Ways of creating athmospheric particles etc

A few months ago I did a stills shoot for a magazines Christmas cover and we had a full up Alpine snow scene built by Snow Business UK (I believe they have franchises around the world where you can rent their kit and or labour if you need it). When they were 'snowing up' the set they were using a system of very very fine shredded paper that as it is blown out of the tube it is doused in a fine mist of water. We were in a studio that, after letting it settle for 10 mins, the particles floating in the beam of the one 12k HMI were just mesmerising. It got me thinking that you could use this in very short 'dust bursts' (you don't want it coming out and settling like snow) and it could be amazing in that it just 'sat there' - no fog, no smoke, just particles suspended in air. It was fabulous.

Close up I have found there (replicating stuff from a can) is no substitute for a 'garden pressurised pesticide dispenser with variable mist control' filled with a dilution of baby oil and warm water.

Atmosferic effects are great, they give a real 3D effect!!!