One of the other things I have liked since I was a little kid was making huge bubbles. we had a toy called the bubble thing. and it made giant bubbles, and I thought it was awesome. I decided as an adult I would make my own big bubble wands and bubble mix. so I did what all competent individuals do and googled to see what came up. I've built a few wands and made a few mixes and made lots of bubbles, and I'll tell you how it has worked so far.
Bubble Sticks:
I started with fat, long dowels that I cut down and large eye hooks for easy sliding, but as I've made a few more I don't think either of those matter as much as the string that is used.
to make the sticks you need:
-2 sticks (wooden dowels or large craft sticks about a foot in length is good)
-eye hooks (any size, but smaller ones are cheaper)
The eye hooks just need a large enough hole to allow your string to pass through it
-string (I think that 2 yards is sufficient, but could be a little too long for really little kids, but you can always do longer)
the sites I found recommend using "twill tape" of either cotton or wool, I think the tape works alright, but I have also tried a more lace or trim-like material that seems to make bigger bubbles, but is a bit more fickle, if anyone has any other string advice I'd love to hear it.
-washer (I have not used a washer on any of my sticks, are they truly needed?)
-screw your eye hooks into your dowels (you may want to drill a hole on the end of the dowel, but it is not needed)
-thread your string through the eye hooks.
-thread the washer onto the string as well (if you are using one)
-sew the string together into a loop
this will essentially give you a loop of string with 2 sticks (and a washer) attached to it.
then comes your bubble juice
I make mine in an old laundry detergent bucket by the gallon
I use:
-1 Gal Water
-1 cup dawn soap (dawn and joy are the recommend varieties almost everywhere I've seen. I use 1 cup of ultra concentrated blue dawn soap, joy seems to work better if I use 2 cups and keep all the other ingredients the same)
-1/4 cup corn syrup
mix the ingredients slowly, foam bubbles on top of the mixture are to be avoided and should be skimmed off (so the interwebs sayz).
other places recommend glycerin or glycerol (which are the same thing I think), but I have not tried it due to it being highly priced, about $7.00 for a maybe half cup bottle at our local drug store.
I've also tried using baking POWDER (not soda, powder) 2 tablespoons for a gallon and it seemed to make the bubbles last a little longer, but it was hard to tell.
I have not broken down and purchased any commercial "big bubble" solutions that can be found, but I might do so later, they are not too expensive, the most expensive piece seems to be the dawn soap, Ive used several bottles for fun bubble times, but still wish that my bubbles could get a bit bigger.
One thing that many websites say is that bubbles are fickle in general, weather needs to be right, high humidity and very little wind, and few particles in the air.
Even if it is windy out, going around buildings or walls can give you places where the wind is lower and your bubbles work better.
I mostly pull this out at church activities, and kids love playing with the bubbles, especially my daughter, she also loves ripping out grass and dropping it in the bubble soap mixture, but I'll work on that with her. I need to figure out someway to keep little kids entertained so that I can make big bubbles, how to keep them from grabbing spare bubble stick sets, and playing in the mixes. I guess I'll keep working on that one.
sorry no pictures on this post, but feel free to research these topics the same way I have, (using google) and if anyone has successes I'd be glad to hear them in the comments
