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Basic Recipe For Making Bubbles

Mr. Bubbles by (Tootsietoy/Strombecker) Now J. Lloyd is very good. To read a very interesting article from the past about brewing Mr. B, click here.

Cricket Hill Bubbling Powder is specially formulated for
outdoor big bubbles and is excellent. You'll be glad you sought them out.

Another outdoor bubble mix is Beeboo. It's this solution that currently holds the largest free floating bubble record. Click the link to visit their site.

Basic Bubbling Soap Solution Recipe: Gently stir together: 9 cups of water. 1 cup of Dawn liquid dish detergent. (Or Dawn Ultra if you must.) 4 ounces of Glycerine. (Available in most drug and health-food stores.) You can also try adding corn syrup if you can't find the glycerin.

Better Bubbling Soap Solution Recipe: Use the above recipe. Then add 2 ounces of your favorite jellied/gel personal lubricant which is non-petroleum based. Find out why on this page. (Equate Brand at W-Mart is good & cheap, as are other "store brands". KY Gel & Astroglide Gel are good too but expensive. Look for the word - hydroxyethylcellulose - in the ingredients.) OR, if you can find it, instead of the personal lubricant non-petroleum based jelly add in 3 or 4 cups of Mr. Bubbles brand toy bubble solution, Cricket Hill Solution or Gazillion Gold. (Do not use the Mr. Bubble bubble bath stuff.

Let your brew sit for at least a few hours. Better yet, make it a day ahead of time. Then bubble safely at a very humid time of day. Early morning or after dinner. Store your bubble solution in an air tight container & pour out only as much as you will need. The goal is to keep impurities out of your mix.

An even better, pro-grade solution: Pro-grade and formulated for New England Climates. This is the one I mix up by the gallon and use exclusively indoors. (Outdoors I use Cricket Hill Bubbling Powder and a few home-recipes, depending on the weather.) This recipe was inspired by the excellent recipe found on Sterling Johnson's site. You can also read more about him here. I adapted it for my climate. Note: This recipe calls for Kosher Grade Vegetable glycerine which can be found on the web, but you might also try your local health food stores first. (For more about the difference between types of glycerin, click here.) On the web, you'll need to buy it by the gallon to beat the "in-store" prices. A gallon of this will cost somewhere around $30. Search for it on soap making sites or sites listing ingredients for home made essential oils & aroma therapies, or click the link above. But here's the recipe...

In a clean container, pour in 5 cups of water. Add in 8 oz. Kosher grade vegetable glycerine and stir vigorously. Add to this 3/4 cup of Dawn Complete brand dish detergent. Stir gently with out foaming. Now add in 4 cups of Mr. Bubbles brand commercial bubble solution. Stir gently, age & enjoy!

In the summer and times of higher humidity, I add in less glycerine, but never less than 4 oz. In the dry, heated indoor climates of New England winters, with humidity plunging to the low twenties, I might add in a couple more oz. of glycerin.

Yes, finding Mr. Bubbles may be difficult. Depending on the time of year it's sometimes very hard to find, as it's a seasonal item. Added to this, in 2004 Tootsietoy/Strombecker, the manufacturer of Mr. Bubbles went into bankruptcy and was bought by another company ~ J. Lloyd. They have promised me they will keep the same formula for Mr. B. and will begin production late 2006.

If you find a better recipe, or a secret ingredient, please let me know. I love to try out new ideas! You can read more about home-brewing on this page.

Now that you have your solution recipe, I hope you'll take your time browsing the rest of my site. The basic bubbleology course is a good place to head to next. However, don't forget to check out my videos, and food for thought pages, and the two links pages.