gallon of bubble juice. She instructs that the gelatin be dissolved in just boiled water and allowed to cool to 80F before incorporat…
Some Videos
So yesterday I finally got out for some meditation and bubbletime. Weather was cloudy, cold and rain in the air, and after a bit of bubbling it actually started to rain and all bubbles are made in rain, all from some heavy rain to just a drizzle. Bubbles only seem to pop more often when splitting up but other than that poping effect from rain wasnt that bad.
Here is some Videos from yesterday, its hard to see how big the bubbles actually are.
With time I will hopefully learn to get some better videos, its really hard to really show the incredible beauty in a bubble.
T-Shirt Yarn Notes
This blog post will be occasionally updated as I explore T-Shirt Yarn as a bubble wick. It may tell you something that I have quite a bit of t-shirt yarn but rarely use it -- except at the bottom string of a 100"+ top-string tri-string. But, that does not mean that T-Shirt Yarn is not worth exploring. It is just that I have available some great materials that work so well that I have note explored the t-shirt yarn fully. RubberMaid Webfoot MicroFiber Mop yarn and RubberMaid Rayon Finish Mop yarn for top strings, Bed, Bath and Beyond Cooking Twine (soda-washed) and some bamboo yarn.
Several people that I know love t-shirt yarn. If you cannot get your hands on the materials mentioned above, t-shirt yarn is definitely worth exploring.
A few pe…
2013 09 12 Dawn Sunsational Scents Explorations
Entry to be updated. Session goal was to compare Dawn Pro/Sun (Sunsational Scents Lemon) hybrid mix with a Dawn Pro-only mix. Both mixes used 1 tsp guar gum (slurried with isopropyl), 2 tsp baking powder, 3640 grams water. The amount of detergent was different since Dawn Pro and Dawn Pro/Sun have different surfactant strengths. One of the goals was to try to find in the Dawn/Sun for Dawn substitution ratio (to achieve same surfactant concentration as measured by color profile).
The Dawn Pro solution had 150 grams detergent which yields a water:detergent ratio of about 24:1. The Dawn/Sun mix had 185 grams detergent (19.6:1 ratio).
My quick impression in the field was that the color profiles of the bubbles from the Dawn Pro-only and the Dawn P…
2013 09 10 Sunsational Scents, Method Dish Soap and Ghosts
Just a quick note. In preparation for writing an article about how to evaluate a new detergent, I spent a little time with Sun Sunsational Scents and also Method Dish Soap. Because time is short, I won't go into details (though I hope to post some in another article).
Along the way, I seem to have found a lead on a nealry ghost-free bubble juice made with detergents that I can get locally: Dawn Pro with a little bit of Sun as a ghost buster.
Sun on its own (at least the version that I used) does not work very well. At 5:1 (water:detergent) it is something like Dawn Pro at 18:1. Even with the potency difference considered, it does not work well on its own. The bubbles are short-lived and the film touchy. Baking powder was essential to get it …
A few notes about guar gum powder
Last Spring (or late Winter, maybe?) when I requested a sample of sodium alginate from Tic Gums, I perused the website and saw that they also offered several different types of industrial grade guar gum powder. After speaking with their live chat customer service person, I chose two that she felt might work well for bubble juice and requested samples of those as well.
I was working on the waterless guar concentrate at the time, pretty much to the point of obsession. It was early on in the trials, before I'd stopped adding baking powder to the recipe so, I mixed up two test batches (one of each sample I'd ordered) labeled the bottles with their contents, wrote the date on them and then promptly set them on a shelf in the "bubble cabinet" i…
My Natrosol Recepie
After the last session I decided to share the recepie Im using right now. As usual tweaking it probably is needed but its working well and it makes me proud to be its daddy.
What Im working on at the moment is lovering the sugar, I have a little of it in the mix.
1 mix = 1400 grams of finished bubble juice. I usually makes around 6 bottles each time.
