A tube created with Mr. Oono's recipe.
At long last, I have an opportunity to try mix up a Hisao Oono's great bubble juice. For a year or so, I searched for the ingredients here in the SF Bay Area where we have a sizable enough Japanese population that there are quite a few Japanese supermarkets stocked solely with Japanese products. However, neither of the critical ingredients (PVA-containing laundry starch and Charmy dishwashing liquid) are to be found. I was able to confirm earlier this year with Charmy's manufacturer that their distributor does not export to the US.
A Japanese friend was kind enough to bring back two bottles of orange-scented Charmy and one bottle of PVA laundry starch.
10 a.m. Last night, I mixed up a half-recipe of Mr. Oono's bubble juice.
Small wand used for small-wand testing
With a small plastic wand, I was getting 15-30 bubbles -- very colorful with the last few being amber/transparent. I was able to easily blow grapefruit size bubbles and to blow bubbles in bubbles. The transparent bubbles at the end of an extended blow lead me to believe that the amount of detergent can quite possibly be reduced -- something that I will explore when I mix up the next batch. In my brief tri-string session this morning, there were also thin-skinned bubbles towards the end of a dip.
The small wand bubbles pop with a distinct popping noise into the now-famous fine ghostless vapor mist.
Outdoor Session Conditions: 73F, mixed breeze, 65% humidity
32" composite tri-string. Rayon mop top. Bottom soda-washed twine.
I used a 2 or 3 week old batch of eGoo and last night's Oono mix.
I would say that the two performed similarly in terms of size and longevity. Though the changing wind speed and direction makes tube length comparisons iffy, but both managed to create a few 25-35 foot tubes -- pretty good given the low capacity of these wands. The Oono mix is very friendly and the bubbles have that beautiful vapor mist rather than ghost when they pop.
I will be very interested to try a few things:
- See how it works with less soap
- See how things work if I substitute Dawn Pro for Charmy
- Try PEO with Charmy
- Try Guar Gum with Charmy