Meet the Bubble Man

Joy of teaching continues to bubble up for retired educator. His videos on Tik Tok have generated over five million views

By Stefan Yablonski

Blowing bubbles is more than just a hobby for Tom Altman — it’s a teaching tool.

Altman taught physics, science and technology at Oswego High School for 35 years, from 1981 to 2016.

During that time he also managed to invent a new technique for making holograms that is used around the world, create a laser optics kit used by thousands of students and make personal appearances at all the major science teacher conventions for more than a decade.

A couple years ago, he published a book that focuses on the STEM behind the structures of bubbles and their interactions. The book, “Bubble Construction Kit: Build Amazing Bubble Structures,” is intended to teach readers and even street performers how to construct bubbles and problem-solve on their own, he said.

“During the pandemic, I became busy writing textbooks. That involved quite a bit of research; so when I would take a break from writing, I would create bubbles and bubble art — building geometric structures and coming up with new techniques to show the kids. I built a bubble construction kit and put together a book on how to use it. There’s a lot of science and research that goes into that, too,” Altman explained.

He said he has always been interested in bubbles, their light and colors and everything. After he retired, he got commissioned by a company out of Boston to write text books — hired to write four of the textbooks.

It’s hard; textbook research is grueling, he said.

“You can’t write a paragraph without checking to make sure you’re in line with the most recent research and the most recent findings; things change. You have to cross reference and in my research I was going through a lot of journals,” he said. “When you’re doing research like that, it’s mentally exhausting. I would take a break and come out and create bubbles.”

Armed with soap, polymer, water and dozens of homemade bubble wands and gadgets, Altman recently explained how bubbles are created, change color and eventually disappear.

“A soap bubble cycles through four different stages. You’ll see that it starts off as a purple hue, then transitions to red, goes to a golden color and then it becomes clear and disappears,” Altman explained.

He has created a TikTok page, @thomasaltman42, with videos that have generated more than five million views.

A lot of bubble performers come from performance clowns, street magicians, he said.

The most famous performer in the bubble universe, Tom Noddy, responded to one of Altman’s Facebook posts and encouraged him to continue his bubble work.

Noddy is “the father of the entire realm of indoor bubble tricks,” Altman said.

And then Altman got deeper into the bubble world.

“What I discovered was these guys are amazing performers,” he said.

Some didn’t really understand the science of bubbles. They were explaining it to a class; they were using words that they heard other people use, but didn’t really understand how it worked, he said.

“So after I finished my fourth book, I was still in the book writing mentality. I went ahead and wrote about the science of bubbles. It was something kind of for my nieces and nephews to use during the pandemic. So that is how I got involved initially,” he said.

“I’ve been doing this probably a full three years now. There was some overlap of me experimenting on my own and then toward mid- to late-2021 I was getting involved in the global community and I came up with some new things. I watched what everybody else did and I got some new ideas, came up with some innovations.”

He makes and sells wands.

“I have different things that I have created. And people said, ‘oh that’s nice. Will you make one for me?’ I’ve made a dozen or so wands; I came up with some innovative styles,” he said. “Performers who charge $400, $500 to do a birthday party; they want stuff that looks professional. They don’t to use little plastic wands that kids have in their toy boxes. They want to come in with fancy equipment.”

Some of the wands he’s created sell for $200.

He describes himself as the bubble influencer.

The bubble cube is the standard of all bubble artists, he said. It was created by Tom Noddy in the late ‘70s and has been performed all over the planet. Consisting of six surrounding bubbles, a seventh one, in the middle, experiences pressure on six sides, resulting in a cubic shape. The vapor is water and glycerin that is heated in a small unit similar to a vape pen.

Some performers do a trick where they create a huge bubble over a child.

“I don’t do kid in a bubble; that’s just for photo ops and it’s not fun for the kid in the bubble,” Altman said. “I don’t use kids as props.”

Recently, some are putting fire inside their bubbles (with butane). They light it and it’s very spectacular, a big ball of flame, Altman said.

“But I don’t do that. I’ve done some pretty cool stuff, but I don’t do that for kids,” he added. “My whole idea is to show them how they can do stuff themselves — fire bubbles is not one of the things I want to show them how to do!”

Altman is a member of the Association of International Bubble Artists. He is a bubble performer, but there is also a scientific and creative aspect to his performances.

“There are some of us in the organization that just make tools. There is a group known for their props, a group known for their giant stage shows and a lot of performers,” he said.

All over Europe there are thousands of people doing bubble performances.

“There’s just a handful here in Central New York,” he added.

People go to Walmart and see a wall dedicated to bubbles — they think why hire someone when you can go to Walmart and get bubble stuff?

“Because they don’t know what can be done. It’s not just, ‘I got a bucket of water and I’ll pour some dish soup in there and make bubbles’,” Altman pointed out. “The chemistry is way more complex. But to be fair, you can take water and Dawn and you can add a fruit abdicative, a thickener — it’s a polymer — to make bubbles.  Performers will have five different recipes to make their bubbles.”

“Several thousand dollars have been invested in materials for building the wands and the bubble mixes and many hundreds of hours have been spent in research and development in attempts to create the ‘perfect mix’ and the most creative wands. All of this to insure a unique experience for participants of the Altman Science Bubble Experience,” he continued.

“Retired, but not retired. I am having a lot of fun. I come out here and make bubbles and try to come up with new ideas.”