- 200 ml luke warm water in a bowl (smaller bowl actually makes a difference on the mix)
- 5 grams (1 tsp) Baking Soda
- Put the Baking Soda in the water and mix.
- 1.67 grams of Natrosol (0.75 tsp) a bit more or a little less wont kill the mix
- Gentle dash the natrosol into the water while you rigorously stir the water. Stir it well so it bubbles up and you get a good thick foam on the top, at least a 4-7 mi…
Second day with Edwards HEC mix
So today I was out for a few hours with three mixes that rested over night.
Temp 22, blue sky and sun. Humidity 50.
Condition windy all over the place.
Pictures: No
Record: No
Fun: Yes
The wind is all over the place, put up the cam one way and it blows the other. So I gave up and just enjoyed the show. My observation of today. Can´t say theres any real differences. Same sizes, closed bubbles, sometimes live long sometimes live shorter. Small bubbles from garland flew so far and high sometimes that it just was incredible. And still none of the mixes really stood out. Popped the same way, looked the same and so on. So conclusion of this is that I need to find a place to put up the cam with the wind in one direction.
So Im probably out again tonight…
Testing Edwards HEC recepie (and my own)
So today I went out to test out Edwards HEC recepie.
Personal thoughts about the recepie, it´s kind of fun that I didn´t know about it and some conclusions are exactly the same. What I do understand is that my Natrosol is a bit less potent but I did not add any extra, have some concentrated cellulose that I can use to add up. Solution will be a bit more diluted so I will compensate that if needed.
I also had my own recepie with me out, original and one with half the ammount of sugar.
By the tests done today my own batch with 50% sugar lost in all classes except for garlands. On the 78 inch top string Edwards lost on stability but on 38 inches it was equal to mine and was holding a bit longer. I just see today as an early test. I will let the …
Natrosol
So finally I ordered some natrosol a few weeks back, its incredible how good it is. I have gone from something easiest explained as eating at McD to having a BBQ at home with friends. Im not so sure about my recepie with this but for the moment Im using 1.1 grams of Natrosol per liter of finished bubblejuice. And I finally started to read other, or at least one other recepie and it had so much less baking soda, soon I have to start experiment with my recepie.
I have been out almost every day possible, bubbling is a great way to meditate or just beeing social and making people happy, depending on where I go. I love the way bubbles bring smiles to most people that see them, everybody have some kind of memory from bubbles and yesterday a man s…
2013 08 27 Charmy Guar Dilution Exploration 50:1
Over the weekend, I mixed up two batches of Charmy-based bubble juice. One was diluted at 33:1 (water:detergent) and the other at 50:1. Both used 1/4 heaping teaspoon guar/liter of water and 1/2 heaping teaspoon Rumford baking powder.
Time: 8 am. Temp: 65F. Humidity 70-75% RH. Sunny.
The 50:1 was able to make some 20+ foot tubes with a nominally 32-inch (actually 29 inch) top-string modular loop (rayon mop top-string, BBB twine bottom). Closing 20 foot tubes was not a problem. I could get four or more nice-sized spheres per dip. The colors of all were rich and weighted towards green/red indicating a thick soap film. With a 72-inch top-string loop, it was very hard to close bubbles as the film popped (at the front) on closing. At this dilutio…
HEC - Denmark
- 1 Introduction
- 2 HEC from UK
- 2.1 Update #1 / 4th Sept 2013
- 3 HEC from China
- 3.1 Update #1 / 26th Aug 2013
- 4 HEC from South Korea
This blog post will describe my hunting after HEC products. It looks like it's much harder to get your hands on HEC if you're from Europe. So I'll be describing my actions to get HEC here in hope that it might help someone later on :)
Since I can't get my hands on Tylose here in Denmark, I need some other HEC product (HEC stands for HydroxyEthyl Cellulose). And that would be Natrosol or something like it.
