BUBBLES!

Christy Uncategorized 108 Comments

Is there anything more fun than blowing bubbles on a breezy summer day? Yes, there is. And it’s called pouring ink into your bubble soap and making totally awesome background paper.

I discovered this technique on Pinterest (of course). The original pin says to mix food coloring with bubbles, but I have a house full of inks and no food coloring. So I used Distress Re-Inkers instead. Ultimately, I think these work better because Distress Inks are water based and completely washable. Food coloring, on the other hand, tends to stain. I say this as someone who dropped an entire bottle of Aged Mahagony ink on the floor while doing this.)

All I did was buy a few little bottles (4 oz, about 50 cents each) of bubbles, and then squirted 2-3 eyedroppers full of re-inker into each. I did find that it’s best to work with dark colors. I used Dusty Concord, Pine Needles, and Aged Mahagony here. Colors like Milled Lavender and Tumbled Glass would have required way too much ink to make them worth the trouble. Also keep in mind that the more ink you use, the more you dilute your soap. A little squeeze of dish detergent can fix that, though.

As you play you’ll start to see how to create different effects. Bigger bubbles generally leave lighter marks, but can provide really nice splatters. The closer you are to the paper, the more vibrant the colors will be, and if you can get a bubble to land on the paper without popping, it will give you a nice ring–like a coffee cup stain.

I can’t stress enough how messy this process is. Bubbles are unpredictable, and they’re just as likely to blow back and pop on your white shirt as they are to land on the paper. Not that I was wearing a white shirt while I did this. That would be crazy. My trick with anything inky and splashy is to work in a cardboard box. Placing the paper in the bottom and blowing the bubbles down into the box contained most of the spattering.

Of course, I had so much fun making these backgrounds I didn’t have time to actually turn them into anything. I guess I’ll add that to my to-do list for tomorrow.