Winter Pearls - Frozen Nighttime Bubbles

The year 2014 began with the deep freeze of a polar vortex.  I heard about people doing all kinds of water "experiments" like tossing cups of hot water into the air and blowing bubbles during freezing temperatures to see what happens during the process. 

Blowing bubbles in the winter!  This is something that caught my attention and is right up  my alley:  cold temperatures, ice crystals, and blowing bubbles!   I simply HAD to try this myself!  And I had great success.

My first experiment was around 10:00 at night on the first Friday of January.  I couldn't wait until morning, so I bundled up and went outside on our front deck with homemade bubble solution and my camera. 

It was hard to get any bubbles that didn't pop upon contact with anything, but one tiny one landed on the deck railing.  In the darkness, it looked like a little pearl!  It broke after a few moments.  The next one was bigger, and I was able to watch crystals form inside the bubble right before my eyes. 

I ran into a few technical snags, but learned from them as my experiments were underway.  I was ready to pack it up for the night when I noticed several bubbles landed on the deck floor and did not pop!  I quickly went to work and got some shots--now these were truly "Winter Pearl" --the working title of the project that became the official title once I saw these gems:

Needless to say, I became so excited over this project, I could hardly sleep that night!  I couldn't wait for the next day which was supposed to be continued freezing and sunny.  I had all night to think about the issues I ran into and how I can improve on the outcome.  Morning was a long time to come!