Day 7

Two days have made a BIG difference in the size of the garden.

I'd forgotten how delicate the crystal growths are. As you can see, some have crumbled and fallen onto the countertop.

Day 5

Lots of growth, mostly over the side of the container!

A beautiful billowy cloud of salt crystals.

Reviving a Childhood Memory

During a quick trip to Kroger on New Year's Day I bought a bottle of laundry bluing. I'm not sure I ever owned a bottle of bluing before, but was advised by my hairdresser to try a very weak solution of bluing (4 or 5 drops in a quart of water) as a final rinse to remove any yellowing from my white hair. (Serves me right for talking about those "blue-haired little ladies" in my youth!)



On the back of the bottle I found instructions for making a Salt Crystal Garden. HEY! I remember having one of those when I was a kid! I mentioned it to Mom, and she remembered it, too.

The next day (January 2), I dampened a green household sponge and cut it into pieces. I placed the pieces in a glass ashtray and added the ingredients in the "recipe" on the bluing bottle:



2 tablespoons of water
2 tablespoons of ammonia
2 tablespoons of bluing
2 tablespoons of salt

On the morning of Day Two (January 3), according to directions I added 2 tablespoons of salt. I was away from home all day; when I returned that evening, the crystal garden had made definite progress.

This morning (Day Three), it looked like this:

Here's a closeup of the crystal growth; it is actually pure white, but appears darker because I turned off the automatic flash on the camera:

The directions tell me to feed the garden another dose of the water/ammonia/bluing/salt solution today and to continue to feed it "as needed for growth". I'll keep you posted.