Directions for Quick-Forming Crystals

Growing Media

• Salt, sugar and alum can all grow into crystals very quickly when mixed with water and treated properly. What you choose depends on why you want your crystals. For a science project with children, use sugar and color the crystals with food coloring and eat your project after you make it.
  For lasting crystals, pick alum. This powder is used to make pickles crunchy and is available in grocery stores. These crystals won't disintegrate like sugar or salt. Suspend them in your windows after experimenting as sun catchers.
  Use salt for a purely scientific venture. You can't eat salt crystals by themselves, and they won't hold up like alum. However, you can use them to season your food or create homemade bath salts if you add some essential oil to the mix.

Core Growth Structure

• Use linen candle wick, skewers or nylon string as a core for your crystals. The crystals will attach to any of these structures and begin to build. Crystals will grow up the length of skewers and linen wick, so if you want a string of crystals or a sturdy base for rock candy, these are the way to go. If you want to grow individual crystals on the end of a string, use nylon thread. The crystals will gather just at the end of the string and grow larger and larger until you remove the string from the liquid.

Mixing the Solution

• Add an ounce of salt, sugar or alum to about ½ a cup of warm, but not scalding, water. Stir the solution in a clear glass jar or large clear cup. Clear containers work best because you can watch the crystals grow. Mix until all of the growing medium has dissolved. Add any food coloring or essential oils now.
  Wrap the end of a linen wick or nylon thread around a pencil or popsicle stick and lower the free end into the solution. For a skewer, use a container with a lid, poke a hole in the lid and slide the skewer through the hold, securing it in place with clay around the hole. Do not let any of your growing structures touch the bottom of your container. Crystals should begin to grow within 24 hours.