Samantha Stopple

While doing the search on snowfalkes I found this
project using borax and thought someone might think it
was fun.

Borax Crystal Snowflake
Grow a snowflake in a jar!
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:
With a little kitchen science you can create long
lasting snowflakes as sparkly as the real ones. 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.

Have Fun!

Samantha




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