Back in 2012, I posted an easy bubble juice recipe for making soap bubbles 9-12″ in diameter. Here’s a better easy bubble juice recipe, which uses easily obtainable ingredients, and features a superior mixing procedure for the lubricating jelly. With this mixture, I’ve made bubbles that start out at 4-5 feet long tubes, then stabilize into two or more spheroids up to 30 inches in diameter. The glycerin isn’t absolutely necessary, but it does seem to make the bubbles last a bit longer, an important point in our dry Bay area climate.
Ingredients:
4 oz. tube of personal lubricating jelly (store brand is fine)
2 oz. container of glycerin
12 oz. of Dawn Ultra dishwashing liquid (do not substitute another brand)
water to make up about 1 gallon
Total cost: $12-15
Method:
Put 3 quarts of water in a gallon container.
Empty a 4 oz. tube of personal lubricating jelly into a 2-cup glass measuring cup. Heat 2 cups of water until quite hot but not boiling.
Add 1 tablespoon of the hot water to the lubricating jelly, and beat with a fork until smooth. Continue adding small amounts of water and beating until smooth. As the mixture becomes easier to stir, you can add a little more water each time. When you have just under 2 cups of lube/water mix, add 2 oz. of glycerin and stir till smooth.
Now pour the lube/water/glycerin mixture into the gallon container, and gently turn the container over and over to dissolve. (If you shake it, you’ll generate bubbles that will take forever to go down.)
Add 12 oz. of Dawn Ultra dishwashing liquid to the gallon container. Once again, gently turn the container over and over to dissolve thoroughly.
The lubricating jelly takes a day or so to fully dissolve in the water, so this mixture works best if allowed to stand uncovered for a day before using. For ideas on making bubble wands, see the 2012 post.
Above: A bubble made with this recipe. It was warm and very dry today so we had to wait until dusk to get really big bubbles. The bubble wand is made of two five-foot bamboo poles and a loop made of about 5 feet of 3/16″ cotton venetian blind cord with the nylon core removed.
Cool.