Does anyone here have experience growing crystals?
June 11, 2015 5:06 PM Subscribe
What types of crystals should I look into growing if I want them to grow/attach onto a wooden panel?
Bonus question: What type of crystal should I look into growing if I want to grow them onto a wooden panel, but in a controlled manner? Meaning, only on certain parts of the wood, not the entire wood panel.
Bonus question: What type of crystal should I look into growing if I want to grow them onto a wooden panel, but in a controlled manner? Meaning, only on certain parts of the wood, not the entire wood panel.
Do have a pre-visualization or artists conception of what you want the final product to look like?
What will be the role of this bedazzled board (hang on a wall, hang on a door, hang on a house, fly like a frisbee, ..)?
Without knowing much, I would guess that Bismuth could be convinced to grow on a wooden panel, with containment to hold the melt in place. Certainly bismuth crystals could be attached.
Growing crystals right on the board, otherwise, might be hard. You might make things that look like crystals, instead.
posted by the Real Dan at 6:07 PM on June 11, 2015
What will be the role of this bedazzled board (hang on a wall, hang on a door, hang on a house, fly like a frisbee, ..)?
Without knowing much, I would guess that Bismuth could be convinced to grow on a wooden panel, with containment to hold the melt in place. Certainly bismuth crystals could be attached.
Growing crystals right on the board, otherwise, might be hard. You might make things that look like crystals, instead.
posted by the Real Dan at 6:07 PM on June 11, 2015
You can do this with copper sulphate.
Read the MSDS, use skin and eye protection.
Meaning, only on certain parts of the wood, not the entire wood panel.
A coat of petroleum jelly would probably prevent crystal growth. I'd try a range of paints, varnishes, etc. from art supply store or hardware store.
Also, a number of these crystals; salt, copper sulphate, etc. are hygroscopic and will suck water out of the air unless you varnish them.
posted by sebastienbailard at 7:56 PM on June 11, 2015
Read the MSDS, use skin and eye protection.
Meaning, only on certain parts of the wood, not the entire wood panel.
A coat of petroleum jelly would probably prevent crystal growth. I'd try a range of paints, varnishes, etc. from art supply store or hardware store.
Also, a number of these crystals; salt, copper sulphate, etc. are hygroscopic and will suck water out of the air unless you varnish them.
posted by sebastienbailard at 7:56 PM on June 11, 2015
Response by poster: To clarify...
@Marie Mon Dieu I'm looking to experiment with any type of crystal. The important aspect for me is that it is attached to wood, which upon my initial research - it doesn't look like all crystals can be grown that way. Some of the tutorials I've read require suspending a string or something similar in liquid. But since this is all very new to me, I'm not sure.
@the Real Dan Here are some images of something similar, but I'm really looking to experiment so any suggestion is welcome. It would be a wooden panel to hang, like art.
posted by modernsquid at 8:55 PM on June 11, 2015
@Marie Mon Dieu I'm looking to experiment with any type of crystal. The important aspect for me is that it is attached to wood, which upon my initial research - it doesn't look like all crystals can be grown that way. Some of the tutorials I've read require suspending a string or something similar in liquid. But since this is all very new to me, I'm not sure.
@the Real Dan Here are some images of something similar, but I'm really looking to experiment so any suggestion is welcome. It would be a wooden panel to hang, like art.
posted by modernsquid at 8:55 PM on June 11, 2015
Not a chemist, but I can think of a handful of ways. First, you can grow (relatively easily) sugar, salt or water crystals easily on wood. Then you can fix them with some sort of fine spray fixative, preventing their decomposition in humidity. Second, and this is more likely how those artists did it, you can find some source for whatever kind of crystals, sort them and use a transparent adhesive to decorate the board. The other option is to use a substrate that will allow crystals to grow on it without directly contacting the wood.
