Bubbling Over—The Bubble Empire of Hold Enterprises

Three large bubbles are blown onto a tabletop using an acrylic tube, with another bubble blown on top of the first three to form a pyramid. Then, using another tube, the top bubble is filled with smoke until eventually it bursts, sending the smoke rocketing into the sky. This is “Dragon Spitting Pearls.”

A large bubble is blown, then its outside is gently blown at from a distance of about one centimeter, creating tiny bubbles inside it. This is “Bubbles within Bubbles.” “Orbiting Satellite,” “Volcanic Eruption,” “Magic Cube,” “Caterpillar,” “Beehive”... bubble master Su Chang-tai can create big bubbles, little bubbles, layered bubbles, reproducing bubbles, dancing bubbles, rolling bubbles, round bubbles, and even cuboid bubbles.

The key to the many different marvelous parts of Su’s bubble shows is his bubble liquid, 100% made in Taiwan and developed by well-established local company Hold Enterprises and their brand Uncle Bubble.

After blowing one bubble, blow at the middle of that bubble gently and steadily and you can blow more bubbles inside it—this is the “bubbles within bubbles” trick.

Hold Enterprises was founded in 1986, and the company has since become known as a specialist in bubble toys. Chairman Lin Meng­sheng started out as a hobbyist, producing bubble soap and selling it in local parks, before starting his own company. After making NT$8 million in its first year, by 2002 the company had reached an annual turnover of NT$300 million and employed 60 people. Although the company has halved in size again over the past 10 years, it remains a leader in the field.

Unlike many other locally founded companies, which gain a firm footing in the domestic market before looking to expand overseas, Hold Enterprises has always contented itself with contract manufacturing, shipping product around the world, with some 80% going to Europe, North America, and Japan.

In 2000, Hold Enterprises did as many other companies have and moved its production to mainland China. Their timing turned out not to be so great, however, and as a result of factors like the SARS scare and growing problems in the financial sector, they packed up their toys in 2004 and came back home. The bubble business was not so easily burst, though, and the company set about looking for even more new ways to innovate and improve quality in an effort to differentiate themselves from their cut-price competitors from the mainland.

The “Magic Cube” is one of Su’s own inventions. First, he blows three bubbles, forming a triangle, on both of two acrylic boards. Next, he sandwiches the two triangles together, fusing the bubbles and creating a sealed-off, cuboid space inside. Su then inserts a smoke-filled tube into the space and blows a smoke-filled, cuboid bubble; he then reaches in and gently pulls this bubble out. Finally, Su pokes a hole in the bubble, sending smoke leaking out. It truly is a magical sight to behold.

Much like the formula for Coca-Cola, only a select few people know Hold Enterprises’ bubble formula, and no-one is telling.

In general terms, the core components of bubble liquid are surfactants to get the bubble going, water-soluble colloids to strengthen the bubble, and glycerine to help the bubble last. The differences in ingredients between bubble liquids are generally small, mostly taking the form of differences in type and proportion.

Andy Lin, second-generation head of Hold Enterprises, reveals that the base of their bubble liquid is reverse-osmosis-purified water, with anions of calcium, magnesium, and the like removed. This is because these elements can lower foamability.

On top of this, because bubbles often end up touching human skin or being accidentally ingested by children, to ensure safety Hold Enterprises uses skin-friendly, cosmetics-grade ingredients and puts them through a barrage of physical and safety tests, as well as earning certification of the liquid’s non-toxic nature from the European Union. According to Lin, the company has already spent some NT$1 million on testing alone.

The quality of the liquid will impact the longevity and colors of the bubbles it produces. Lin notes that blowing bubbles is like building a house—a good foundation is critical to the strength and longevity of the final product. The environment also needs to be taken into account—for example, a bubble 30 centimeters across in 60% humidity and 20-plus degrees Celsius can hold up for about six minutes before bursting.

Hold Enterprises haven’t just focused on the liquid, though. They’ve also invested no small effort into studying bubble toys, getting plenty of patents along the way.

Take, for example, their “Unbelievabubble Sword,” which is patented in Taiwan, Europe, the US, and Japan. Being able to swing the bubble-liquid-coated blade through the air makes the bubble-blowing process easier, and the unusual expanding blade is a revolution in bubble blowing, enabling big, even gigantic bubbles.

In late April, Su Chang-tai successfully broke the world record for the most soap bubble domes created inside each other, creating 15 where the old record was 12.

Lin, who was just married in May, was handed the reins of the company by his father Lin Mengsheng in 2007, and he immediately set about thinking up ways the company could build on the foundation laid by his father by building its own brand.

Last July, opportunity knocked. Su Chang-tai, a magician by trade, had just started up Be Fantasy and came to Lin looking for ways to rehearse and create a show around bubbles. The two hit it off immediately, and since then Hold Enterprises has provided bubble liquid to Su for practice purposes. “Having someone like him doing such amazing things with our bubble liquid has been the best possible advertising,” says Lin.

A graduate in theatre arts of Taipei National University of the Arts, the 31-year-old Su has appeared in numerous TV shows and movies, but lacking movie-star good looks made it hard for him to make a name for himself in drama. He decided instead to put his performance skills to use as a magician, and one day he stumbled across a bubble-based show online, inspiring his interest in using bubbles and sparking his desire to become Taiwan’s “bubble master.”

With Lin’s unconditional support, Su shut himself away for months, practicing with bubbles for four to eight hours a day, and gradually developed an intimate understanding of the “personality” and intricacies of bubbles.

At first he would just blow for all he was worth, making bubbles that burst easily. Over time, he came to understand that the most important things are breath consistency and control, so to improve his breath control he forced himself to take up running. A few months later, he could blow for much longer.

