DIY Icicle Ornaments
You may have spotted my DIY icicle ornaments last week in my holiday home tour, and as promised, here is how I made them! There aren’t many steps to this tutorial, but you will practice your patience while waiting for the crystals to form.
These icicles were inspired by the version I spotted at Pottery Barn, but I knew spending $5 per ornament was out of my budget. I remembered my mom making Borax snowflakes when I was a kid, and thought I’d give the old trick a shot myself.
This is a classic experiment that’s been around for a long time, but this is the first time I’ve actually tried it! I don’t know who discovered laundry detergent forms crystals, but it’s kind of genius.
Christmas ornaments are expensive when you buy them at the store, but I’m happy to say I made 18 icicles from a $4 box of Borax and I still have a quarter of the box left. Seriously.
When I first started I was leery they would turn out, but sure enough, after a few hours, you could see the crystals forming on the pipe cleaners!
Here’s how I made them.
Materials:
Borax, $4 at Target
Pipe cleaners, $2 at Hobby Lobby
String
Twine string roll, $4 Home Depot
Hot glue gun
Large pot and glass jar
Step 1.
Fill your pot with water and bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, slowly stir in the Borax. For every 3 cups of water stir in 9 tbsp of Borax. Stir well until the Borax has completely dissolved, about a few minutes. Once it’s crystal clear you’re good to go.
While you’re waiting for the water to boil, you can start prep work.
Cut pipe cleaners to the length you want your icicles to be. The pipe cleaners will become the icicles and you’ll hang them in a pot of water. So make sure when you’re cutting the pipe cleaners to allow at least a half inch from the bottom of the pot so they don’t touch.
Step 2.
Find a knife or cooking utensil that lays across your pot or jar. Then, take some string and tie it around the top of the pipe cleaners and around the cooking utensil so the pipe cleaners floats in the pot without touching the bottom.
Step 3.
Once your mixture is dissolved, you can either leave it in the pot or pour it in a glass jar. I wanted to do multiple batches at a time, so I left some in the pot and poured some in the jar. Next, drop your pipe cleaners that are tied to a utensil in the water, making sure they aren’t touching each other or the sides of your container. For a large pot that is about 12 inches in diameter, I put in 8 pipe cleaners, and the glass jar I put in 3.
I found that the fewer pipe cleaners per container, the more crystalized they get.
Set aside your container in a safe place so it can cool.
Now you practice your patience and wait for the crystals to form. I let mine set for a good 12 hours overnight, but I think 8 is sufficient.
When you wake up, they will look like this!
Step 4.
To add twine string, I cut the top part of the pipe cleaner where the string was tied and super glued one end of the twine string and then super glued the other end to another top of an icicle. If you don’t want two icicles on a string, you can create a loop with the twine instead.
I took photos of this but when I went to edit them, I couldn’t find them on my SD card so I’m not sure what happened. I snapped some more pictures after they were all super glued, but you get the idea.
Clean Up:
Fill the pot again and bring it to a boil and all the crystals will disappear that were stuck on the side of the pot. A bonus with using a glass jar is it forms crystals too! I thought it looked cool so I added some LED candles and set it out for decoration.
These icicles turned out great and are probably my favorite Christmas decoration! Nothing beats a good knock-off that costs a fraction of the store price.
These are amazing! I want to make a bunch of them to give as gifts. Thanks for the great tutorial! ๐
Thank you!! So glad you like them. That’s a great idea to give them as a gift!
Can you save these and use them again next year?
Definitely! I should have mentioned that they are not delicate at all and will last many years.
Thank you for this craft! We did out first batch and they came out great. When we were done, we took the liquid, added another cup of water and 3 tbsp of Borax, reheated and are doing another batch. Each batch has come out as well as the first.
How would you recommend cleaning out the individual jars afterwards? Adding boiling water?
After I crystalized the jars, I wanted to keep them that way so I didn’t try cleaning them. The glass could shatter if it wasn’t made for boiling water temps. The pot that I did use and want cleaned, I boiled some water and the crystals disappeared! If you don’t want to have crystal jars, I’d suggest using pots as your container because then you can boil water to clean them easily.
Definitely don’t pour boiling water into a glass jar. It will crack.You can probably put the jars into you pot of water, and heat them gradually, like when you’re sterilizing canning jars, to get them up to temperature without cracking.
GREAT idea!
Thanks so much for sharing this, it is just amazing to see those ‘crystals’ form onto the pipe-cleaner.
It really is! And it’s super easy and cheap ๐
I want to use them for my outside Christmas tree, so you think the would keep if they get snow or rain on them?
I think they would be ok outside. They just may not last quite as many years when using them inside. Such a pretty idea though!
Fishing line would make a nice hanger if you aren’t into the rustic look or siler thread…
I LOVED this idea! it is so pretty!
Could you go ahead and tie the jute through the pipe cleaner and then hang it on the utensil if you arent connecting the icicles? That way you dont have to bother with cutting and gluing after the crystal’s form?
These look really awesome. I live with someone who is on oxygen 24/7, does this make fumes or make the room smell strongly of perfume?
I wonder if you could add a few drops of food coloring to make some faux rock candy type crystals…
Thank you so much for doing this! They are beautiful and I plan on making some with my grandkids!
How long will these last? Two seasons?
What a neat idea. Thank You, Susan
How do you dry them?