Thursday, December 13, 2007

BORAX Snowfakes



The whole process takes about 2.5 hours-or you can let it sit over night as indicated in the directions.. I LOOVE THESE :)



Borax Crystal Snowflake
You will need:
-string
-wide mouth pint jar
-white pipe cleaners
-blue food coloring (optional)
-boiling water (with adult help)
-borax (available at grocery stores in the laundry soap section, as 20 Mule Team Borax Laundry Booster - NOT Boraxo soap)
pencil Directions:
Cut a white pipe cleaner into 3 equal sections. Twist the sections together in the center so that you have a "six-sided" star shape.
Pipe cleaners and string form a snowflake base for the crystals to grow on.If your points are not even, trim the pipe-cleaner sections to the same length. Now attach string along the outer edges to form a snowflake pattern. Attach a piece of string to the top of one of the pipe cleaners and tie the other end to a pencil (this is to hang it from). Fill a widemouth jar with boiling water. Mix borax into the water one tablespoon at a time. Use 3 tablespoons of borax per cup of water. Stir until dissolved, (don't worry if there is powder settling on the bottom of the jar). If you want you can add a little blue food coloring now to give the snowflake a bluish hue. Insert your pipe cleaner snowflake into the jar so that the pencil is resting on the lip of the jar and the snowflake is freely suspended in the borax solution. Wait overnight and by morning the snowflake will be covered with shiny crystals. Hang in a window as a sun-catcher or use as a winter time decoration.

8 comments:

I live IN Jesus said...

That sounds great!! We will be trying these at our house! Thank you!
Sarah T

Rebekah said...

I will definitely have to try that. They sound gorgeous. Thanks!

Lara said...

I think this is a great idea. We're trying it next week, hopefully!

Pam--in America said...

I wasn't going to post a comment here because we don't have access to the supplies to try this. But then the thought came to me of going to the store here and trying to ask for "20 Mule Team Borax". I wonder what kind of strange looks I would get?! They looked at me crazy when I asked for powdered milk!

Mishel said...

How cute!! Thanks for sharing...

Cherlyn said...

Thank you for the note of congrats. I miss our chats. And these snowflakes sound like a fun project!

Praise and Coffee said...

How fun!!
Thanks for sharing that!

Sue

Heather said...

Post a pic if you try them :)! Thank you for taking the time to comment :)