You may buy it at any store and add glycerine, or make the Formula as below.

See the video to learn how to bubble for us.

The first thing most Bubblers want to know is the bubble mix ingredients. This batch makes 5 gallon (20 liters):

The Base Mix:

• 1.5 Gallons (6 L) of steam distilled water
• 60 ounces (1.7kg / 1,700ml) Miracle Bubbles
• 40 ounces (1 kg / 1,000ml) Super Miracle Bubbles
• 20 - 25 ounces (.6kg / 600g / 600ml) Dawn Complete (Dishsoap), green or blue
• 25 ounces (.7kg / 700g / 700ml)Dawn Lift-Action, red (wildflower Medley) or Yellow

Dawn vs. Joy is a favorite friendly disagreement among bubblers. We've heard lemon scent or other "unnecessary" ingredients may be detrimental. The chemistry of the water you use may affect which brand and how much of which other ingredients is best.

We are not sure how much help corn syrup or glycerin is. We think they slow the thinning of the bubble top due to gravity (fluid flow) and evaporation.

We save our used mix - keeping it as clean as possible - to let the crowds have something to play with. Otherwise, the lure of your clean mix can be irresistible. I also take an extra wand. It is great to let volunteers help entertain and not worry if their strings miss the bucket. Big bubbles are certainly possible without this cleanliness perfection mindset.

The Art:

Gentle, smooth, strong, confident and fluid motions are best. This is especially important with the most difficult step of closing the bubble. Both opening and closing are best done with a confident motion. With practice, you can learn how to be strong and gentle at the same time. I believe this skill allows the strong and smooth motions needed to maximize your bubble potential (under the existing conditions). Some tips: keeping the wand tips together and over your bucket as you lift will catch much mix that would otherwise be a wasteful mess. Holding the wand fully open (top string tight) makes starting bubbles easier. Any breeze needs to be from behind you to help fill your bubble. You will need to keep moving around your bucket as breeze directions change. Stepping backwards fills the bubble in low-breeze conditions. Having someone help be sure no one is standing too close behind you can be useful in a crowd. When there is a breeze, pushing toward the bubble as you close helps minimize the stress on the bubble. Once you begin to pull your strings out of the mix, your time to bubble is limited. Move quickly for maximum bubbles each dip.

Go For "Big": Closing bubbles is a very important skill to practice. Making "pretty big" bubbles is often best until you and your fans are impressed enough with your skill. When your ready and conditions allow, go for it. Even under excellent conditions, trying for the 50+ foot (16+ meter) bubbles will lead to many "failures". These "failures" are often very beautiful displays which will impress your fans. Remember, you can't break your own record if you close your bubbles too early. With experience, you will learn to feel when the conditions are right to try. If smaller bubbles are popping quickly, big bubbles will probably not last either.

Holding your wand up high is often helpful when bubbles are sinking or being attacked by bubble popping critters. After significant bubbling, expect tired and sore arms if you have not built up these muscles in advance. Lifting your wand high wears arm muscles faster. If all your bubbles fall to the ground, consider training a crew of your "fans" to "fan" the bubbles upward. Keep Moving: If your bubbles won't last, always try moving around.

Great Tricks

Once you are comfortable with the basics of opening and closing, many "tricks" are possible. You can move your strings in a figure eight pattern to chop your bubble into many smaller ones as you create. Your strings can pass through a floating bubble to create a double, triple,… bubble.

When conditions are right and there's little breeze, go for the "giant-donut". Make bubbles that go all the way around you (360 degrees) and then reconnect. To push this trick's limits farther you can try to "bow" out of the center afterwards. A lifting breeze really helps with this. Watch out for the donut hole's shrinking tendency. You can also go for more than a full circle (over 360 degrees / 1,000 metric <grin> ).

Hot weather seems to encourage a shorter bubble lifespan. If the mix is warm it will evaporate faster. Warmth also promotes faster flowing (thinning) of bubble walls. If it is humid enough, warm can be fine, but you may want more corn syrup to slow the thinning flow. Cold seems to work like corn syrup in slowing fluid flow and evaporation. Air which is cooling, also becomes more humid. If it's below freezing for a period of time, however, the humidity tends to drop as liquid moisture in the air sticks to the ground (frost). We also generally try to avoid warming air.

Big Bubble Microclimates and "Drifts of Breeze"

Though we don't yet understand the phenomenon completely, big bubbling conditions are very finicky (the best breeze directions and bubbling locations are very particular). Moving 10 feet (3 meters) can take you from "instant poppers" to 20-second-plus bubbles with no apparent reason for the change. It usually takes me a while to find the best placement for my bucket. Besides limits on the times of day, one of the problems with showing off our artform is this locational finickyness. Event management will want you to bubble in a particular place (such as on a stage). It is rare luck to have the place you want to bubble match the best breeze location. Even if they match, the bubbles may head backstage, away from the crowd. Don't worry though. If you can get the bubble magic happening anywhere near a crowd, they will be drawn to your show. With experience, you may learn to "read the breezes" of any bubbling location like a bubble master. Bubbling a site in advance can help prepare you for quicker success.

You often can improve your microclimate by watering the area up-breeze from your bubbling. Anything from hand held sprinkle cans to water trucks and fog creation equipment can help with humidity and dust. Wind makes for beautifully-twisted, usually short-lived bubbles (if not too strong). When the wind is a little too strong, you can often find less windy locations such as wooded or building-surrounded sites with interesting wind patterns.

Breeze direction can be critical. At specific sites I've found particular breeze directions are consistently better than others every year. I currently think humidity and dust are the primary variables in these "drifts". Usually, we never know when the good "drifts of breeze" will come along. The best breezes do seem most common near dawn. This may be due to the pre-dawn humidity rise which seems to occur. Places with a breeze that flows across water for a distance before reaching you have great potential. When you get a great "drift" of air, get more bubbles out there quick. I've seen groups of bubbles drift over a thousand yards/ meters together when before and after that "drift" every bubble popped within 20 yards/meters. Although I agree breezes are generally not good for bubble lifespan, it is much easier to get 50+ foot (16+ meter) long bubbles with a breeze than by running the wand 50 feet (15 meters/yards) and back to the bubble mix.

We believe automobile exhaust pops bubbles. It seems you can bubble around cars if the fumes are not too strong.