Making "Crystals"

After constructing the bike rack, I started thinking about some of the boys' projects that had been occupying the floor of the garage.  They have had this fascination with crystals lately that doesn't seem to be going away.  Every time we are near the ocean, they dig through the rocks looking for some that might be "crystals".  They paw through the pebbles near the house looking as well.

I had picked up some Borax as I was going to attempt to make my own laundry detergent.  But before I whipping up some of that, I thought perhaps the boys would like to make some crystals which is a project I hadn't done since I was there age.

The materials I used were boiling water, a box of Borax (but you'll only need a few tablespoons of it), craft sticks, thin wire (easy to manipulate), a few jars and 24 hours.

  

We took out a few popsicle sticks from the box of what seems like a million of them.  I cut a few notches in them using my utility knife.  The notches aren't necessary for making the crystals, but I thought it might be fun for the boys to wrap some wire around the craft sticks just to give them a little more dimension.

They wrapped their sticks while we waited for the water to boil.  Once the water boiled, I poured it into the glass jars.  

Then we added the Borax, one Tablespoon at a time stirring well after each addition.  The goal is to create a super-saturated solution with the Borax.  This is the reason you heat the water, because it makes it easier to suspend more of the solute (the Borax) in the solution.  

You will add Borax by the Tablespoon until the water looks cloudy and not all of it is able to dissolve.

At this point you can add your craft sticks or whatever you want to grow your crystals on and leave them to sit overnight.

The next morning you will find giant sparkling crystals have appeared.  I think next time I might try growing some on something more ornate than a craft stick as I have no intention of putting these pups on display.