Abored Abroad: How to fail at making a crystal dragon 2/8/2015

Way back about a month ago, I was on a mission to find Borax. Apparently this is the most elusive of all chemicals in Bahrain.

Ended up filling out 3 pages of paperwork and getting a kilogram of the stuff for about $30 USD - the same amount in the USA would cost about $3 USD.

Oh well...I GOT IT.

That is all that mattered.

The reason I was on the hunt for this extremely dangerous chemical, (it is basically soap) was to do a project with the little critters, (Read bout the Litters here) down in the elementary portion of the building. Since I wasn't able to find enough - and certainly was unable to afford it if I did - I decided to make snow and snowmen with them.

Good times were had - I think I nailed it.

But now I was left with a modest amount of Borax. After making - well attempting to make - a snowflake by crystallizing some pipe cleaners, the Borax sat unused for a few weeks.

Want to try your own? So far everyone has had success but me...so clearly the directions are flawed. But you can go to this Snowflake Page to get the simple, almost impossible to screw up directions.

But it ouwln't do to just have the Borax sit there - I worked fairly hard, (ME!!) to get it. So, I had to try something, so a plan was in order.

I worked out with my Australian connection that we would each make a pipe cleaner dragon and then Borax the ever-loving shit out of them.

THIS WOULD BE AWESOME!

So a few weeks go by and I hadn't done a thing.

I still walked past the little pile of assorted pipe cleaners I was able to scrounge from work. 2 green, one purple, one orange, and one red.

Not exactly my ideal dragon colors, but I can make this work.

Finally inspiration struck and I was off in my zone - creating art the world had never known.

In order to make a dragon, first you make a dragon...then you're actually pretty much done:

I KNOW, RIGHT!? AWESOME!

Oh man, this is going to be epic! I follow the directions perfectly to create the Borax solution - add boiling water and 3 tablespoons of Borax per cup of water.

I softly...gently...ever so carefully insert the dragon into the water, and even seed it with a little more powdered borax to make sure I get crystals.

Everyone else I had told about making snowflakes was having massive success...so it was my turn!

I had dreams of this sort of action going on:

That's okay, I guess...if ya know...you WANT a perfect crystal snowflake...

So the dragon has to sit for about 24 hours. The slow cooling of the water allowed the dissolved Borax to grow. The longer the cooling, the bigger and better the crystals should be.

So everything was set...and within about 6 hours I was getting crystals.

THIS IS SO GONNA WORK!

I went to sleep with dreams of an 8 foot tall living, breathing crystal dragon waiting for me downstairs.

I woke up, showered and cleaned myself up...you know, to be presentable for the dragon.

It is all about first impressions, people.

Down the stairs...

So many damn stairs, by the way. It is like I am descending from an Everest base camp. I believe the air is actually thinner on my second floor.

Once I even ducked so I didn't bang my head into the International Space Station.

Truth.

Anyway, downstairs I go. down the hall, around the corner. The dragon soup I had made would be right there on the counter...

GET READY FOR SOME CRYSTALS!!!!

Oh. Um. Well...maybe once I drain the water and take him out I will be able to see them better...

Okay. Or not.

Now, don't get me wrong. This thing is badass.

I know that.

At any moment it could come alive through the power of crystal magic and burn this place to the ground. But I was expecting...

...more?

I mean, I wasn't expecting this:

Okay, I totally was hoping for it, however.

But not something equivalent to this:

That looks incredibly painful, buddy.

So what went wrong?

My science head went into overdrive trying to figure it out.

I arrived at my conclusion that the water simply cooled too fast to get the crystals to really take shape and form the way I wanted them to.

I can fix this.

Of course, there is risk. This batch I make to redo the dragon will be the last batch I will be able to make. The Borax supply is running a bit thin after the first attempt, it required a lot of water.

I had better get this right...

I decided to insulate the container from the cool energy-sucking counter top by placing the whole setup on a folded rag.

I then placed another rag on top of it all to help keep the heat in.

Then, I put a bit bowl over the whole contraption in order to keep any heat that did seep through still near the water.

I weighted down the ends to keep the rag taut over the water.

Ignore the obvious signs I have a drinking problem, if you please.

I set it near the fridge, which produces a warm current of air as it cools the air inside of it.

This was going to work.

I put it all together around 11 AM. I didn't check it for about 12 hours before I went to bed. Surprisingly it was still warm, which was exactly what I wanted. When I looked the crystals were very small, and just starting to become visible - a huge change over the first attempt which had big crystals in just a few hours.

This was a photo from the first attempt, but the similarities are there:

I didn't check when I went to work at 6:30 AM this morning, but when I ran home to get some stuff I forgot I opened it up.

It had been 24 hours.

Time to reveal.

I ceremonially removed the yellow bowl.

I carefully dragged the dragon to the center of the counter.

I peeled back the rag...

WHY!? WHY DID IT WORK PERFECTLY EVERYWHERE BUT HIS HEAD AND HIS ASS?

I don't have better photos for you - yet - I will update this with a part 2 entry tomorrow or the next day. It is still in the water. I am going to give it a few more hours to form. Then I will drain the tub and really see what I have...though it seems as if my dragon is bald.

I somehow managed to crystal the heck out of every part of the dragon except for his head and his tail.

Wings?