Inside: Fun and Easy DIY Borax Icicle Ornaments – an easy kids science experiment and Christmas craft that looks beautiful on your Christmas tree.
A couple of years ago we made some Borax Icicle ornaments for the first time. They turned out looking so cute we had to make them again this year.
This fun DIY Christmas ornament craft is perfect for the kids to help with and they look so good hanging on the Christmas Tree!
These icicle ornaments work especially well for a rustic farmhouse style of decoration. Each icicle turns out looking different and beautiful in its own unique way.
The icicle ornaments are really simple and easy to make using only water, borax, pipe cleaners, and string/twine.
The pipe cleaners are put into a borax mixture that crystallizes forming beautiful icicles that won’t melt.
Psst. Involve the kids! Making the Borax icicles is a fun science activity to do with your kids as you get ready for the holidays. And with how beautiful the icicles look you won’t mind hanging them on your Christmas tree!
Supplies to Make Borax Icicles
- Borax Detergent (3TBS for each cup of water)
- Water
- Pipe Cleaners (use white for the classic icicle look)
- String/Twine
How to Make Borax Icicles
Making these DIY Borax Icicles is not only a fun craft it’s also a great learning activity for kids. ScienceFriday.com has an awesome lesson that explains how and why these crystals form.
Heat Water and Dissolve the Borax
The first step to make these Borax Icicle Ornaments is to heat the water. in a pot. I heated about 3 quarts of water. Heat the water to a boil and then add the Borax.
Add about 3 TBS of Borax for each cup of water. (That’s 3/4 cup borax for every quart of water.)
Stir the water and borax mixture until all the borax dissolves and the mixture is crystal clear.
Prep the Pipe Cleaners
Figure out how long you want your icicles to be and cut the pipe cleaners to the length you want. I made it easy and cut the pipe cleaners in half.
Once they are the right length, tie a string ( I used twine) around one end of the pipe cleaner. You can tie a pipe cleaner to each end of the string if you want or do a different string for each pipe cleaner.
NOTE: For a classic Icicle look use white pipe cleaners. If kids are helping you with this fun craft it’s fun to make a few colored Icicles, using colored pipe cleaners. ( I think the colored pipe cleaners kind of look like a crystallized candy.)
Hang the Pipe Cleaners
Find something that is long enough to go across the jar, glass or pot that you will be hanging your pipe cleaners in.
You can leave the borax mixture in the pot or pour it into jars. I have found that the fewer pipe cleaners per container the larger the crystals get.
The white icicles I made had only 6 in the pot of solution. The colored pipe cleaners had 12.
I left some of the solutions in the pot and used wooden spoons and wooden skewers to hang my pipe cleaners for the first batch. The second batch I taped the Strings to the edge of the pan and that also worked.
A pencil, pen or skewers work great for hanging pipe cleaners in jars or glasses.
Hang the pipe cleaners in the borax mixture making sure they don’t touch the sides of the pan/glass or each other.
Also, make sure that you hang them far enough down that the whole pipe cleaner is covered in the mixture.
Wait…and Watch for Borax Crystals to Form
Set your container in a safe place for the liquid mixture to cool and the crystals to form.
The borax crystals started to form after only about an hour which surprised me.
I like to leave them in the mixture overnight for about 12-24 hours.
Dry and Add Finishing Touches to the Crystal Icicles
Take the pipe cleaner icicles and lay them on a paper towel to dry.
After they are completely dry it’s time to make sure they are ready to hang from the tree.
If the pipe cleaners weren’t totally submerged in the mixture the tops might not have crystals.
If they don’t have borax crystals all the way to the top that’s okay, it only takes a little more work to make them look good.
Simply cut off the top of the icicle that doesn’t have crystals and use your hot glue gun to attach a string to the top of the crystals.
If you let the glue dry it will be kind of shiny, so as the glue cooled I touched it with my fingers to give it a rougher and less shiny look.
Crystal Icicle Ornaments
Now your icicle ornaments are ready to hang on the tree.
The diy crystal icicles add such a fun feel to the Christmas tree. I love how the lights look bouncing off the crystals.
Storing the Icicles
You can store the icicles with your ornaments to use again next year if you want.
The icicles get a more mat and chalky look the older they get.
We used some of our icicles for about 3 years before they weren’t shiny anymore and we decided to make new ones.
I still think they look really pretty and are perfect for a rustic Christmas tree, but if you want the shiny crystal look you will want to make these Icicles fresh each year.
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Other Fun DIY Ornaments:
Easy Melted Snowman Ornament
You’ll Never Guess this Angel Ornament is made from Pasta!
Beach Filled Clear Ornaments an easy travel ornament
