The Beginning: Fun with Frozen Bubbles, Take 1

The temperature was around 19 degrees F and I decided it was time to photograph frozen bubbles. I had a bit of bubble mix left from last year, but it didn't take long to use that up. So I had to run back inside the house and make more: four parts dish detergent to one part water, plus a dash of Karo corn syrup to add body. You can read more about frozen bubbles here.

I've tried my hand at frozen bubbles a few times before: see my 2/1/19, 2/15/20, and 2/21/20 Blip postings. It looks like I usually try this in February, but we've got a couple of cold, vortexy days in January, so why not seize the (frigid) day?

So I made more bubble mix and ran back outside. You need three conditions for a good frozen bubble photo shoot: ultra-cold weather, no breeze, and good light. On this day, it was a bit breezy, which meant that my bubbles kept popping. And my nice light sort of disappeared behind clouds shortly into my photo shoot, but I still got some decent results.

One of my favorite parts of the process is that just before the crystals begin to form, the surface of the bubble exhibits an amazing amount of motion, like the molecules are all inside there zipping around, going, I'm freezing! I'm freezing! And flying all around! It's like the surface of the water just before dry land is birthed from it, before the world began.

So here is my photo from day 1 of the frozen bubble experiment, in which there is motion and color on the bubble-world, but no crystals yet. You can even see a flurry or two sitting on my bubble, for it was lightly snowing. Let's call this: The Beginning. Tomorrow, I'll show you some crystals; I promise!  :-)

Here's a song to go with the frigid days of winter when frozen bubbles can be made: the Piano Guys, with Let It Go/Vivaldi's Winter. As a bonus cut, here is also the Idina Menzel version of Let It Go from Frozen. Enjoy the cold! I will!