To make beautiful geodes in your own kitchen you need more patience and time than anything else! Here is the basic recipe to start you off in the world of beautiful geodes.

Project estimate & recipe:

• 3 Tablespoons Borax, about $4.00/box
• 1 Cup boiling water, on hand
• Food colouring, on hand or $1
• Pipe cleaners, on hand or $1
• Large jar, glass or pitcher, on hand
• Dish cloth, on hand
• Skewer, butter knife, chop stick, on hand
• Fishing line or curling ribbon, on hand or $1

Total:  about $4 and up

The colour of the pipe cleaner is what decides the colour of your crystals. For example, I used dark blue to get the sapphire colour. If you only have white pipe cleaners, you can use food colouring in the water to dye them.  Metallic pipe cleaners work best.

Shape the pipe cleaner(s) and thread fishing line or curling ribbon through the edge.

Put it in your empty container and using a skewer, butter knife or chop stick, tie the ends around it so that your pipe cleaner shape doesn’t touch the sides or bottom of your container.  Once you’ve got it tied off at the right height, remove it from the container before you add your water.

Bring water to a boil and carefully pour into your container. Add the Borax and food colouring (if needed), stirring until the Borax is completely dissolved.

 

Add your pipe cleaner shape tied to the skewer, butter knife or chop stick and cover with a dish cloth.

Let sit overnight or about 5 hours. Uncover and be amazed!

Carefully pull out the fishing line or curling ribbon from your finished geode.

Notes:

• Don’t throw your water away! To reuse it, heat the water to boiling again and add 1 & 1/2 tablespoons of Borax.
•  I believe that what little affect the food colouring has will fade pretty quickly. Cover your geodes with a coat of clear nail polish if you use food colouring.
•  The longer your geode is immersed in the water, the bigger the crystals will be.
• I strongly suggest curling ribbon or fishing line to suspend your pipe cleaners. I originally used string and couldn’t pull it out of my finished geode.
• For larger geodes, make a cage out of chicken wire and wrap it with pipe cleaners.