*points above* Do you see that? That’s frozen bubbles on a pine tree. I am one happy woman. I finally managed to get bubbles to freeze. I love bubbles and ever since I read about this phenomenon a few years ago I’ve been dying to try. Unfortunately, the last two winters here have been less winter and more autumn redux with a splash of spring thrown in for good measure.

This week the temps here fell into the single digits with the wind chill making it minus something in the tens and teens so I finally had the perfect opportunity for a serious attempt at freezing bubbles. This fall and winter have been quite cold so I had already tried with no success a time or two before with dollar store bubbles when the temps were in the teens and twenties in December.

I’m almost certain my neighbors think I’m nuts standing outside at 7am blowing bubbles in the bitter cold but this quest became an obsession and I just had to make it work.

I used the recipe listed in the blog post on Apartment Therapy that inspired me to try to freeze bubbles once again. So on Monday night I ran out to Walmart to buy corn syrup and generic dish detergent before the temps fell into the single digits on Tuesday.

I went out Tuesday afternoon when the temps were at their most bitter cold and windy. I stood in the bitter cold blowing bubbles carried off by the wind, not one froze. Once again I was disappointed. I woke up Wednesday morning inspired and ready to try again before the temps warmed up to the twenties and much to my very happy surprise it worked. The bubbles froze!

I ran in, grabbed my camera and macro lens and ran back out to take a few photos. In thinking about this morning’s success I think two important factors are the reason the bubbles finally froze this morning.

1. It wasn’t windy. The winds were calm, which allowed the bubbles to waft rather than be caught by the wind and blow away. The bubbles had a few seconds more to waft through the bitter cold morning air then land.
2. I stepped off the front step and moved onto the grass. The bubbles will not and cannot remain intact when they land on cement. To remain intact when they land the bubbles have to land on a soft surface like snow, or grass, or leaves, or in my case a pine tree.

The link says that you need the bitter cold temps of the single digits and low tens for this to be a success, but I am going to try again tomorrow morning when the temps are in the twenties just to see if you actually need the really bitter temps or if anything below freezing will work. I’ll let you know how I make out.

xo xo

~ Carol Anne

To see all of the photos from this morning visit my Flickr page.