He also developed a color-based system for understanding the longevity of bubbles. “When the bubbles look pink or green early on, that’s when they’re strongest and most ready for manipulation. Later they turn purple, yellow, or light blue, and that’s when they’re right on the edge of collapse. Soon after that, they burst.

The extendability and durability of the bubble liquid is critical in determining the potential size of bubbles, but a good understanding of bubbles and blowing techniques can increase the chances of success dramatically.

“Moisture is important too,” says Su. Everything that touches the bubbles needs to be moist, from the tube he uses to blow to the tabletop, otherwise the bubbles will burst more easily.

Due to the effect of gravity, the water in bubbles tends to move downward, making the top the most fragile part and the usual starting point for bursting. Hence when putting his tube into bubbles, Su avoids the top and goes for the sides.

The “Magic Cube” is one of Su’s own inventions. First, he blows three bubbles, forming a triangle, on both of two acrylic boards. Next, he sandwiches the two triangles together, fusing the bubbles and creating a sealed-off, cuboid space inside. Su then inserts a smoke-filled tube into the space and blows a smoke-filled, cuboid bubble; he then reaches in and gently pulls this bubble out. Finally, Su pokes a hole in the bubble, sending smoke leaking out. It truly is a magical sight to behold.

To prove the strength of Uncle Bubble’s liquid, Lin aimed to have it used to break every bubble-related Guinness world record. In just a few months, three of the dozen or so records had fallen.

The first to go was the record for bubbles inside bubbles.

Samsam Bubble Man, a self-proclaimed “bubbleologist” from the UK, was and is the holder of several bubble-related records, including one for blowing 66 smaller bubbles inside one large bubble.

Last December, though, Hold Enterprises was responsible for not just breaking that record, but more than doubling it, reaching a total of 152 bubbles inside a bubble. This new record was recognized and certified by Guinness World Records in February.

Another record was shattered repeatedly last year, the record for “Most Bounces with a Single Bubble.” Starting with a new record of 76 bounces, then 103, and ultimately 133, in mid April Hold Enterprises successfully achieved a new record of 195 bounces.

On April 26, Su Chang-tai broke another record, that for the most soap bubble domes created inside one another, breaking Canadian bubble artist Fan Yang’s record of 12 by reaching a total of 15 domes.

The difficulty in creating bubble domes, says Su, comes from them having to be concentric and from the ever-decreasing space between the bubbles as they get more and more numerous. The blower can’t see the domes properly, and instead has to rely on intuition, all the while knowing the smallest slip can render all that hard work worthless.

Next in the sights of Uncle Bubble and the Bubble Master is the record for largest free-floating bubble, a true test of the extendability of the bubble liquid.

Lin says breaking this record—which stands at 13.67 cubic meters and was set by American Jarom Watts in 2009—will need not only somewhere to practice, but also carefully tailored tools. We await the results with bated breath.

While these records have increased the company’s international visibility, Lin has also been using toy fairs to build the domestic market, along with passing along tips and tricks for blowing bubbles. In the past, he says, the company primarily sold performance-grade, professional bubble liquid overseas, while most of the toys and liquid on Taiwanese store shelves were imported from mainland Chinese companies. Now he hopes to begin developing the domestic market, giving Taiwanese consumers the chance to experience performance-grade, locally made bubble liquid and the fun it can provide.

The bubble liquid of Uncle Bubble and the performances of Su Chang-tai have left an impression on many who’ve seen them, and when Su performs, many of the children in the audience can’t help but jump around and try to catch the bubbles.

Much like the prestidigitation of magic, bubbles have a particular fascination for many. A magic performance and a bubble show differ significantly, though, says Su. With magic, you have to practice until you know the tricks better than inside out so that nothing can possibly go wrong during the actual show. With bubbles, meanwhile, even if you know the technique better than you know your own name, there are still going to be factors you can’t control on the day, so you have to adapt. For example, if the air is too dry, you can’t blow really big bubbles and you need to move quickly to stop the bubbles from bursting mid-show.

Hold Enterprises and Su have joined forces for the upcoming toy fair in July at the Taipei World Trade Center, with Su preparing to put on a show for the crowds using the company’s globally sold, locally made professional bubble liquid.

So when was the last time you invited your inner child out to play? Does he/she still have that old passion for bubbles? Why not try it for yourself and blow the dust off your childhood innocence and excitement with some rainbow-colored bubbles?

Long-standing Taiwanese brand Uncle Bubble and bubble maestro Su Chang-tai (left) have joined forces in an effort to break every bubble-related world record.

Hold Enterprises’ “Super Bubble Liquid” can produce bubbles as big as a person that stay intact for several seconds. People who get these bubbles made around them can even blow more bubbles out of them, given the bubbles’ thin surface membrane.

The “Magic Cube” is one of Su’s own inventions. First, he blows three bubbles, forming a triangle, on both of two acrylic boards. Next, he sandwiches the two triangles together, fusing the bubbles and creating a sealed-off, cuboid space inside. Su then inserts a smoke-filled tube into the space and blows a smoke-filled, cuboid bubble; he then reaches in and gently pulls this bubble out. Finally, Su pokes a hole in the bubble, sending smoke leaking out. It truly is a magical sight to behold.

The “Magic Cube” is one of Su’s own inventions. First, he blows three bubbles, forming a triangle, on both of two acrylic boards. Next, he sandwiches the two triangles together, fusing the bubbles and creating a sealed-off, cuboid space inside. Su then inserts a smoke-filled tube into the space and blows a smoke-filled, cuboid bubble; he then reaches in and gently pulls this bubble out. Finally, Su pokes a hole in the bubble, sending smoke leaking out. It truly is a magical sight to behold.