In 2018, a Japanese bubbler released a Youtube video of a long bubble tube. The tube was long enough to extend beyond the angle of view of the camera (about 40 meters by eye) and shocked many Japanese bubblers. I am also one of them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3SdeUdRfuQ
This bubbler published the recipe on remarks column. I contacted him. However, the ingredients of the dishwashing detergent used in the recipe at that time have been changed, and this recipe seems to be impossible to reproduce.
After that, I reviewed this video frequently and tried to learn something.
The shape and texture of the bubble tube is very distinctive. Especially in this video, the feature is clearly shown.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8fnpZ6--CY
Somehow I wanted to know what this feature really was and started looking for an effective gelatin solution for long tube. I made a simple solution and checked up the properties of gelatin. I mixed solution with the following recipe :
・ Granular gelatin 10g
・ Boiled hot water 1,000g
・ Tap water 3,834g
・ Cucute (Japanese detergent) 533g
・ Citric acid 0.1g
First, I added 262 grams of detergent to the gelatin solution, but it was difficult to make bubbles even with a small wire hoop. When I added more detergent and reached 533 grams, I was able to make a thin tube of about 1 meter with a hoop. Still, I thought this solution was a failure. The self-healing properties that can be seen with PEO or konjac were not seen at all with this solution.(The ratio of water to detergent is about 9: 1!)
The next morning I tried this solution with a tri-string wand. Unfortunately, the result was far from the 40-meter bubble tube I saw on youtube.
On another day, I did several experiments with gelatin. I tried using gelatin and Dawn Ultra. And I tried halving the gelatin concentration. I also tried the same recipe as shown in that Youtube video.
However, none of them could create the bubble tube seen in that Youtube video.
Example:Gelatin solution
However, there were some points that I could understand.
Gelatin solution create "stiff" bubbles that are not very self-healing. However, they were not only "brittle", but sometimes grew without breaking even when it received a certain amount of wind. (The longest was about 16 to 17 meters by eye. )
And even if the tube had a big constriction, this tube did not split easily (PEO or konjac would have easily split into multiple spherical bubbles). It formed a "consistent" tube while retaining a tight constriction without splitting (As a result, when receiving a strong wind the tube draws a characteristic zigzag). And when the limit was reached, the tube disappeared all at once, without splitting and creating some floating bubbles.
I think this is a principal feature of gelatin. Its "self-healing" ability, which is probably the most important property of common bubble polymers, is very poor. It's deadly when creating floating bubbles (or garland bubbles). However, it is easy to imagine that it will be advantageous when trying to stretch a long bubble tube as long as possible.
After several trials, I couldn't reproduce this tube, but I could realize that this property of gelatin (that are often thought of as flaws) actually worked well in the Youtube video as an advantage. I presume that this property of gelatin allowed for a 40 meters bubble tube. Apparently, it seems more appropriate to say that gelatin is not "inferior" to other polymers, but "has different properties".
Great thanks and respect to Mr. Awawa no Onza.
- Self-healing films result in bubbles splitting into separate bubbles rather than breaking when acted upon by shifting or strong wind.
- Creating free floating bubbles is not impossible, but more difficult than other polymers and requires careful manipulation. So far, I haven't found any benefit to using gelatin other than to make long bubble tube.