After looking for HydroxyEthyl Cellulose on eBay UK, I found the following item: Hydroxyethyl cellulose 250 Grams Water-soluble polymers thickening Agent
Seller couldn't answer me if it was Natrosol or not, he had no details o…
Soda Washing
After reading the article on Soda Washing, I've decided to give it a go to some of the piping cord that I've bought earlier .
Sodium carbonate (washing soda) can be easily made from sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) by heating in the oven, but I've decided to get some off the eBay!
Now just gotta wait approx. 1 week before it arrives.
Got it finally home - one bottle as on the picture and the "refill" plastic bag with another portion. Let's cook! ;)
Notes on Twisted Lines in Bubbling Wicks
Many of the best materials for constructing bubbling wicks are made of multiple strands of fiber that are mechanically twisted together by the manufacturer or by the bubbler who wants better control over the thickness of his cords. However, due to their twisty nature these lines can present a problem - they twist. This can interfere with the opening of a bubble and prematurely close a bubble. Although some degree of twist can potentially work to your advantage during either maneuver, I prefer to build and use tri-strings with as little twist as possible.
Here I discuss some observations I've made on twisted lines and ways I've found to deal with them in the construction of tri-string wicks.
- 1 Dipping Weights
- 2 Raw vs. Treated Cords
- 3 Twisted Line…
2013 08 23 Charmy/Guar at 33:1 - EPIC!
I made up just a liter of bubble juice to see what a Charmy /Guar Gum juice would be like with a water:detergent ratio of 33:1 since at 25:1 the Charmy mix creates a film that is like a 16:1 (or less) Dawn Pro mix.
The results were epic. It is a good thing that I made only 1 liter (+30 ml) of juice -- or I would never have gotten back indoors to work. (Sadly, I must work...boo hoo.)
Temperature was 62F and humidity 75%.
The mix was very hastily prepared with room temperature water:
- 1 liter water
- 1/4 heaping teaspoon (very heaping) Bob's Red Mill guar gum
- rubbing alcohol to slurry
- slurry the guar gum in a 16 ounce cup -- add about 250 ml (8 ounces) of the 1 liter water.
- stir and let it sit for a few minutes
- 30 grams Charmy added to the remaining wa…
HEC / Tylose - Denmark
__
- 1 Original post
- 2 Update #1
- 3 Update #2
- 4 Update #3
As I was looking into HEC bubble-jiuce, I've noticed , that HEC Tylose H 200000 YP2 (PDF) was the one with the biggest viscosity. At the same time, that HEC is produced by a Germany company in Europe and since I'm located in Europe, I had to use european substitutes instead of the ones used in US.
After a bit of investigation, I found out that the only distributor of their products in Denmark is as follows:
- Andreas Jennow A/S
- Abildgårdsparken 8B
- DK-3460 Birkerød
- DENMARK
- Phone: +45 45 99 95 20
- Fax: +45 45 99 95 30
- Email: info@jennow.dk
They've got more offices in other countries, have a look at their contact page .
Contact info:
- Klaus Mikkelsen
- Email: klaus@jennow.dk
- Phone: +45 45 99 95 38
- or
- Lene Bisgaard
- Ema…
Teaching me how to add pictures to my wiki page
Hello fellow big bubblers!
I am using cottom clothesline at approximately 3/16" thickness, with the core removed. I have not yet *soda washed* any of my bubble tri-line yet. That is next on the agenda! Today I made 2 extra gallons of bubble solution, and added it to my 1/2 gallon I had from a few days ago. I am almost
Hydrometer
In case anyone want a small and pretty cheap hydrometer (and thermometer at once), I suggest looking at these 2:
Mini 1.6" LCD Digital Thermometer Hygrometer - White + Black (1 x LR44)
Mini 2.0" LCD Car / Indoor Thermometer / Hygrometer - Black (-10'C~50'C / 20%~95% RH / 1 x LR44)
I've ordered both :)
US folks! Be aware, that only the first one displays the temperature both in C and in F!
DX.com sells all kind of made-in-china stuff, it's cheap, somewhat relaible and the shipping is free! It usually takes 2-3 weeks to get the order from mainland China to Denmark (North Europe).
