Bubble Meditation — Playful Anywhere

Civic Joy Experiments · Week Two

Bubble
Meditation

How to make your wand, mix your bubbles, and begin a daily practice on your threshold.

On bubble meditation

A morning ritual

Alongside coffee, one of my morning rituals is now a kind of bubble meditation. The ways in which you see minute changes in temperature, the garden, the tiny comings and goings in your neighbourhood is becoming a new habit.

The geothermal properties of the house, the wind, the sunlight as it breaks through the trees. It's all so heart stopping.

I notice my breath as I gently blow the bubbles outwards, controlling the shape of them. The way in which the film wobbles before my blowing breaks through the wand frame. I observe the way in which the sheen looks more or less viscous, and wonder how big a portal might emerge.

The dance as light flickers and reflections upon the surfaces through the bubble sheen. Wonderfully prismatic, refractive.

If you want to go deep — and people do go very deep — the Soap Bubble Wiki is a remarkable place.

Part one

Making your bubble wand

Your kit contains a length of string and two rubber ends. The rubber ends fit onto any appropriate stick — a foraged branch, a found dowel, a piece of bamboo, anything roughly the right size. Finding your own sticks is part of the practice.

1

Find your sticks

Two sticks of similar length and thickness — around 30 to 40cm. Foraged from the garden or a walk, or bought. The rubber ends in your kit will grip most sizes. This is your first act of noticing your patch.

2

Attach the rubber ends and thread the string

Push a rubber end onto the tip of each stick. Thread the string through or around each rubber end so it hangs between the two sticks in a generous loop — around 30cm of string between them when held apart.

3

Test the loop

Hold both sticks, one in each hand, and bring them together so the string loops down loosely between them. Dip the loop into your bubble mix and slowly draw the sticks apart as you move through the air. The bubble forms in the string as you go.

Tip: Slower is better. The wand rewards patience. If you rush, the film breaks. If you move gently and let the air do the work, you get something enormous.

Part two

Making your bubble mix

Your kit contains guar gum powder, a small vial of vegetable glycerine mixed into fairy liquid, and distilled water. Don't be too precious. Keep dipping and blowing. Don't swish it.

The most important ingredient is patience. Do not rush this.

1

Stir the Fairy Liquid into the guar gum powder

Add the Fairy Liquid into the guar gum powder until it makes a little slimy paste. Add a little at a time and stir as you go. You are making a paste. If you add too much liquid at once the guar gum will clot and you will spend a long time persuading it to dissolve.

2

Stir to a smooth paste

Keep stirring until you have a smooth, even paste with no lumps. Take your time here. This is the foundation of the whole mix. The guar gum needs to be fully incorporated before you add any water.

3

Add the distilled water slowly

Now add the cold distilled water, a little at a time. Stir, then test with your wand. Stir, then test. You are looking for a mix that holds a film easily and produces bubbles that wobble and drift rather than popping immediately. Keep adding water until you find that balance.

4

Leave it to rest

If you can, cover the mix and leave it for a couple of hours before you use it. The guar gum continues to work as it rests, and the mix improves significantly. Overnight is even better. This is not essential — but it is worth it.

About the glycerine: The vegetable glycerine is in the kit for lustre — it gives the bubbles that shimmering, iridescent quality that catches the light. It is already mixed into the fairy liquid so you do not need to add anything extra.

Part three

The daily practice

Every morning this week, come to your threshold. Your front door, your gate, the place where you cross from inside to outside. Bring your wand and your mix.

Ten minutes. That is all.

Breathe life into the shiny film. Then notice:

The weather

The thermal currents around the door

The waft and wobble of each bubble

The reflections in the film

Your breath as you blow

The air quality

Who observes

Who ignores

Who sees a play cue and cannot help themselves

Bubbles are generous by nature. They drift into other people's space uninvited. They catch the light. They do not last. You cannot control where they go.

That is the whole point.

Ready for your hour?

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