Cut a pipe cleaner into three equal sections.

Twist the sections together at their centers to form a six-sided snowflake shape. Don't worry if an end isn't even, just trim to get the desired shape. The snowflake should fit inside the jar.

Tie the string to the end of one of the snowflake arms. Tie the other end of the string to the pencil. You want the length to be such that the pencil hangs the snowflake into the jar.


Fill the widemouth pint jar with boiling water.

Add borax one tablespoon at a time to the boiling water, stirring to dissolve after each addition. The amount used is 3 tablespoons borax per cup of water. It is okay if some undissolved borax settles to the bottom of the jar.

If desired, you may tint the mixture with food color.

Hang the pipe cleaner snowflake into the jar so that the pencil rests on top of the jar and the snowflake is completely covered with liquid and hangs freely (not touching the bottom of the jar).

Allow the jar to sit in an undisturbed location overnight.

Look at the pretty crystals!!! You can hang your snowflake as a decoration or in a window to catch the sunlight :-)

Tips:

1. Borax is available at grocery stores in the laundry soap section, such as 20 Mule Team Borax Laundry Booster. Do not use Boraxo soap.
2. Because boiling water is used and because borax isn't intended for eating, adult supervision is recommended for this project.
3. If you can't find borax, you can use sugar or salt (may take longer to grow the crystals, so be patient). Add sugar or salt to the boiling water until it stops dissolving. Ideally you want no crystals at the bottom of the jar.

What You Need:

• string
• wide mouth jar (pint)
• white pipe cleaners
• borax (see tips)
• pencil
• boiling water
• blue food coloring (opt.)
• scissors

Materials:

4 kg (9 lb) suet (tallow)

350 g (12 oz) lye

750 ml (3 C) water

500 ml (2 C) lemon juice

7.5 ml (.25 oz) fragrance

gloves

wooden spoon

ventilated work area

molds/glass baking dishes

1. if you are using a pure fat, such as coconut oil or olive oil, you can skip to step 5. Coconut oil yields a soft, quick-lathering soap. Olive oil and other vegetable cooking oils yield a soft soap that never completely hardens.

2. Render the tallow by cutting it into chunks, placing it into the large pot, covering it, and heating on medium heat until it is melted. Stir occassionally.

3. Cool the fat to below the boiling point of water. Add a volume of water equal to that of the fat. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover and remove from heat. Let sit overnight.

4.Remove the fat from the pot. Discard non-fat gunk (scrape it off of the bottom of the fat) and any liquid.

5. Measure 2.75 kg rendered fat. Cut the fat into tennis-ball size chunks and place the pieces into a large bowl.

6. Set up all of your materials. Ventilate the area (or work outside), put on safety gear, and open all containers.

7. Now Make soap = Pour the water into a large glass or ceramic bowl (not metal). Carefully pour the lye into the bowl and mix the water and lye with the wooden spoon.

8.The reaction between water and lye gives off heat (is exothermic) and vapors that you should avoid breathing. The spoon will be somewhat degraded by the lye.

9.Once the lye is dissolved by the water, start adding the chunks of fat, a bit at a time. Keep stirring until the fat is melted. If necessary, add heat (put on a low burner with ventilation).

10. Stir in the lemon juice and fragrance oil (optional). Once the soap is well-mixed, pour it into molds. If you use glass baking dishes for molds, you can cut the soap into bars after it has become firmer (not hard).

11. The soap will harden in approximately an hour.

12. You may wrap the finished soap in clean cotton rags. It can be stored for 3-6 months in a cool, well-ventilated location.

13.Wear gloves when washing your equipment, as their may be some unreacted lye remaining. Wash in very hot water to help melt away the residue.

Here`s the bottle cleaner formula, you can make it easily

Soda Ash = 20 gr

Trisodium Phosphate = 25 gr

Sodium Metasillicate = 10 gr

mix all, and ready to use