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Friday, December 17, 2010

"Crystal" Ornaments

One day I decided to combine our art lesson with a science experiment.  The kids were thrilled with how their ornaments turned out.




{Update} A year later, the ornaments have now taken on a beautiful white sugary/candy appearance. Still very beautiful! This year we are going to try and take some white pipe cleaners and make snowflakes.




"Crystal" Ornaments:

Directions:
1. Boil water and pour into a glass jar.

2. Dissolve about 3-5 Tablespoons of Borax.



3. Bend and twist the pipe cleaners.

4. Tie them with string and hang them in the super saturated solution dangling from a pencil placed over the top of the jar.  Try and be careful not to let the ornament touch the side of the jar.  You'll see crystals forming in about 3 hours.  Keep them suspended in there for 24 hours.


5. Dry and make a loop out  of the sting to hang on the tree.


(My friend has also done this successfully with a super saturated solution of Epson Salts.)
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6 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 21, 2011 at 4:51 PM

    I just saw the snow flake version of this on Pinterest and bought the pipecleaners & Borax to do it! School's out & I CAN'T WAIT to have my kids all to myself for a whole week after the Christmas get- togethers end. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownDecember 18, 2012 at 10:46 AM

    Can't wait to try this with all the kids, need to make sure I have plenty of Jars available!

    ReplyDelete
  3. twDecember 8, 2014 at 8:31 PM

    have fun and enyjoy. so pretty. but keep up high on tree. posionous

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownDecember 19, 2014 at 4:19 PM

    Do you know of any alternatives for Borax in this craft? Would any powder detergent work? Also what did your friend use for the epson salt solution?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mama JDecember 19, 2014 at 5:31 PM

      Lauren, I do not know if other detergents would work as I have only used Borax. Here is a link I found with how to make ornaments using epsom salt: http://a2zhomeschooling.com/explore/chemistry_kids/crystal_making_at_home/

      Delete
  5. BettyFebruary 21, 2023 at 6:33 AM

    These are so much fun to make.

    ReplyDelete