Growing Alum Crystals and Treasure Chest Display

Alum Crystals

Brian and I have been experimenting with growing different types of crystals.  We started with a dollar store crystal kit, then tried growing table salt crystals.  Neither of these crystals grew as well as we had hoped they would, but then we tried growing alum crystals and they came out pretty well.  I'm including a link to the video I worked from in addition to my own, slightly modified directions. 

Materials:
*1/2 cup of hot water
*2 1/2 tablespoons of alum (a pickling spice available in most grocery stores)
*7-10 drops of food coloring (optional)

Directions:
*Add alum to the hot water and stir until it dissolves.  If you end up with a little bit of alum that won't dissolve it probably will not make a difference, but you can always heat up the solution a little more and the remaining alum should dissolve.
*Add food coloring to the solution.
*Let the solution sit undisturbed for some time.  I made my solution before bed and let it sit overnight and observed crystals forming by the next morning. 
*Let the crystals sit in solution until they reach the desired size.  If they do not grow as much as you would like them to, you can remove the large crystals from the solution, heat up the solution and dissolve any remaining alum, and then place the large crystals back into the solution once it has cooled.
Note: Food coloring may hinder the growth of crystals some, so if crystal size is more important to you than color, you may want to leave out the food coloring.

Treasure Chest Display

This craft can serve as an excellent way to display your alum crystals, but there are many other possible uses for it as well.

Materials:

*Jewelry box

*Gold paper

*2-3 sheets of paper with wood pattern

*Round hole punch

*Rhinestones

*Faux pearls

*String

*Glue

*Scissors

Directions:

*Cut out a rectangle of wood patterned paper equal to the size of the bottom of the jewelry box.

*Punch out gold circles and glue them to the wood patterned rectangle to make it look like the floor of the treasure chest is covered in gold coins.

*Add rhinestones and strands of faux pearls as you wish.

*Remove the jewelry cushion inside the box and set it aside.

*Cover the inside and outside of the jewelery box and lid with wood patterned paper, except for one side on the lid and one side on the box where you will be hinging the lid to the box.

*Cut two strips of wood patterned paper and use them to connect the lid to the box.

*Cover the rest of the inside of the box with wood patterned paper.

*Place the jewelry cushion back inside the box.

*Place the decorated piece of paper on top of the jewelry cushion.

*Arrange your alum crystals inside your treasure chest display.