# bubbling water and smoke



## domiii (Aug 4, 2007)

We are doing "Once Upon a Mattress" and there is a scene where the wizard is making up a 'sleeping potion'.

I would like to have the cauldron bubble and smoke, but don't want to use dry ice.

Any ideas?


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## Chaos is Born (Aug 4, 2007)

... dry ice and a bubble sound effect...?

Actor who has nothing to do and a lot of hot air blowing into the end of a straw that feeds into the cauldron. smoke? have the actor be a chain smoker?


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## Footer (Aug 4, 2007)

Chaos is Born said:


> ... dry ice and a bubble sound effect...?
> Actor who has nothing to do and a lot of hot air blowing into the end of a straw that feeds into the cauldron. smoke? have the actor be a chain smoker?



You should know this.... 

http://www.mainlandmart.com/fruits.html


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## domiii (Aug 4, 2007)

WOW!

Looks just like what I want and inexpensive enough for my budget. With a wireless controller!!

After I get one I'll report back on how well it works.


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## Footer (Aug 4, 2007)

domiii said:


> WOW!
> Looks just like what I want and inexpensive enough for my budget. With a wireless controller!!
> After I get one I'll report back on how well it works.



They work freakishly well. If you want to play with one, spencers (store in most malls) sells them. They are not as big there, but these things do actually work. Also, you can buy just the thing that makes the smoke on that site. You can also get bigger ones.


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## Chaos is Born (Aug 4, 2007)

Footer4321 said:


> You should know this....
> http://www.mainlandmart.com/fruits.html



Yes, its been a long week and i needed to just not be serious for a while.


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## gafftaper (Aug 4, 2007)

I got one of those at the county fair last year. It's a sweet little device. My only concern would be that the audience wouldn't see it if they are any distance away. That's the good part of Dry Ice.. it's very visble. When I did Once Upon a Mattress I had a plastic cauldren from the Halloween store, a metal pan inside with the Dry Ice and just before the curtain went up a Techie poured some hot water in the pan. Beautiful and it'll read well from 100 feet away.


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## icewolf08 (Aug 4, 2007)

Those mist fountains are pretty cool, had one in my apartment for a while as decoration. They are just ultrasonic humidifiers. The trick with that is you need to have power on stage for it. Dry ice you can chuck in a cauldron and carry around, it doesn't need to be plugged in. Any particular reason you don't want to use dry ice? It is so simple and effective.


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## domiii (Aug 5, 2007)

Expense, we have 13 shows over 4 weekends.

Storage, we have to order dry ice on Friday and it has to last until Sunday. We have never had any luck with storing it. If we were lucky it would last until Sunday's show.


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## TupeloTechie (Aug 5, 2007)

Is there no place to buy it locally? A bunch of grocery stores sell it.


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## Footer (Aug 5, 2007)

TupeloTechieKid said:


> Is there no place to buy it locally? A bunch of grocery stores sell it.



Some wally worlds sell it, but they are starting to less and less. Dry ice is getting harder and harder to get, especially if you are away from a city center.


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## gafftaper (Aug 5, 2007)

Check with your grocery store or butcher. You've got to be in a pretty small town to not be able to find dry ice on Saturday.


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## Logos (Aug 5, 2007)

The Gargoyle, I so want that in my living room. It would so convince my kids that I've finally gone mad and my grandkids would love it.

(sigh) I'm several thousand KILOMETRES away. It will never happen.


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## Footer (Aug 5, 2007)

Logos said:


> (sigh) I'm several thousand KILOMETRES away. It will never happen.


 Isn't that like 12 feet?........


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## avkid (Aug 5, 2007)

TupeloTechieKid said:


> Is there no place to buy it locally? A bunch of grocery stores sell it.


As mentioned before:
http://www.dryicedirectory.com/usa.htm


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## Van (Aug 6, 2007)

I like those nebulizer things. Dry Ice fog will hang longer and fall further, but I think the effect of a low hanging fog around the top of the cauldron should be quite nice. 
It would be interesting to see what the inside of one of those units is like. I'd like to take one apart and see if it can be battery operated. 


