About a month ago we were at the Saturday Morning Market when Elijah asked me to buy him a $10 bubble wand. I had never seen one before but it was pretty cool the way it made huge bubbles almost effortlessly. It appeared to be made out of dowels and some string so for $10 I wasn’t sold.
When I gave him my answer that I wouldn’t be buying it, he asked if I could make one for him. That’s my boy, he’s learning! So I found some sticks in the backyard, some twine and eye-hooks in our shed and bead in our craft bin to put it together. To please my crafty side, I dip dyed the ends of the sticks in some white paint and have now lived to tell the tale of dipping something in a can of paint.
What you’ll need: Two sticks or dowels, cut to one and a half to two feet. Two eye-hooks. Cotton twine, embroidery floss or yarn. A washer or a bead. Paint, if dip dyeing.
If using sticks, sand and clean them slightly. Then, to dip dye, protect your work surface and simply dip the end of the sticks into some paint. I used Behr’s Ultra Pure White in an eggshell finished since it is what I had on hand. Remove the stick from the paint and set on an elevated surface. Here was my set up. Fancy, right?
After about five minutes, I went back with a small paint brush and painted in the drips. Couldn’t I have just painted the ends of the sticks without dipping them? Well, yes… but where’s the fun in that?
Once your paint has had time to dry and cure, attach one eye hook to the end of each stick (or dowel). Then cut two strings of twine, one half the size of the other. Mine were 2 feet and 1 foot long, but I imagine you could make one using a 4 foot piece of string and a 2 foot piece of string.
Starting with the longer string, tie it to one of the eye hooks. Before tying the other end to the second hook, string the bead through then loop the string around and thread the bead through a second time. Like this…
Lastly, take the shorter string and tie it to both eye hooks.
That’s it! Pretty easy for hours of entertainment. I brought this along to our picnic and had it out for Elijah’s ice cream party.
I will say, though, that the big bead makes it a little tricky to form a bubble. I think using a washer would make it easier, but the bed was so cute I couldn’t resist.
So what have you been making lately? Have you ever refused to buy sometime because you knew you could DIY it?!
This is awesome! 🙂 I love it- did you buy your bubble solution or make it?
I picked up a large bottle from the dollar store. I think next time I'll make some!
What a fun tutorial! I love that it's so simple and easy, and most of the supplies are probably laying around most people's homes. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Meagan!
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