How To: Make HUGE Soap Bubbles

Learning to make giant bubbles for this video has been the most fun I've had with a project in a long time. It's addicting to try to get them to grow bigger and bigger than the ones before. Since filming this video, my skill has improved tremendously and the bubbles you're about to see, though spectacularly big, are dwarfed by what I've made since. Everyone loves to watch. This is definitely one project that will draw a crowd!

The bubble formula I use, as shown in the video, is as follows:

• 24 oz dishwashing liquid
• 1 tbsp J-Lube (The most important part for giant bubbles)
• 3 U.S. gal water

After filming this video I started experimenting with baking powder and found that 3 tbsp added to the above mix improves the longevity and durability of the bubbles significantly. None of the bubbles made in the video used baking powder, so you can see it's not absolutely essential, but highly recommended. As I mention at the end of the video, the size of the bubbles that can be made increases greatly as you learn and improve your technique with the wand.

Here is a source for J-Lube (one bottle makes hundreds of gallons of bubble mix).

For those outside of the U.S., it may be difficult to find J-Lube. An alternative giant bubble mix uses Guar Gum instead. Guar formulas have a reputation of being even better than J-Lube under certain weather conditions, particularly when the humidity is low. Humidity and temperature make a big difference in how well bubbles are able to form. Guar Gum is common worldwide. More info about bubble mixes using Guar Gum and where it is available for purchase can be found here.

For my bubble wand, I use two fishing poles similar to this model.

The fishing poles come in four sections, but I removed the last section because it was too flimsy to support the heavy wet rope. The tri-string loop is attached to the end of the third section of each pole. As shown in the video, I use carabiners as an easy way of taking loops on and off, though a loop could just as easily be taped directly to the pole.

The rope I use for my tri-string loop is 100% cotton clothesline with the core removed, as demonstrated. Removing the core allows the rope to absorb significantly more bubble mix which allows much larger bubbles to be made.

For more information about making a tri-string wand (it's not a difficult thing to figure out on your own), you can do more reading here (there are also listed a number of other wand types that may be of interest).

If you enjoyed this project please share it with your friends, it would really help me out! Thanks!