< Yeah that's why my folks never bought me new toys>


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## Footer (Aug 6, 2007)

Van said:


> I like those nebulizer things. Dry Ice fog will hang longer and fall further, but I think the effect of a low hanging fog around the top of the cauldron should be quite nice.
> It would be interesting to see what the inside of one of those units is like. I'd like to take one apart and see if it can be battery operated.
> < Yeah that's why my folks never bought me new toys>



Most run on a DC power supply, so probably. Basicly they are tiny speakers with a fairly large diaphram that produces ultrasonic waves that mist the water.


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## Van (Aug 6, 2007)

Footer4321 said:


> Most run on a DC power supply, so probably. Basicly they are tiny speakers with a fairly large diaphram that produces ultrasonic waves that mist the water.


 

Hmmmmm...... The possibilities seem fascinating.


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## Grog12 (Aug 9, 2007)

Chaos is Born said:


> ... dry ice and a bubble sound effect...?
> Actor who has nothing to do and a lot of hot air blowing into the end of a straw that feeds into the cauldron. smoke? have the actor be a chain smoker?


  >:>


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## domiii (Aug 26, 2007)

Ordered one of the mister things today. Of course got the one with the remote. When it gets here, use it in the show and play with it I will report back.

Wish me luck we open on Sept. 7


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## SHARYNF (Aug 27, 2007)

If you want to be sure the effect is going to work, I'd recommend getting one of these

http://scientificsonline.com/Produc...e-_-cpc-_-edmu-_-dryicemaker&bhcd2=1188193666 

they work great, and you make up what you need just before you need it. 

Sharyn


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## Logos (Aug 27, 2007)

Oh crap I just so live in the wrong country. I just can't buy stuff like that. It's probably illegal here because you can burn yourself on dry ice.
Bother.


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## domiii (Aug 27, 2007)

SHARYNF said:


> If you want to be sure the effect is going to work, I'd recommend getting one of these
> 
> http://scientificsonline.com/Produc...e-_-cpc-_-edmu-_-dryicemaker&bhcd2=1188193666
> 
> ...


 
Sharyn where were you three pages ago!!! Well I ordered the mister, when my budget allows I'll get the dry ice maker.

My problem with dry ice has always been getting it for the Sunday show.


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## SHARYNF (Aug 28, 2007)

Sorry ;-(

I must check all threads each day, 
I must check all threads each day, 
I must check all threads each day, 
I must check all threads each day, 
I must check all threads each day, 
I must check all threads each day, 
I must check all threads each day, 
I must check all threads each day, 
I must check all threads each day, 
I must check all threads each day, 

Sharyn


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## gafftaper (Aug 28, 2007)

SHARYNF said:


> Sorry ;-(
> I must check all threads each day,
> I must check all threads each day,
> I must check all threads each day,
> ...



Sharyn give up your life and stay here on line with the rest of us losers!!

Seriously Sharyn, that's awesome and sounds too good to be true. Have you used one personally? How much do you think it costs to produce say 10lbs of dry ice? The ad makes it sound like you just barely turn the tube on and you have an instant bag of dry ice... meaning a 50lb CO2 tank will last a LONG time. Is it only good for party supplies or can it generate enough dry ice to keep a pea souper happy too?


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## Footer (Aug 28, 2007)

gafftaper said:


> Sharyn give up your life and stay here on line with the rest of us losers!!
> Seriously Sharyn, that's awesome and sounds too good to be true. Have you used one personally? How much do you think it costs to produce say 10lbs of dry ice? The ad makes it sound like you just barely turn the tube on and you have an instant bag of dry ice... meaning a 50lb CO2 tank will last a LONG time. Is it only good for party supplies or can it generate enough dry ice to keep a pea souper happy too?


From the looks of it, they do work, but they make "chipped" ice. Meaning that it will decipate very quickly in a pea souper. What makes pea soupers work best is eithe pellets or large chunks from a block. Their are commercially availble dry ice machines that make pellets, if you are at a university talk to your science department, they might have one.


