Can I Make Crystals With Potash Alum?

Supplies

• Growing potash alum crystals takes some preparation. First, you will need to get about 6 ounces of potash alum. You can find it in a grocery store's spice section, as people use it to make pickles. You can also find it at pharmacies. You will also need about 1 pint of water, a saucer, a saucepan, a wooden spoon, a glass jar to put the solution into and a cloth to cover the jar.

Preparation

• To get the crystal-making process started, start heating the water in the saucepan and add 4 ounces of alum powder. Stir the mixture with the spoon to dissolve the alum powder. Keep adding powder until it won't dissolve anymore. Then pour 1/4 of the solution into a saucer to allow it to cool, and pour the rest -- 3/4 of the solution -- into the jar. The small portion you poured into the saucer will form the initial crystals, the best of which you will then submerge in the rest of the solution to allow the crystal to grow in size. Add a little extra alum -- about 1 tablespoon -- to the jar to make it saturated, and then cover the jar with a cloth.

Choosing the Crystal

• It should take a few days for small crystals to start to form in the saucer. When all of the solution has evaporated, you can choose the largest crystal to be the "seed."

Growing the "Seed" Crystal

• For the final step, you will need to take a piece of thread and tie one end around the "seed" crystal that you chose in the previous section and the other end of the string around the middle of a pencil. Hang the crystal so that it is completely submerged in the solution with the pencil suspending it from the top of the jar. The jar should be placed someplace warm, such as a windowsill or anyplace with direct sunlight. It should take about two weeks for the crystal to grow to full size. The initial crystal may be only a few millimeters across, but you can repeat the process as much as you want to continue growing the crystal.