PS: I am in NO WAY related to dx.com and this is NOT an advertizment, but a helping hand to those who needs a cheap hydrometer :)
I got both of them in the mail box today.…
help with recipe
Hi all....... I live on a small island in the tropical Western Pacific. Operating temps are consistently in the high 80s and the humidity is the same or more. Problem is ingredients. Most of the items are shipped from Asia, but sadly no Charmy. I can find Dawn Ultra and I can get glycerin, Mr. Bubbles, personal lube but no Guar, no J-lube locally and none of the Polymers. I need to find companies that would ship those items out here, not really an easy feat. What kind of recipe can I make minus those things to make really big bubbles. Had some great tubes and some larger diameter bubbles my first weekend out. Right now I have a tri-string with 40" drops and top string made from a cotton drape cord. Do you think a thinner diameter …
Fairy detergent info
Fairy is a brand of Procter&Gamble.
Original colour of Fairy is green. Lately, a new detergent, Yes Platinum (blue), hit the market here in Denmark.
At the same time, it seems that P&G have a bit of a mix in their marketing material as at the current moment as the Yes detergent is green (and it should be blue). See the picture below:
I will have to call P&G and investigate what is what because I can't get my hands on Fairy Ultra which have been recommended here on the wiki and I can't live with the next best.
Proctor&Gamble Nordics:
- nordicsconsumers@custhelp.com
- Customer phone number regarding detergents: 70123839
Official contact info in Denmark:
- P&G Danmark
- Procter & Gamble Danmark ApS
- Kirkebjerg Parkvej 9,
- 2605 Brøndby
- +45 33269100
P&G's representat…
Guar mix with Fairy
Today I finally got some time to play with the bubbles! As of now I've been testing only guar-based bubble-juice.
Here's the recipe I'm using:
- 6.5 g. of guar gum
- 7 g. of baking powder
- Slurry these 2 with 90% isopropyl alcohol (about 2 oz) (add just enough to cover the dry ingredients)
- Add 8 fluid ounces of Fairy Original detergent to the mix
- Stir gently with a spoon until it's blended
- Take 1 gallon (128 fl.oz) of hot (nearly boiling) tap water, draw it into a bucket
- Add a heaping teaspoon of baking powder to the water and mix it well
- Add the mix to the water
- Stir gently every 5-10 mins for an hour or two, leave opened over night
This mix produces a green and quite slimy bubblejuice. I can get bubbles with a diameter up to 1.5m (60"), but they are qu…
2013 08 18 Net Refined
I tied in some more yarn to reduce the average cell size. This dramatically increased the juice consumption and yielded performance closer to what I was after though I would lke another net with smaller cells.
I also experimented with juice. I started with 25:1 water:Dawn Pro with baking powder. It worked ok. Much better than with a tristring. I then added a squirt of [PEO] gel (2% degraded WSR301 solution). That worked even better. I added a squirt of soap which seemed even better. It has me thinking thr for nets. And there bubble clusters that thin films may be beneficial. I plan to explore that.
QUICK NOTE FROM THE NEXT DAY. My son Jakey asked me to go out and make bubbles with the net. The wind speed was just right and the refined net wa…
pH and Cellulosa
So as usuall I have been reading to get some more understanding. First I have for a year been reading about making bubbles, recepies, comments and so forth. People are divided about the usefullnes from baking soda and citric acid. Maybe this is knowledge known already somewhere, just something I have missed. What I have found out is that some forms of cellulosa need a more suitable water, around pH 5, to accept the water better. By adding baking soda I guess that will change the water a bit again to make it more stable for bubbles. This might be why some people say its working better with and some say better without I guess. Depending on what kind of Cellulosa they have, or sometimes maybe think they have. Its all about how its supposed to…
2013 08 17 First Net
This is my first bubble net. It did not end up as the finely-crafted precision bubbling device that I imagined in my mind.
