Frozen Magic: Worlds Within Worlds

We've had some frigid mornings here, and I was out both Saturday and Sunday mornings, making and photographing frozen bubbles. Saturday morning was around 14 degrees F. My bubble mix (which I'd sat on the front porch for a half-hour before I went out) was freezing straight to opaque within seconds, and it was just breezy enough that it kept popping my bubbles almost instantly. There wasn't THAT much wind, and I was surprised. Maybe 8 to 10 miles an hour. But it was too much for the bubbles. (Just as any wind at all is too much for hot air balloon rides!)

I had two homemade bubble mixes, one old mix and one brand new mix, and neither one of them was behaving properly. The Karo corn syrup in the new batch was so sticky that I kept my gloves off, and when I put my hands in hot water after coming indoors, I almost passed out, they hurt so bad! (Learned this, for warming up cold hands: water, always warm, never hot!)

I lasted about 5 minutes on Saturday, and gave up, disappointed. "Are you sure you gave it enough time?" asked my husband, who doesn't usually offer advice on such things. Yes, I had; and I'd even tried blowing my bubbles at two different places in the yard, trying to find a spot less windy. No dice.

Sunday morning was even colder, in the single digits when I went out. I did not sit my bubble mix out in advance, so that it wasn't so cold it froze up quite so fast. At the last minute, I added some more stuff to my bubble mix (including more water, more liquid dish soap, and more Karo corn syrup), and dumped both old and new mixes together.

The experience that I had on Sunday morning was nothing short of magical, and I got about a half a minute with each bubble, getting to see the motion on the surface and the formation and growth of the frost crystal patterns. I'd be showing you more bubbles here except that I have not had a chance yet to look at all of the (well over 100) photos! This is one that caught my eye. I call it Worlds Within Worlds. There is frozen frost on both bubbles, the little and the big.

I lasted for 23 minutes this time, until my camera battery light started to flash and I spilled bubble mix all over my left glove. At that point, I knew my hands would get wet and cold, and I couldn't really TOUCH anything with the glove on. Let me tell ya, in single digits, ya gotta figure out a way to keep the gloves mostly on! (Note to self: tuck a spare pair of gloves in your pocket!)

We did get snow, too, later in the day. The big snow storm they'd been calling for began just before 4 p.m. and lasted into the night sometime. It hit us with about six to eight inches of wet, heavy snow, with a bit of sleety stuff mixed in. It was heavy to shovel, but as of mid-day Monday, we've gotten most of it removed, via shovel. Now come the winds, or so they say!

Lessons learned (or relearned) on this day:

*Fresh bubble mix gives you more dynamic surface movement on the bubbles, and more variety in frost patterns.
*If it's REALLY cold out (single digits, for instance), skip the part where you let the bubble mix cool outdoors for a half-hour before you go out.
*Try to find a way to keep the gloves ON. And tuck a spare pair in your pocket.
*Use warm, NOT HOT, water to warm up the cold fingers afterwards.

The process of making frozen bubbles can be very delightful and even sort of peaceful and soothing. Winter's magic is some of the best magic there is. The frost fire magic in dead of winter makes the bubbles even more beautiful. I have mentioned that it feels like watching as the world is created. Each bubble was birthed as its own new world, and each bubble crumbled into bits as it fell, at the end. So here are two songs to cover the start and end of the Great Winter Magic Making:
1. Ever Since the World Began, originally by Survivor, but covered in this video by Arnel Pineda (current front man for Journey) and the Zoo band.
2. Watching Worlds Crumble, by one of my all-time favorite bands, Glass Tiger.

P.S. And here's a link to my one canonical source of bubble-making tips.