good clean fun

[42itous]

I borrowed a Bubble Thing from a friend, but he didn't know the recipe for the liquid. I looked it up online and found enough disagreement that I figured I should do a test-run.

So last night I mixed up these ingredients:
1/2 gallon water
1/2 cup Dawn dish soap
1/2 tablespoon glycerin

...and waited to see whether it would be raining at 2pm on this, the first day of school. As it turned out, it wasn't. So I took my bubble stuff, the Bubble Thing, some ball-jar lid rings, and two wire hangers twisted into loops that would fit in the tub of bubble stuff, and I headed over to the local elementary school. I set up in the playground and started blowing bubbles just as the kids were getting out of school.

I couldn't get any of the bubbles to last very long (my theory is that it was too humid to need any glycerin, and the glycerin made the bubbles too heavy). But soon some kids gathered around, and a persistent few played with the various tools and had much better luck than I had, several of them even making gigantic (though short-lived) bubbles. I eventually figured out that I had more luck blowing smaller bubbles with just my hands than with any of the tools.

It was a lot of fun seeing how the kids worked. One kid was quiet and patient working with a hanger-wire tool, another figured out how to use the Bubble Thing and was eager to teach others, another was only there to pop other people's bubbles. Three or four stuck around for over an hour, until we'd used up all the liquid, and then wanted the recipe so they could do more at home.

It was a huge success, even if I didn't get the recipe quite right this time.

Comments

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

i haven't quite nailed the recipe from year to year, as the main ingredient seems to vary in quality a lot.

the canonical clear ivory is/was hard to come by... scented stuff seems to work poorly. anything with lotions, anti-whatsits, and other additives make it worse it seems.

it's been a couple years since i've had the magical luck with 30 foot dragon bubbles, or larger than 4-5 footers that last long enough to fly away, free from child predation :)

seems like what they are selling these days is not soap. need to find a good supply of a concentrate. heck, glycerin is hard enough to come by sometimes now, i had to resort to internet sales.

i've repared my 'thing' wand many times, over many years. the original ribbon is lovely, but one can make a good copy. there's some good webpages showing various innovations.

#

[42itous.livejournal.com]

I bought glycerin at CVS, but then, that was a few years ago.

Maybe I'll try making my own Bubble Thing one of these days. Today I enjoyed the imperfection of everything (the tools and the liquid) because it made the kids more innovative.

[lauradi7.livejournal.com]

We used Dawn & glycerin, but I don't remember the proportions. It's possible that we still have the device. Would you like it if I can find it?

[42itous.livejournal.com]

If you're interested in giving it away, then I would gladly take it!

[nosrednayduj]

I'm surprised they didn't chase you away from the school as a no-good-nik. Or did you have prior permission?

[42itous.livejournal.com]

It had occurred to me that might happen, but nobody seemed to mind. No, I didn't have permission... but then, I don't think there's a law that says childless people aren't allowed on school property. I think they'd only have cause to banish me if I were harassing the children. Or if I looked suspicious -- I'm lucky I look harmless.

[xuth.livejournal.com]

This isn't NYC (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisanne001/705238326/).

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I was kinda surprised too. I like to watch kids play but I'm careful not to linger too long at the edges of playgrounds for fear that I'll make any watchful parents nervous.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

That's awesome! My mom always just mixed up water and dish soap for us when we were growing up. What does the glycerin do?

[42itous.livejournal.com]

Glycerin keeps the water from evaporating too quickly, so the bubbles don't pop right away. So if you're going to be blowing bubbles in the sun on a dry day, you want a tablespoon or more of gylcerin, but if it'll be a cloudy, humid day, you don't need any. The risk of putting too much glycerin in your mix is that it makes the bubbles heavy, so they don't float as nicely.