Test for glucomannan powder
I have tried glucomannan powder.
The glucomannan powder I used is the following product :
https://www.nowfoods.com/products/supplements/glucomannan-pure-powder
Glucomannan is the main ingredient of konjac and is a water soluble polysaccharide; it is a powder made from ingredients extracted from konjac powder. It seems to work well as a polymer in bubble solutions.
I have tried the following recipe :.
6500 g water
10.3 g glucomannan powder
351g dish detergent (old version of CuCute)
(The ph was stable at 7.5 and was not adjusted. Mixed by alcohol slurry method.)
If I used plastic hoops, their bubbles self-healed well. I tried a tri-string wand with this solution.
It was 6:30 AM, 25°C, 94% humidity. The results clearly showed an overdose aspect. The b…
Comparative test of old and new version Cucute (analysis by projection)
Around March 2022, a major ingredient change was made to a Japanese dishwashing detergent (Cucute/Kyukyutto). The old Cucute disappeared from store shelves and the new Cucute began to appear on store. The new Cucute has changed both the ingredients and the surfactant ratio (reduced: from 37% to 32%). It became necessary for me to analyse the new Cucute.
My first thought was to compare the color profiles of the old and new Cucute.
I prepared two solutions: I added 2 teaspoons of 1% PEO solution to 1,600 ml of water and then poured it into two containers (800 ml each). I added 40 g Old version Cucute to one and 40 g New version Cucute to the other.
I set up the apparatus for the experiment, referring to Edward's Longevity Test experimental setu…
Anomalous occurrence (and its cause)
It was around mid-January 2022 that I first noticed something strange.
I was mixing the tara gum solution as usual, and as soon as I added the detergent (Cucute Muscat scent), the liquid instantly turned cloudy white. It was as white as milk, and the part of the whisk that was immersed in the solution was completely invisible.
I was surprised, but tried the solution. Obviously, the bubble was over-moist and dripped like never before. As soon as the bubble left the wand, it could not defy gravity and fell straight to the ground.
I searched for the cause of the anomaly (cloudiness and poor performance). I suspected the involvement of glycerin (or the correlation between tara gum and glycerin), since I was experimenting with slurrying tara gum w…
Small-scale jumbo juice (with Cucute)
recipe：
・PEO(WSR301) 0.40g
・HPMC 1.02g
・Water 7,500ml
・Detergent (Cucute) 354g
・Glycerin 30g (used to make a slurry from the mixed powder of PEO and HPMC)
・Citric acid 0.2g
・A pinch of baking soda
The original of this is a recipe called "Jumbo Juice" published by Dustin Skye, a well-known bubbler. This is what I applied Cucute to this recipe. With this amount, the bubbles are very easy to split. In a favorable environment, it features a very high probability of triple bubbles with breath.
For huge bubbles, you may want to reduce the polymer a bit.
[Addendum (Feb.2022)]
・Water 7,000ml
・Detergent (Cucute) 380g
The above amounts seem to me to be more suitable for triple bubbles.
About Japanese commercial bubble solutions (a few rambling notes)
I have recently been intrigued by the properties of commercial bubble solutions. In Japan, the bubble solutions (and toys) sold by Tomoda Shokai are known for their excellent performance.
I have not tried bubble solutions sold in the U.S. or Europe (like Uncle Bubbles), but I know that they have performance suitable for professional use and at least Uncle Bubbles are not viscous.
In contrast, Tomoda Shokai's Bubble Solution is viscous enough to be recognized at a glance.
There is no stringiness, but compared to other solutions (such as PEO or guar gum), it tangles very strongly in the wand and has a sticky feel.
However, this is not limited to Tomoda Shokai, but is common to products from all toy manufacturers in Japan. The bubble solutions av…