My friends and family all pretty much thought I had flipped when I
told them that for the past week or so I was outside in the bitter
cold blowing bubbles. Who could blame them? This is not normal. Even
for Minnesotans who sometime get a little whacky from cabin fever in
February, this is only December.
My idea to make these bubbles all started by stumbling onto some
frost formation images using soap bubbles. I was instantly intrigued
by this. Some of the "frost globe" images I saw were incredibly
beautiful. I thought that using a bit of ingenuity I could bring
these images to life in the form of a video.
Little did I know at the time how much science there is behind
making these bubbles and how addictive they are to make. Every
bubble is just a like a snowflake--they are all unique in how they
form and how they progress over time. Temperature, humidity,
infrared heat, soap-solution temperature and even where they rest
all play a role in what type of patterns will form.
And then there are various recipes for making the soap solution.
I've tried all sorts of mixes and so far, the best I have found is:
6 parts water
2 parts dish soap
1 part corn syrup
I have also tried various dish soaps and so far Dawn seems to be the
best, but I'm far from trying everything.
My first attempt at making frost bubbles were outside. I thought it
would be "cool" to make them with the reflection of the sun. My
biggest frustration however was the wind. That wind really burst my
bubble!

Eventually I gave up with the outdoor idea and I decided to move my
operations into my man cave. It's unheated at present and with
temperatures in the upper teens and low 20's (F) and no wind, it
made for the perfect environment.
It took me a few days to get the backdrop, lighting and platform to
my liking, but eventually I got it all working together and it made
for some really stunning 4k video. Here are a few stills taken from
my latest video on Vimeo. I added a starry background to give the
frozen bubbles a rather unworldly look.


As my holiday gift to you, sit back and enjoy my
video entitled "Frozen Worlds." This is best viewed full-screen on
Vimeo:
Happy Winter Solstice, Merry Christmas and Happy
New Year to All!
—Alan Stankevitz
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