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.
A giant made with Charmy/Guar juice
Charmy/Guar Giant
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.
There will be more notes and discussion of these mixes in the future. For today, I'll just post some video and pictures to give you a sense. It was a great session, and I wish that I had had more time AND more Charmy. I am running out!
For the 'tube tests', I was using what I call 32" top-string modular test wands (rayon mop yarn top-string and single-strand soda-washed bottom strings). (Btw, it turns out that the rayon shrunk -- so they are really 28.8" top-strings). These are low to medium-capacity wands -- I wish that I had been able to try a higher-capacity loop -- but then the tubes would have been too long to capture in the video.
I ran out of the 'Classic' mix. So, all the giants (made with 100" webfoot microfiber topstring and single strand soda-washed twine bottom).
Guar Recipe. 1000 grams water. 1/4 slightly heaping teaspoon guar gum powder slurried with isopropyl alcohol. 40 grams Charmy. 1/2 slightly heaping teaspoon Rumford baking powder. Preparation was as for the standard Dawn/Guar recipe.
Stills - Tubes[]
Tube with 'Classic' Charmy Juice
Charmy/Guar Mix
Charmy 'Classic'
Charmy/Guar
Both mixes managed to produce some tubes over 30' with these wands. Longer tubes would certainly have been possible with higher-capacity loops.
Long classic mix tubes sometimes had nearly colorless sections when the tube got long where the guar mix tubes still had some color (the blue you see in the pictures). It may be that adding a little more soap to the guar version would have resulted in the same behavior.
Video: Charmy/Guar Giants[]
20130812 charmy giants montage
Video: Solutions Compared[]
20130812 Charmy Shootout Montage
The 3 minute version of session highlights.
20130812 Charmy Two Mixes Quick VERSION
The 2-minute version