I will probably add in some more strings to subdivide the over-sized cells that on the left side fo the net.
The top and side strings are 48" (120cm). I cute those strings a little longer so that they would up at 48" once the knots were tied.
The white outer strings are soda-washed Bed, Bath and Beyon cooking twine. The other strings are Classic Elite Bam-Boo. A very lightweight 100% bamboo viscose round yarn that has been discontinued, but which one can still occasionally find (at reasonable prices) on the net. While the strings are very very light, they hold a lot of juice relative to their weight.
There hasn't been enou…
BubbleJuice and Jeans
So this is a open question about BubbleJuice and Jeans.
Today I realised that my shorts are falling apart. At first I just thought that it was because I have been using them alots this summer. Every day, sunny every day =) But today I realised that they are more or less falling apart where the bubblejuice are in contact with the fabric most.
Anyone have a comment or idea about this?
2013 08 12 Charmy 'Classic' vs 'Guar'
Just a quick check-in with some results that I want to share though I don't have time to write them up in detail at the moment.
I final had a few minutes when conditions were good (62F and about 80% humidity and mild breeze) to use Mr. Oono's classic Charmy recipe along side my Charmy/Guar mix. I wanted to get a sense of whether the guar-based juice compared favorably or not to the classic.
One shouldn't give too much credence to the results of one or two sessions, but, so far, my impression is that the guar-based mix (which actually uses less than half the detergent of the classic recipe) is comparable to the classic. I might even like it a bit more, but, as I said, I wouldn't give too much credence to a conclusion based on this little data…
Uncle Bubbles Concentrate & Benchmark Solutions
Today, I received my order of Uncle Bubbles Concentrate (3 bottles). I am not sure how I want to use all of them yet, but I am pretty sure at least one bottle will be used strictly for fun (maybe even some bubble sculpture). I am debating if I should use the other two bottles as a "benchmark solution" in the event I get more serious about mix designs. I do use a good quality 1/10 gram scale (need to get a 1/100 gram scale someday) to measure ingredient, but I am not so good at monitoring water temperatures or mixing times.
For clarification, I will offer the following explination of "benchmark solution" as I use it in this context. Becuase there are so many uncontrolable variable when bubbling outside (temperature, humidity, wind speed and…
Cellulose amount
After reading up on cellulose I realise that Im using a very small amount, I have still had some great bubbles but now mixing up with more cellulose and testing it all up again to see impact from baking powder, baking soda and citric acid.
It seems to be some different kind of cellulose, or maybe just the name so heres some picture of what Im using.
So its called wallpaper paste, made from high-density cellulose without any chemicals.
It´s like granulates or small flakes.
Maybe this makes some sense now. So if this is the same as others use then let me know.
2013 08 06 Charmy, PVA Starch, Baking Powder Issues
Today's brief test was the classic Mr. Oono recipe compared to a variant that had half the detergent normally used plus baking powder.
The results surprised me. The baking powder mix was a real dud. With guar gum and Charmy, baking powder more than doubled the effective amount of detergent, making a 25:1 mix look like something around 10:1.
The PVA laundry starch and baking powder did not get along. With a dimestore plastic wand, it was hard to blow bubbles. I got 1-4 colorless glossy bubbles per dip. It was as if there was very little detergent. With a tri-string (my standard 32" rayon / twine modular loops), it fared a little better but was much more finicky than the "classic" recipe.
It was too windy to be too conclusive. I didn't get any …
Citric acid and baking soda effect
So lets see, a few days ago I made some bubblejuice for testing. It was about citric acid and baking soda.
Recepies:
3 Different cellulose mixes was used it was:
1 teaspoon, 1/2 tablespoon diluted with 200 ml water and 1 tablespoon diluted with 300 ml water. (cellulose (CMC from Lim and Handtryck wallpaper paste))
1000ml of water
50 grams sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon citric acid
18 grams glycerol
Mix and split in two, add 90 grams fairy in each and then add water for a totall weight of 1300-1400.