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## SHARYNF (Aug 28, 2007)

The trick is to make a small wooden box with the size of the final block with a lid that you can press down to pack the ice, take the ice from the bag, pour it into the box, and pack the size block you want. 

There is about a 25 percent efficiency so you do loose quite a bit of CO2, but it works quite well, I find it is easy/cheap to get co2 tanks refilled . I certainy would not use it to make ice for a food processing plant, but for effects 

the trick is to pack it tight and for the block or size you want 

Here are the commercial units

http://www.dryiceinfo.com/mfn.htm

Sharyn


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## gafftaper (Aug 28, 2007)

I followed that link which led to this link http://www.frost-stick.com
They've two products that cost a little more but look more effiicent and look like you're getting more than a bag for your money. Plus they have a compressing tool to make 1.5 lb "pucks". 

I'm finding this VERY intriguing. I've got to research local sources of liquid CO2.


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## gafftaper (Aug 28, 2007)

Footer4321 said:


> From the looks of it, they do work, but they make "chipped" ice. Meaning that it will decipate very quickly in a pea souper. What makes pea soupers work best is eithe pellets or large chunks from a block. Their are commercially availble dry ice machines that make pellets, if you are at a university talk to your science department, they might have one.



Thanks for that tip. We are a small comunity college but the science department just had a big remodel and has a whole bunch of cool new expensive toys. Who knows maybe they have a dry ice maker.


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## avkid (Aug 28, 2007)

gafftaper said:


> I'm finding this VERY intriguing. I've got to research local sources of liquid CO2.


Name: Airgas Nor Pac
Phone: (206) 224-0433
Fax: (206) 623-2530
Address: 4401 Airport Way South,
Seattle, WA 98108

Name: Airgas Nor Pac
Phone: (206) 621-8400
Fax: (206) 621-1192
Address: 601 S. Andover Street,
Seattle, WA 98108-5222

Name: Airgas Nor Pac
Phone: (425) 453-8883
Fax: (425) 453-5991
Address: 1750-124th NE, Suite D,
Bellevue, WA 98005

Name: Airgas Nor Pac
Phone: (425) 487-3688
Fax: (425) 487-3247
Address: 14221 N.E. 190th,
Woodinville, WA 98072

Name: Airgas Nor Pac
Phone: (253) 872-8664
Fax: (253) 872-5274
Address: 22001 68th Ave., South,
Kent, WA 98032


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## SHARYNF (Aug 28, 2007)

the frost stick is cheaper, basically it is just hose and nozzle and you direct it into what ever you want. I tend to recommend the bag version since I have found that depending on the "age" of the person running the tank/tool there is a tendency to spray the stuff all around for "fun" and it can freeze burn people and things if you are not careful 

Need to make sure you have siphon tank, these are marked,and have a tube that runs from the bottom of the tank so that you are getting liquid pushed out. 
Sharyn


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## gafftaper (Aug 28, 2007)

avkid said:


> Name: Airgas Nor Pac
> Phone: (206) 224-0433
> Fax: (206) 623-2530
> Address: 4401 Airport Way South,
> ...



Thanks Phil... I'm busy writing specs so every bit helps.


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## gafftaper (Aug 28, 2007)

SHARYNF said:


> the frost stick is cheaper, basically it is just hose and nozzle and you direct it into what ever you want. I tend to recommend the bag version since I have found that depending on the "age" of the person running the tank/tool there is a tendency to spray the stuff all around for "fun" and it can freeze burn people and things if you are not careful
> Need to make sure you have siphon tank, these are marked,and have a tube that runs from the bottom of the tank so that you are getting liquid pushed out.
> Sharyn



Hey Sharyn, thanks for giving up your life and staying with us today.


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## SHARYNF (Aug 28, 2007)

LOL the bear was sleeping most of today ;-)
Sharyn


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## gafftaper (Aug 29, 2007)

SHARYNF said:


> LOL the bear was sleeping most of today ;-)
> Sharyn



 For those of you who don't know. Sharyn's husband snores a lot.


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