Continue around until you connect all the points together with the string, making a snowflake skeleton. Tie another piece of string to one of the pipe cleaner points, and tie the other end around the pencil. Place the snowflake in the jar with the pencil resting across the mouth of the jar to make sure that the snowflake hangs without touching any part of the jar.
Take the snowflake out of the jar. Make the solution. Measure out how many cups of water are needed to fill the jar. Use a teakettle or microwave to boil the water. For every cup of water placed in the jar, mix in three tablespoons of borax. This will make a saturated borax solution. Stir the borax solution with a spoon until as much of it dissolves as possible. If you add too much, the liquid could melt the snowflake before it dries. Catch snowflakes on the coated slide.
With the slide lightly coated, it will be quite sticky. As the snow falls, hold the slide out and catch some snowflakes on it. Add another light coat of plastic spray. Keep the snowflake slide in a cold location and lightly spray it with another coat of plastic spray. This will seal the snowflake in place. The snowflake itself will melt, but as it melts the shape of the snowflake will be imprinted in the plastic spray. Examine the snowflakes with a magnifying glass. Once the adhesive has dried you can look at the snowflakes with a magnifying glass to see their detail.
Each snowflake will look different and have a different structure. Compare the different snowflake shapes. The slide is delicate so be careful not to break it. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Dress warmly in appropriate winter clothing as with any outdoor activity.
Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0. Related wikiHows How to. How to. More References 3. About This Article. Co-authored by:. Co-authors: 7. Updated: March 29, Categories: Water Experiments. Italiano: Conservare i Fiocchi di Neve. Just follow Theodore Gray's instructions for trapping a snowflake in superglue, and guarantee that you'll remember this snowstorm forever. For an easier memory, just feast your eyes on these gorgeous close-up photos of snowflakes.
Theodore Gray. Placing them outside an hour before use is also an option. Storing your superglue in the freezer, in general, isn't a bad idea.
The process by which superglue cures a form of polymerization slows tremendously at freezer temperatures. Some manufacturers claim the shelf life of their glues can be extended indefinitely if unopened and stored in a freezer. Dress warmly. One, to protect yourself from the elements, and two, to protect your snowflakes from your body heat. We release a surprising amount of energy, about watts, and a good chunk of this in the form of radiated heat.
Wear gloves that still afford a degree of dexterity, and avoid handling anything more than it needs to be. Inspect the snowflakes, and if you find one you like, use your paint brush to ever so gently collect the snowflake and move it to a waiting slide. I find it useful to have the slides laid out on the surface ready to go, and just place a piece of paper over them so that snow does not collect on them.
Collecting the snowflakes with the paintbrush can be a bit tricky, but it's something you'll get better at as you go. If it's humid, the snowflakes like to stick to other snowflakes, to your paintbrush, or pretty much anything they touch. If it's dry, you may have trouble picking up the snowflake at all. Whatever you do, do not exhale in the direction of your snowflakes, and wear a scarf over your face to help prevent premature snowflake melt. Once you have gently collected and moved your snowflake to the glass slide, gently place it somewhere near the center.
Sometimes the snowflakes like to stick to the brush, and you may have trouble extracting it without damaging the snowflake. Try, and try again. Once positioned, add a small drop of superglue onto the waiting snowflake.
It's very important that the superglue be kept cold, and do not handle the tube for very long. Grab a glass cover slip or second microscope slide, and gently lay it atop the snowflake. Use the "wedge" technique shown in the photos to minimize trapped air. Don't use your bare hands like in the photos -- your uninsulated hands will quickly heat up the glass cover slip. Not everything in this process is under your control, and unexpected things can happen.
My advice is to play the numbers game. You can have more than one snowflake under a slip, or have slips per slide. Or just keep collecting on to slide after slide. Experiment with different techniques, and discover what works best and let me know what works best for you!
The superglue resin does not cure instantly, and in fact, will cure very slowly at temperatures below freezing. Thus, any disturbance prior to curing has the potential to ruin your snowflake. Any unexpected temperature change could also melt the snowflake before it has cured. Here are my recommendations for storage, though you should try new things and find what works for you.
You can also get some insurance by storing your slides in more than one place, using more than one method, just in case something goes wrong. Store below freezing for weeks. Maybe even leave some undisturbed for a longer period of time, and see if these turn out better. Frankly, I no longer live somewhere where it snows, and can't experiment. If you were patient and meticulous, you will be rewarded with snowflakes that are permanently cast in resin.
Unfortunately, I've given the best snowflakes to friends and family as gifts over the years, and the ones I still have and shown here are the rejects, but the illustrate a few points. If you're interested in learning what works, what doesn't, and what conditions are best, take notes on your collection day.
Also, once your snowflakes have cured, it's a nice touch to write onto the slide with a fine-tip sharpie the collection date, time, and location.
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