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.
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