DIY Crystal Snowflakes

These Crystal Snowflakes are the perfect addition to your Christmas tree. They are simple to make. They cost very little money. And they are a great project to do with your kids.

Just a Tip!

Difficulty: Very Easy

Budget: Cheap

Estimated Time: A full day

You Will Need...

white pipe cleaners
string
wire cutters {or old scissors that you don't care about}
pencil
wide mouth pint mason jar
water
borax
food coloring {optional}

Instructions

# 1

Start by cutting your pipe cleaner into thirds. Take two pieces and make an x. Then wrap one around the other. Repeat with the other piece to make a snowflake shape. Tie the string onto one of the ends. Place it in the mason jar to figure out where to tie the string to the pencil. You don't want the snowflake to touch the sides or the bottom of the jar or else it will become crystallized to the jar. I trimmed the ends a little bit so it would fit better. Once you have the snowflakes hanging in the center of the jar, remove them.

# 2

Fill the jar with boiling water. Add food coloring, if desired. Add 6 T. borax to pint jars. {or 12 T. to quart jars} Stir until dissolved. I found it was easier to pour some borax into a bowl for the kids to measure out

# 3

Then place your snowflake back in the jar. Make sure that it's not touching the sides or bottom of the jar.

# 4

Now comes the hard part. You have to wait overnight for the crystals to form. I pulled them out the next morning and put them on a paper towel to dry. You can see that the blue one is just lightly colored. We used probably 12 drops of food coloring.