Glowby the Bubbler

27/07/2024

It's a gruesome but necessary step in the creation of my Snowthrowers. I decapitate my birdies as quickly as possible to minimize their suffering.

21/07/2024

Deploying an early version of my Snowthrower. The rung/ribs of newer ones are curved. More action that way.

17/07/2024

Pricing for my new Snowthrowers is $220 each.

Specifications:

It's 4 feet (122cm) long, plus 8 inches (20cm) for the handle and connections

Top and bottom rungs are 4.5 inches (12cm) wide

Bottom rung has silicone end bumpers

Center rungs are 6 inches (15cm) wide

Netting is 78g of 100% cotton - 4 x 24 feet (1.2 x 7.3 m) if opened

Total weight is about 230g

Ball bearing swivels in handle and connection to net

Color options: Blue or red

For those who already asked to be put on the wait list, I'll contact you in the order that you spoke up.

11/07/2024

I have a new bubble toy for you all! I call it a snowthrower. It makes grownups gasp and kids scream for more.

Just soak it and swing it. You get a huge cloud of snowflake size bubbles. The kids feel they're in bubble heaven and laugh at the sparkles in each others hair. Precious photo ops for mom and dad.

Of course, you'll get drenched in bubbles too. Raincoat/poncho not included.

I'm sending out prototypes now to some of my favorite bubble hobbyists and entertainers.

As with all my products, I'll tweak its design as I get feedback and play with new ideas. I expect and hope that other bubble equipment makers/hobbyists will explore this concept. I don't patent anything. Life's too short to get lawyers involved, if you can avoid it.

Pricing and options coming soon. I'm still doing time studies on its construction. It's pretty tricky to make!

09/06/2024

I'm going of course! Many of my heroes, friends, and clients from the world of bubbles will be there.

Can't wait to meet all these incredible entertainers!

My contributions to the industry are weaving, braiding, splicing, gluing, and tying fussy little knots - for hours or days on end - to supply growing troupes of bubble entertainers.

I'm bringing a box full of my "hopeful monsters." I experiment a LOT with different materials, designs, and building techniques. They all make bubbles. More or less. Some more. Some less. More on that later...

Event website here: https://bubblefestivals.wixsite.com/worldwide

29/05/2024

"Boy Blowing Soap Bubbles: Allegory on the Transitoriness and the Brevity of Life"

By Karel Dujardin, 1663

I have questions...

Why are the seas rough, but the kid's hair and bubbles are in a dead calm?

Is he paddling with his right foot or just keeping his balance?

What's he wearing? The cloth for a 20 ft table?

What's that red branching thing above the pearls? It's not an oyster part. Coral? Veins?

Why such a homely child? Is it a boy or an ugly girl? A relative?

Obviously his foot doesn't pop the bubble because his pedicure is as fine as his manicure.

Wiki info here: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Karel_Dujardin_-_Boy_Blowing_Soap_Bubbles._Allegory_on_the_Transitoriness_and_the_Brevity_of_Life_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

26/03/2024

Weapons of mass diversion by Glowby the Arms Dealer

21/03/2024

New this year with Specialty Insurance! I'm no longer an "other" performer.

09/03/2024

From 10 years ago! I called them my Bluebblers.

The idea was to build my garlands faster and therefore more affordably, by building a lot of loops all at once. They were modular(?). Clients could order any (even) number of loops and I could quickly assembly their garlands by joining the pairs with split rings.

I soon moved on to other designs. Individual loops are more resistant to early blowouts as you're lifting them from the juice, and allow for more loops per meter. The split rings can snag on the fabric of the cord too.

23/02/2024

CHEERIO THERBLIGS

I find myself channeling Frank Bunker Gilbreth. He's a pro efficiency expert who coined the term "therblig", a unit of motion to accomplish some task.

I track my therbligs well. I break every task into little units and record the time it takes, averaging a good number of trials. It helps me fairly price my stuff and pay myself.

I have 8 yrs of time studies on my cheerios now. And goddammit! It always comes out about the same! After 1000s of rings of practice you'd think I'd make them a lot faster. Right?

No. For every second I save on one therblig, I add more to some other therblig, like improving appearance or durability. My time-motion studies always come out almost exactly the same. A net 0 +/- build time!

14/02/2024

I have new bubble yarns for us!

Move over Ella Rae Cozy Comfort bamboo/wool. Valley's Southwick cotton/bamboo performs about as well, is much more durable, and has more color choices.

