I created a naturalistic looking crystal from borax without a lot of cost or time to decorate my tree. Follow this simple recipe to make these beautiful crystal ornaments overnight.
Supplies
- Borax (Found with the laundry detergent)
- Large glass jar, or
stealborrow your husband’s pint glass - Straw, dowel, piece of wire, bamboo skewer basically something to attach across the top of the glass
- Paper coated florist wire (or cotton string)
- Hot Water (not the kind you get in)
- Miscellaneous items to crystallize
Step 1: Assemble your ornament frame
Step 2: Suspend Your Shapes
Step 3: Mix The Solution
Okay this is a SUPER-Technical recipe. (insert sarcasm here)
Mix one cup of water with 1/4 cup borax. Heat the water and stir till it is clear. (As a side note pint glasses take a little less than 2 cups of solution)
Equivalent is 8 ounces of water to 2 ounces of borax.
Couple of notes: Trust me, if you put a little more or a little less you are still going to end up with crystals. Just try to get around 3 tbsp of borax per cup minimum. I used fairly hard tap water so obviously it takes a lot to mess this recipe up. I heated the water on the stove-top and the microwave. The only difference I could see was making sure the solution was fully dissolved. The cloudier the solution then smaller crystals formed. Which, is not necessarily a bad thing, I just happened to want big chunky crystals for my project.
Step 4: The Hard Part; Waiting!
Pour the solution in the glass. DO NOT POUR BOILING LIQUID IN A COLD GLASS! I never got my solution that hot but if you do you are asking for a mess. Let the solution cool otherwise it could shatter the glass.
Crystals will start to form in a couple of hours. For best results leave it overnight. I experimented and left my ornaments for different times. After about 24 hours there really wasn’t much more growth. The only way to get a lot more crystals to grow is to dip it in fresh solution, which, I never found necessary (and I am lazy). When done, just pull them out and dry on a towel. They are pretty sturdy so no need to fret about being super gentle when drying.
The End Result
Clean Up
Don’t let your husband yourself freak out when you find a bunch of crystals stuck to his pint glasses the glass. Just pour a little warm water in and they come right out of the bottom. In fact, you can even take these crystals and once dry scatter them like glitter.
Other Options
As I stated at the beginning I tried a variety of solutions. I also made Alum crystals and Sugar Crystals. Okay… I tried to make sugar crystals (rock candy) and ended up making some crystals and mostly mold. The alum crystals were quite pretty but when I figured the cost it just didn’t make sense. Both the amount of alum and sugar needed made the cost quite high and for a result that was worse or equal to the borax crystals. Beyond that, the borax crystallized in less than 24 hours making it fast to make a bunch of ornaments. I wanted clear-white crystals so I didn’t try it, but I bet you could color them with food coloring mixed in the solution.
Want to see more holiday crafts? Click on the following: