Recipes for soap bubble mixture

Many different recipes on soap bubble mixtures are described on the internet. Usually these include products that are available in the US only. Here we present three good recipes based on European products.

• Sterling Johnsons recipe is really good for most kinds of bubbles, but it is expensive and needs to be mixed on day in advance. Besides, one of the ingrediens comes from a Danish toy store that might not produce it anymore.
• The guar gum mix can be used right away and is really good for big bubbles, however, it only last a couple of days.
• Experimentarium's old recipe is cheap, easy to mix and very good, without being as good as the other ones.

Sterling Johnsons boblevand (good but expensive)

This recipe was given to us by Sterling Johnson, the master-of-hand-tricks bubble artist. We are using Sterling mixture for almost all our soap bubble tricks and experiments.

• 1 liter of water (Preferably distilled, demineralized or rain water)
• 8 deciliters of Outra Bubble (which is a pre-made bubble mixture you will find in most toy stores in Denmark and other European countries. If you cannot find Outra Bubble in your local toy store, you will probably find an equally good brand. We have used different brands with success)
• 1 deciliter of detergent (If you live in Denmark, then use Fairy Ultra or Fairy Original.)
• 1 deciliter of glycerin

Mix gentle and let it sit for a few hours (or overnight) before you use it.

Recipe with guar gum (good for big bubbles)

This recipe comes from German Thomas Poersc and uses guar gum, which is normally used as thickening agent in cooking. The solution takes approximately fifteen minutes and can be used right away. It is our experience that it does not have a shelf life of more than a couple of days. This is our favorite solution when making big bubbles and bubbles inside bubbles.

• 4 liters of water (we use tap water)
• 6 g guar gum (in Denmark it can be bought in health food shops)
• 4 g of baking soda
• 2 g citric acid
• 160 ml green fairy

Pour 1 liter of water in a bucket. Take an immersion blender and run it while adding the guar gum over 3-4 times. Try to avoid lumps of the guar gum, however, it is hard to avoid completely.
Add the baking soda while the blender is still running and the same with the citric acid.
Add another 2 liters of water and you might want to replace the immersion blender with a spoon. Add the fairy, add the last liter of water and stir.

Experimentarium’s bubble mixture (cheap and fine)

This mixture has been used for many years in the science centre in Copenhagen, Experimentarium. It is an OK mixture, and it is cheap.

• 1 deciliter of detergent (If you live in Denmark, then use Fairy Ultra or Fairy Original. In Sweden you can use Yes)
• 2 tablespoons of glycerin
• Fill in water until you have a total mixture volume of two liters

Mix gentle and let it sit for a few hours (or overnight) before you use it.

You can also simply use pre-made bubble mixtures from toy stores. It is more expensive and in our point of view, they are not as good as the Sterling Johnson bubble mixture. The good thing about pre-made mixtures is that they don’t grow old as quickly as the mixtures you make yourself.