Artiste's #8 crochet cotton is going extinct too,. They stopped claiming to be mercerized years ago. Tahki's Classic Cotton mercerized is the real thing and works great right off the hank. I expect it to improve with use too, like other cottons. (Thanks to my color-sighted lady friends at King Pin Lanes for helping me with the color identification, selection, and naming.)

Valley and Tahki proved excellent for nets and webs. I'm sure the Tahki will be very good for braided swivel garlands. Bamboo blends don't do well in garlands.

For you Ella fans, I still have some remnants and a few other (unpopular) colors are available from my suppliers.

01/02/2024

Dear clients. I'm sorry. I need a couple more days in Chile. I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

~~~

Estimados clientes. Lo lamento. Necesito un par de días más en Chile. Comunicaré contigo tan pronto como pueda.

28/01/2024

I was able to make a good solution with ice cold water from this stream. It's a beautiful place to bubble! But the breeze was blowing straight off the ocean. Only the passing traffic was able to enjoy the bubbles much.

26/01/2024

For years I've used Ella Ray Cozy Comfort bamboo/wool and Artiste #8 cotton crochet yarn in my equipment. But they're going extinct.

I've rounded up all the most likely replacement candidates and now it's time for testing.

My requirements are…

Currently manufactured.
Good variety of colors.45 to .55 grams/meter.
Works very well in nets and webs.

A client is kindly stress-testing Valley Yarn’s Southwick cotton/bamboo. Very promising. Meanwhile...

I've just finished preliminary testing of these yarns. Sadly the bamboo varieties are unsuitable. But the cotton is fantastic! I want to try it in a swivel garland too.

24/11/2023

Early stages of my ritual for making braided twine garlands.

From the left - Raw twine. Braided. Boiled with soda ash. Hot bleached. Abraded and marked for cuts.

26/09/2023

Good news! It took me about 10 sessions and 20 hours of bubbling, but I finally washed that nasty new Dawn Pro out of my equipment. Using a Dawn Platinum mix did the job. Now my rigs are nice and supple again when they dry, and perform better sooner.

It wasn't so easy with my cheerio though. Pro really screwed it up. It also needed an overnight soak in 60% isopropyl alcohol to get it back on the road to recovery.

30/08/2023

Goodbye Ella Rae - Another Yarn Bites the Dust.

I've worked about 4km (2.5mi) into nets, webs, garlands, and tri-strings for me and my clients.

But I'm sorry to say that Ella Rae's "Cozy Comfort" bamboo/wool is virtually extinct now. Available colors are vanishing from online shops. Hoarders on eBay are selling out. My personal hoard is dwindling fast.

I'm always looking for good net yarns and have found some good. Few have the color selection that Ella had. But all are lighter, especially when wet, and more durable too. We'll see how they perform...

This is my current Ella inventory in grams, and some of her more promising replacement candidates I'm focusing on brands that AREN'T on the verge of extinction, perform well, and have good color choices.

06/07/2023

Harvesting yarn from a mophead is a rite of passage for aspiring bubble hobbyists. For most, it's a once-in-a-lifetime task that yields a lifetime supply. But then there's Glowby...

02/06/2023

Before I stumbled into bubbles, I was a software developer. High-speed document scanning systems. Very efficient. Upon installation, half the data entry staff was let go or shuffled around. We killed jobs.

Nowadays my clients use my equipment to create a job for themselves, or even build troupes of entertainers. I've never been so proud of my work.

I'm forever grateful to all who have trusted me to create your entertainment equipment. I love knowing that as you use it, we're creating millions of smiles.

Thanks bubble world!

29/05/2023

My Dawn Pro mix failed miserable last week. Air temps went down to about 60F (16C), and my solution became useless, milky looking. I'm used to this when I bubble in winter, but this was just a cool spring day.

I'd hit the Krafft point, the temperature below which the polymers in our solutions become insoluble.

To see where my points are. I made 17:1 mixes of Dawn Pro and Ultra and popped them in the fridge. These were the results.

25/05/2023

I always thought these 4-petal purple and white flowers were called phlox or speedwell. They're all over the place this time of year. It turns out they're an invasive species in the mustard family called Dame's rocket (hesperis matronalis). Honeysuckle is invasive too! So no native plant species were harmed in the creation of these photos.

25/05/2023

19/05/2023

It's a special custom request from a client. A braided loop of great bubbling yarn with a cheerio attached. It's a really fun toy! Many ways to make bubbles. With a simple knot you can add more rings.

My first feeling was to call it a "lasso". What would you call it?

21/04/2023

Cheerio bubblers are SO CUTE when they're babies!!!