Recipes Wayne Schmidt

Several years ago, Wayne Schmidt engaged in some extensive explorations of bubble juice recipes and tri-string wicks. This page provides the recipe and wick that that he found best Wayne Schmidt.

Wayne's page about his explorations is highy recommended. It provides a great perspective on the ins-and-outs of bubble testing and he has some great helpful hints.

See Wayne's page Monster Soap Bubbles

(This page in process)

Wayne's Preferred Recipe

After his extensive testing, Wayne wrote: "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.

NOTES FROM EDWARD (July 2017): Dawn Pure Essentials Hypoallergenic dish soap seems to have been discontinued. Try substituting Dawn Professional (either version) or another recommended Dawn.

Wayne's Preferred Wick

Wayne uses two strands of deconstructed RubberMaid Finish Mop Yarn for the bottom string and four green strands from a deconstructed Rubbermaid Web Foot Microfiber mop head. Wayne writes:

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.