with Sterling Johnson at night

In the Redwood Grove with Sterling Johnson

Sterling Johnson is a bubblesmith who resides in Faifax, CA. He has been blowing bubbles with his hands since John Kennedy was president.  He co-hosted the first international bubble conference at the Exploratorium in 2009.  He has performed extensively in the Bay
Area, in Tokyo twice, Dubai, and the White House.  He is most interested in helping people see bubbles freshly, to be in the moment and experience a true wonder that nature gives us from soap and water.


Roger Vosberg, a lawyer in my BNI chapter introduced us.
He had an inkling that we'd really enjoy meeting so he connecting us together.

Hear are some questions that Sterling answered about the bubbles.

 

1. What are the bubbles made of?

The bubbles are basically water and soap.  The soap is a mixture of 
detergents tweaked with some other things like glycerine to help the 
bubbles perform better.  When you see a bubble, what you are seeing is 
95% liquid by weight, 99.99% air by volume, and it acts like a solid.  
Nothing else quite like that around us.

2. How do you get the bubbles in bubbles

Bubbles inside bubbles: short answer: I blow at the side of the 
bubble, and if the bubble mix is sufficiently elastic, the force of the 
air will push the film of the bubble inward until the film, seeking a 
smallest  surface (which is also the lowest energy state), will find it 
better to form a separate bubble inside, with the hole that remains on 
the outer surface healing itself .  I know of at least 5 distinctly 
different ways to put a bubble in a bubble.  What allows bubbles inside 
bubbles and what makes bubbles try to be spherical is a wonderfully deep 
principle in natural things that they naturally try to find a lowest 
potential energy state; it is a way to understand gravity, chemical 
reactions, and lost more, and bubbles are the most beautiful example of 
concept.

3. What makes you do something so beautiful knowing it will disappear?

Evanescence:  Bubbles are like people: every one if different and 
everyone is mostly the same.  They all live too short of a time, though 
a few unexpectedly and often unexplainably live much longer than the 
others.  There can be a sadness at how quickly they leave us (bubbles 
and people), particularly for those which seem exceptional; but in the 
end, it is greatly more helpful to give real focus to them while they 
are with us, marvel at their beauty, and accept that  they will not be 
with us for long.  A really good reminder about a life well lived.  And 
besides, if the bubbles all lasted for years, they would get messy, pile 
up, accumulate and we would not treasure them so. That they are 
short-lived is really a part of what makes them special.

I'd love to hear any of your questions and will connect you with Sterling if you'd like to ask him yourself.

Perhaps he can answer them right here.

* Stefanie