Half was added with +2 tablespoons of baking soda.
Second was as above without citric acid and then when split added +2 tablespoons of baking soda.
At first I did not think it would be much of an issue to skip the citric acid, and well you can sk…
2013 08 08 BIg Bubbles Lightweight Loop
It is possible to create long tubes and large free-floating bubbles even with relatively lightweight low-capacity wicks.
- 1 Video
- 2 Single-strand all around (guar juice)
- 3 Double-Strand Top (guar juice)
- 4 Double-strand top (HECP juice)
- 5 Lightweight Loops - Big Bubbles
- 5.1 Capacity and Length
- 5.2 Capacity and Size
- 5.3 Juice Note
- 5.4 Tips for Using Twine
- 5.5 Interpreting Size
Here is video of a session with pretty good conditions and a very lightweight loop. I didn't make any attempt to close most of the bubbles as I just wanted to get a feel for the capacity of the loop. Most of the bubbles are made using a standard guar-based bubble juice. This is great bubble juice, but there are bubble juices with much higher size potential. There are a few bubbles at the en…
Upcoming Tests. Citric acid and Baking soda
So now I have two new batches of 3 * 2.
It's based on the original recepie but as I had som bad effects when using more than one teaspon of cellulose I wanted to try it out again. Before I had only tried with 1.5 teaspon and already there I could notice some issues. Now I range from 1 tesp, 1/2 tablespoon and 1 tablespoon. Curious on the effects now.
Layup is following:
3 bottles from original recepie 1 teaspoon baking soda, with 0.5 tsp citric acid.
3 bottles +2 tablespoons of baking soda.
3 bottles from original recepie without citric acid.
3 bottles +2 tablespoons of baking soda.
I don't actually know my self wich bottles that has citric acid or not and I will not check before Im done.
So next update will be if theres a difference or not from …
kH effect on a bubblejuice
Talking about some things with Espiegel123 I made some bubblejuice some days ago without sugar and without baking soda.
Recepie tested:
1 tsp cellulose
1/2 tsp citric acid
90 gr Fairy
20 gr glycerol
One was exactly as above and a secondary with added baking soda making it like the original (-45 grams of Fairy) recepie without sugar.
This was a total failure with no possible way to get a bubble, not even a small one that I usually get for the small strings I have for kids.
The secondary batch had one bottle of bubble mix with only +45 grams of fairy, no sugar or baking soda added, this one was pretty unstable, hard to get bubbles and not working well.
With this secondary I also had bottle for control testing, this had +45 grams of fairy + 1 tsp of b…
Bubbling at 10,600 ft (3233 m)
A few weeks ago, I got to take some family, visiting from Texas, to one of my favorite places in Colorado - Independence Pass . I had hoped to attempt to bubble on top of the pass; at 12,095 ft, it is the highest paved road crossing the Continental Divide in the United States. Unfortunately, there was a lot of traffic that day, and I was not sure the weather would hold. The weather was not looking promising, and it can change rather quickly up there. So instead, we stopped a few miles from the summit and had a picnic lunch. I crossed the creek, and attempted to entertain them by bubbling from within the ruins of an old log cabin. The wind did not cooperate, and once the bugs found me, they invited all of their friends to join the feast. I …
The first days of a working mix
I have been reading alots for one year now, reading recepies people have shared, reading about things I did not understand at all and with a learn by doing thinking I'm here today.
Today I understand more, want to try more and can understand what I'm reading, at least more. I have a plan for my mix that I have today, I know where I want it and hopefully other people here can give me comments for changes.
The recepie that Im using now, work in progress:
Fairy Expert 90 grams for big, 45 grams for smaller big *2
High grade cellulose 1 tsp + 200 ml water, stir and let sit for at least 10 minutes (cellulose (CMC from Lim and Handtryck wallpaper paste))
Sugar 50 grams
Glycerol 18 grams
Baking soda 1 tsp
Citric acid 1/2 tsp
Water 1000 ml lukewarm
At the m…