From us you can buy everything you need to grow them: dishes, filters, gloves and, of course, chemical reagents. The blog already contains useful tips for those who are starting to grow crystals at home. Today we will talk about how to grow crystals from the most accessible “reagents” - salt and sugar. In the following articles we will share ways to grow crystals from copper sulfate and other chemical compounds.

What you need to grow crystals from salt and sugar

The starting material itself, i.e. salt or sugar
- glass or similar container, saucepan
- distilled or just pure water
- thread or fishing line
- pencil or stick for hanging the crystal
- optional: food coloring, varnish - any transparent, nail polish is also suitable.

Seed fixation

The seed crystal, in our case it is a crystal of sugar or salt selected from a pack, is tied with a thin thread, hair or fishing line. We tie the other end of the thread to a pencil or stick, which we place on the container with the growing crystal. By rotating a pencil or stick, we adjust the length of the thread so that the seed is located approximately in the middle of the solution.

Note: It can be difficult to find a large crystal of sugar in a pack, so you can use a piece of lump sugar as a seed. You can also use a piece of candy: moisten it, roll it in granulated sugar and let it dry, then use it as a seed.

Sugar crystal, manufacturing process

Boil water in a saucepan. Reduce heat and begin pouring sugar into the water, stirring constantly until the sugar stops dissolving. The approximate ratio of water and sugar will be 1:3. Remove the syrup from the heat and let cool slightly. Place the seed in it. It is advisable that the seeded solution does not cool quickly - this causes the growth of crystals of irregular shape. A fairly large crystal, several centimeters long and wide, will grow in just a few days.

If you want to get a larger crystal, simply add more sugar syrup to the container with it.

You can grow multi-colored sugar crystals by adding a little food coloring to the syrup before lowering the seed into it.

Rock salt works best for it. Sea salt can also be used, but iodized salt is not the best choice, since the crystal from it will take a very long time to grow. In the case of “ordinary” salt, the crystal grows by 2-3 cm, in the longest part, in a month.

Growing a salt crystal is almost no different from growing a crystal from sugar, only before lowering the seed into the solution, it is advisable to filter it through special paper or simply through cotton wool or several layers of gauze. It is better not to add dye to the solution.

A crystal with many faces and “sprouts” will be obtained if you place the container with the solution in a warm place. You can try to get one large crystal by preparing a saline solution from water at room temperature and growing it in a cold place. In any case, it is better not to move the container with the crystal during the growth process, as this will lead to disruption of its shape.

The finished salt crystal cannot be painted with watercolors or gouache, but can be painted, for example, with colored nail polish.

Finishing salt or sugar crystal

Be sure to cover the crystal with clear varnish - this will make it waterproof, give it a beautiful shine and help preserve it for a long time. You can use the resulting crystals in interior design, we give some ideas on how to do this simply and tastefully.

In the following articles we will definitely tell you how to grow more unusual crystals from copper sulfate and other reagents - this is also not difficult, and the results can be very impressive.

Soak the skewers in water until they are thoroughly wet.

Carefully roll each skewer in sugar on all sides. This needs to be done as evenly as possible.

Dry the sugar skewers completely (I did everything in the evening, so they dried at night). If the sugar beans are not dried completely, they will all fall off when immersed in the syrup.

Let's prepare the syrup. Dissolve half the sugar in water.

Add the remaining half and dissolve again. The syrup is ready. The final ratio of sugar to water is 2.5 to 1.

Carefully lower the skewers into the syrup, poured into cups so that the skewer does not touch the bottom and walls, secure on top with a clothespin, and place in a warm place. And... be patient and wait a week for the crystals to grow. If desired, you can add dye and get multi-colored crystals. During the crystallization process, a sugar crust forms on top of the glass, like ice on a river.

This is what happens after a week. In life they are more beautiful than in the photo... they shimmer in the light like real pieces of ice! And even though I didn’t have the opportunity to watch their growth every day, I was still very pleased with the result!

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These precious stones have firmly occupied their niche in cake decor. Just look at the beauty you can create using geodes!

It turns out that making such a miracle is not so difficult. The lesson I prepared proves this.

What we need:

• isomalt;
• food coloring;
• silicone mat (one long or two);
• metal cutting for cookies circle (I have a diameter of 10 cm);
• Small metal cutting oval or circle (I have an oval, about 3-4 cm in length);
• A thick-bottomed ladle and a teaspoon;
• kandurin (vodka or alcohol for dilution);
• brush.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

How to create a geode:

Step 1. Place the isomalt in a saucepan and melt it over low heat.Don't let it boil!After the isomalt crystals have completely melted, add the dye we need and mix.

