How to Make Bubbles

Although store-bought bubbles are fairly inexpensive, with this recipe, you can make more than a quart of bubble liquid for practically nothing.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Food Coloring (optional)
• Jars With Lids
• Wire Whisks
• Buckets Or Dishpan
• 4 tbsp. liquid dish soap
• 4 tbsp. glycerins
• 1 qt. water

1. Mix water, liquid dish soap and glycerin in a bucket or dishpan.

2. Stir with a wire whisk until blended.

3. Let mixture sit for 24 hours.

4. Pour bubble mixture into small bottles or large pans, depending on size of bubbles desired.

5. Store unused bubble mixture in a jar with a lid.

Tips & Warnings

• You can experiment by adding more or less glycerin or dish soap to achieve the desired consistency.
• If you don't have glycerin, try using the same amount of corn syrup instead.
• Use no-tears baby shampoo instead of liquid dish soap if you're worried about bubbles stinging children's eyes.
• If desired, add a drop of food coloring to the mixture to make colored bubbles.
• Blowing bubbles is always more successful if done outdoors.

[tomobama]

on 6/6/2009 Try 16 parts water to one part dish soap (a cup to a tablespoon or a gallon to a cup).

[tomobama]

on 6/6/2009 Dawn or Joy are the best soaps for the bubbles ... but go ahead and experiment, as the author suggests.

[tomobama]

on 6/6/2009 If you use a whisk to mix it you'll get a lot of foam and you'll need to scrape that off or let it settle (maybe more than a day) or they'll interfere with the effort to get good bubbles.

[tomobama]

on 6/6/2009 Indoors is fine for bubbles and often better than outdoors ...

[tomobama]

on 6/6/2009 adding food color doesn't add color to the bubbles. Bubbles have colors because they are nearly as thin or thinner than wavelengths of light. That's the same reason that gasoline on water shows colors. Adding food color doesn't add enough pigment to the film (it's very very thin) it only adds color to the thick drop at the bottom of the bubble.