Fun with Frozen Bubbles!

We have had some cold nights lately, and I suddenly got the idea that it was time to photograph frozen bubbles. This is an experiment I tried with some success last February. I looked around a bit and found two little bottles of leftover homemade bubble mix* from last winter. That was fortunate, as if I hadn't come across them so easily, I might not have pursued this endeavor!

So when morning came, with temperatures in the low teens F, I got out my bubble mix and my equipment and went outside to the yard, where I conveniently (since a tree fell last summer and wreaked havoc) now have a whole row of little tree slice stumps for sitting on and doing things on. Lucky me!

I picked a spot with good light and a flat surface to work on. Then I used a clear round plastic Christmas ornament as my base, and placed it atop another container so that it was stable. I smeared the top of the round ornament with bubble mix, and then blew my bubbles carefully on top of that. It worked pretty well!

The process of the bubbles freezing is fascinating to watch. First, the bubble surface begins to move and gyrate! All of those molecules begin to scream, "We're freezing! We're freezing!" Then the first few fern shapes appear. And then the bubble is consumed by ferny shapes, and becomes occluded as it completes the freeze, and is covered in fantastic patterns. The whole process takes about a minute. It's like watching the world being born!

Above is a photo of the part where the first fern shapes emerge out of the primordial ooze. In the extras, I've included two additional photos: one of the part in the beginning when the surface is moving like crazy, and a second one where the bubble is entirely frozen and consumed in fancy patterns.

The best time to do this sort of thing is during the two golden times of day: either in the first hour or so of morning, or in the last hour of the afternoon. If you get the angle just right, it looks like the light is emanating from INSIDE the bubble, which is pure magic. Focusing on the bubble, you can also achieve a lovely blurry, well-lit bokeh in the background.

The soundtrack song has to be this one, as I watched the world being born and reborn each time a bubble froze: Survivor, with Ever Since the World Began.

I'll never know what brought me here
As if somebody led my hand
It seems I hardly had to steer
My course was planned

And destiny it guides us all
And by its hand we rise and fall
But only for a moment
Time enough to catch our breath again


*bubble mix: one part water, four parts dish detergent (any brand will do), and a dash of Karo corn syrup