Step 2. Remove from heat and pour our mixture onto a silicone mat. We do this three times - we need three caramel plates at the output - transparent (that is, not colored), light purple and dark purple.

Step 3. After the plates have hardened, place each one individually on a silicone mat and cover it with another mat. We knock with a hammer, breaking our plate into small parts. We do this with all the records.

Step 4. We place a large round cutout on the mat and place a small one inside.

Step 5. We lay out a layer of dark “glass” around the small hole, then a layer one tone lighter.

Step 6. Fill the entire surface with a small amount of melted isomalt, lightly sprinkling it onto the surface with a spoon.When everything hardens, remove the cuttings.

Step 7 Place transparent “glass pieces” in a circle next to the light layer and sprinkle isomalt on top in the same way for setting. Wait for it to harden.

Step 8 We dilute kandurin in vodka or alcohol and paint the edge of our ring with a brush.

Amethyst rings are ready!

Growing crystals is for the patient. I tried to involve children, but mine are too small to wait for the result for several days, it quickly becomes uninteresting. But they lick the sweet sticks with pleasure and ask for more. Crystals look very beautiful on cakes. They are most often used to cover cracks and cuts. This design has been at the height of fashion in the last few years. Today I will show you how to grow entire sugar trees. They will perfectly complement winter cakes and desserts with Elsa, the Snow Queen, Father Frost and the Snow Maiden. Yeah, the most suitable topics for mid-March :-)

First of all, we need to make blanks for sugar crystals. You can grow individual branches, which takes up less space; maybe the whole tree. Since we will need to connect the parts, we need wire for the base. We cut it into pieces and twist the tree to the desired size. We make a loop at the end and attach it to a wooden skewer.

If you decide to grow individual branches, then attach each wire blank to the main rod made of a wooden skewer.

If you are making transparent sugar crystals, it is better to use white wire; the green wire will show through.

When all the preparations are ready, you can start cooking the sugar syrup.

The sugar:water ratio is 2.5:1 or 3:1. The richer the syrup, the faster the crystals will grow.

Pour sugar into a saucepan with a thick bottom and fill with water.

Place on low heat and bring to a boil. Let it simmer a little and remove.

Dip the twigs for sugar crystals into syrup and sprinkle with sugar. Let it dry like this.

The syrup also needs to be cooled. Once cooled, a candied crust may form on top. It's OK. Carefully break it, remove the pieces and pour into prepared containers.

If desired, the syrup can be colored any color by adding a little food coloring.

Dip the preparations - twigs - into the cooled syrup.

All. The main part of the work is finished. All that remains is to wait. The only disadvantage of growing crystals at home is that the “farm” takes up too much space. Therefore, I placed all my preparations on a tray for mobility.

The first crystals will appear in about 2 days. The stronger the solution, the faster you will get the result. I got the most beautiful branches within a week.

During ripening, a hard crust appears on the surface. Before removing the crystal, you must carefully break it with a knife.

Crystals are stored well in a dry place; preparations can be made in advance. I added a little sugar to the remaining syrup, boiled it and grew the crystals again.

Let's be honest: these sugar crystals on a stick are hard to call. But how many emotions will raising them bring to children! After all, this is a miracle that happens right before the eyes of a child.

Before you grow a sugar crystal at home, you can tell your child what crystals are and why they form in nature. And then spend this delicious meal with him.

How to grow a crystal from sugar: recipe

Ingredients for Sugar Crystals:

• Sugar - 3 cups
• Water - 1 glass
• Food coloring and aromatic essences - as needed.

Also for sugar crystals you will need:

• Wooden skewers for shish kebab
• Glass glasses or jars according to the number of future candies
• Pot
• Clothespins or stationery clips

If you want to make a lot of colorful candies at once, you can increase the amount of sugar and water. The main thing is to maintain a ratio of 3 parts sugar to 1 part water. It is in this solution that sugar crystallizes best.

VIDEO: DIY sugar crystals

Sugar crystals: step-by-step instructions

Agree, it turned out very beautiful. These DIY sugar crystals can be used for their intended purpose - like candies. And you can beautifully complement your tea setting with them.