Hello Everybody!
I hope you all have had a beautiful week. Last week I had some fun growing my own geodes. I have viewed many tutorials on this process and decided to take a shot at it. It was easier than I thought it would be. And the great thing is you may already have some of the supplies handy too. Take a look!!
SIMPLE SUPPLIES: Borax (local grocery store), Pipe Cleaners (Chenille Stems at the hobby store), String (any kind), Wooden skewers (pencils, popsicle sticks, anything you can tie the string around), Food Coloring (I chose gel coloring in the cake decorating section of my local hobby store), Glass Container, water and clean white hand towel or rag.
Craft string and pipe cleaners (Chenille Stems) to begin assembly. I chose the larger size of pipe cleaner as I was hoping for a large size geode crystal. Try the slim pipe cleaners as well for variety.
I started coiling one pipe cleaner (Chenille Stem) in a circle shape. I wove and intertwined the pipe cleaner between coils until I had a tail about 2" left. I then twisted a second pipe cleaner to this tail and continued coiling and weaving, etc. This created a solid base for the crystals to grow on.
Two pipe cleaners together, almost done. Since the pipe cleaner has a wire base it was easy to bend and tuck the end under at the end of the last coil.
Here is the finished geode pipe cleaner base.
I cut a length of string that was long enough to tie to the pipe cleaner base and attach to the wood skewer to suspend in the glass without it touching the sides or bottom.
Here's how it looked before I made the borax solution.
Pour enough water in the glass container to submerge the suspended pipe cleaner base. Heat water in a microwave for 3 minutes. Be careful, its pretty hot. I used a rough textured towel to grip the sides of the glass and remove it from the microwave.
Next, I added 9 tablespoons of borax powder (total) to the hot water, stirring with a metal spoon. I stirred and dissolved one tablespoon of borax at a time until the water became cloudy and it eventually stopped dissolving.
I added and stirred in 20 drops of gel food coloring to the borax solution.
I dipped the pipe cleaner base in the borax and food coloring solution to saturate it.
I suspended the pipe cleaner base from the wood skewer in the middle of the glass and covered everything with plastic wrap to keep it warm. Keep the glass container in a dark place where it can remain undisturbed for 3 hours. I chose an out of the way cupboard in my kitchen that is rarely used.
3 Hours later!!! Electric Purple Crystals. (Single pipe cleaner construction)
Double Pipe Cleaner Construction using a Double-Dip Technique. This is achieved by starting with a base of smaller crystal as instructed above, re-heating the borax/food coloring solution for 4 minutes and re-submerging the crystal for 3-4 hours. Result: Larger Crystal Formation
Geode Crystal Group
Keep a dedicated container for each borax/color solution you wish to use. If a particular solution has become weak and ineffective the first time around, dissolve a couple more tablespoons of borax in the solution to re-activate its crystal growing properties. Re-heat solution 3-4 minutes, watching carefully that the liquid does not over boil, and then re-submerge the piper cleaner article for another 3 hours.
I hope you give this geode experiment a try. It was a lot of fun and I will definitely be making many more of this beauties for display purposes in my booth and perhaps jewelry experimentation.
Take care everyone, and have a wonderful weekend!
Many Blessings,
Saadia
The "Orthy" Artisan!
