Bubble Solution Recipes
For a simple, basic recipe for a good bubble solution you will need:
1 oz. (30ml) detergent (Dawn – USA / Fairy – UK / Dreft – Europe) mixed with 16 oz. (480ml) water.
For a superior bubble solution, follow the instructions in this video for Mike’s Gooey Mix
Mike recommends mixing this up as a concentrate and mixing on site with distilled water. Mike Miller has a lot of great video of his bubbles at his Bubble Project site: www.kermitbubbleboy.net
This concentrate is diluted 8-to-1 (water-to-concentrate) which yields a 17:1 water:detergent ratio.
Ingredients (for concentrate to be mixed with two gallons of water):
2 cups warm/hot tap water
2 cups Dawn Pro (Dawn Manual Pot & Pan) or Fairy, Dreft, or other detergent (the best are made by P&G)
7 grams baking powder (not baking soda)
4 grams J-Lube powder
Preparation
Pre-measure your powders.
Into a 4-cup (1 liter) or larger container (Mike uses a 4-cup measuring cup):
Pour in 2 cups (473ml) of warm/hot tap water
Add the 2 cups of Dawn Pro
Add 7 grams of baking powder
VERY QUICKLY add 4 grams J-Lube powder and immediately stir briskly with a large fork creating a convection-shaped motion within the mix while trying not to froth/foam the surface. Continue beating until there are very few clumps left. This will take a minute or two with a healthy wrist.
Making one gallon of concentrate. When Mike mixes this up, he pours the concentrate into a gallon jug and repeats the steps 3 more times to create one gallon of concentrate.
Diluting the Concentrate
To make the bubble juice, add two cups (473ml) of concentrate to one gallon (3.785 liter) of distilled water. (most tap water will work too).
A lot more recipes and useful info can be found at Soap Bubble Wiki
QUICK, EASY GUAR GUM RECIPE:
FROM David Reynolds
“SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS FOR A GALLON of professional quality bubble mix.
(I have made and used well over 100 gallons for about 5 years and experimented with adjusting every ingredient in all types of weather from below zero to about 100F degrees in summer) This mix is the one I return to again and again between other ongoing experiments. Yes it will work for you.
1: Mix 2 teaspoons of guar gum powder into .25 cup of (70%) rubbing alcohol. No heating, no whisking, it will suspend nicely into a slurry.
2: Into a gallon container, pour 4 cups room temperature water (i.e. hot water is NOT necessary.) Add in 2 teaspoons baking powder and gently shake the bottle to dissolve the baking powder.
3: Fill the gallon jug to 3″ below the lid the top with water, the water need not be hot, (leave room for the soap and the guar/alcohol slurry.)
4: Pour the alcohol/guar slurry into the jug.
5: Add 1/2 cup of dawn ultra concentrated dish soap to the mix, stir gently. Less stirring is better, stirring only increases air into the mix and hampers performance. Do NOT use dollar store dish soap, it will not work.”