The main reason I say that is because while pretty much all inert matter is made of crystals, to grow a crystal you need a source of whatever pure molecule you're going to make it out of, then a seed crystal to give other crystals a place to grow from. Because wood is porous (hence uneven) and fairly heterogenous (so not pure), that means that to grow large crystals on it you need something that forms crystals pretty easily and at room temperature. There aren't a ton of things that do that which you could use as a decoration, either because they're toxic or because they'd be damned expensive. But the number of things you could grow on, say, vaseline and then spray lacquer is much higher.
posted by klangklangston at 10:22 PM on June 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
The main reason I say that is because while pretty much all inert matter is made of crystals, to grow a crystal you need a source of whatever pure molecule you're going to make it out of, then a seed crystal to give other crystals a place to grow from. Because wood is porous (hence uneven) and fairly heterogenous (so not pure), that means that to grow large crystals on it you need something that forms crystals pretty easily and at room temperature. There aren't a ton of things that do that which you could use as a decoration, either because they're toxic or because they'd be damned expensive. But the number of things you could grow on, say, vaseline and then spray lacquer is much higher.
posted by klangklangston at 10:22 PM on June 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
I bet potassium alum would work. It's a white crystal astringent that's used in pickling and shaving. Because of the pickling thing, you can buy it buy the pound (around USD$10 on Amazon), and you can melt it on the stovetop. I did this once to repair my shaving alum block because it shattered (big chunks, not dangerous, just worth saving) after I dropped it. It'll also slowly react to atmospheric water vapor and might make a very modest amount of making tiny flowery crystals. Slow cooling = bigger crystals, and you'll want a seed crystal for the melted stuff to crystalize upon.
posted by Sunburnt at 10:23 PM on June 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Sunburnt at 10:23 PM on June 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
There are many many many growing crystal tutorials on the internets.
e.g.
etc
While these days you can easily source toxic stuff, I'd suggest going with salt, sugar, borax, or alum.
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:44 PM on June 11, 2015
e.g.
etc
While these days you can easily source toxic stuff, I'd suggest going with salt, sugar, borax, or alum.
posted by sebastienbailard at 10:44 PM on June 11, 2015
Any reason why you can't just put masking tape on the parts of the board where you don't want the crystals to grow?
posted by tel3path at 4:16 AM on June 12, 2015
posted by tel3path at 4:16 AM on June 12, 2015
I had fun growing this kind of salt crystals as a kid. I definitely let mine crawl up sticks so I think it'd work fine on wood. Pretty impermanent, though.
posted by carrioncomfort at 8:55 AM on June 12, 2015
posted by carrioncomfort at 8:55 AM on June 12, 2015
I'm a scientist with a bit of experience growing crystals. Alum is a good idea, as it is pretty easy to grow. It is a little hygroscopic (it absorbs water from the air and decomposes) so you might find you need to seal the finished product in some way. This will depend on the relative humidity of where you live. The crystal growing tutorials sebastienbailard suggested will tell you how to prepare the crystal growing solution.
Getting crystals to grow on wood won't be a problem. Crystals need a nucleation site to grow on - we normally use seed crystals, but dust or dirt in your crystal growing solution or imperfections in the growing vessel surface will do the job quite well. Wood is quite rough, so it should provide plenty of nucleation sites. If you want to only grow crystals on certain areas, maybe rough these up with sandpaper, and coat other areas to make them smooth - there are a few suggestions above about how to do this. Then just chuck it in your crystal growing solution. If you want crystals to grow on both sides, you'll need to suspend it.
The tricky part about crystal growth is controlling the growth rate. As Sunburnt said, the slower the growth rate, the bigger the crystals, which is what you want. If you are growing by evaporation, it might be a good idea to cover or partly cover your solution after the crystals start to nucleate to slow the growth rate down. You might need to play around with the conditions a bit to get the result you want. Good luck!
posted by neatsocks at 9:43 AM on June 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
Getting crystals to grow on wood won't be a problem. Crystals need a nucleation site to grow on - we normally use seed crystals, but dust or dirt in your crystal growing solution or imperfections in the growing vessel surface will do the job quite well. Wood is quite rough, so it should provide plenty of nucleation sites. If you want to only grow crystals on certain areas, maybe rough these up with sandpaper, and coat other areas to make them smooth - there are a few suggestions above about how to do this. Then just chuck it in your crystal growing solution. If you want crystals to grow on both sides, you'll need to suspend it.
The tricky part about crystal growth is controlling the growth rate. As Sunburnt said, the slower the growth rate, the bigger the crystals, which is what you want. If you are growing by evaporation, it might be a good idea to cover or partly cover your solution after the crystals start to nucleate to slow the growth rate down. You might need to play around with the conditions a bit to get the result you want. Good luck!
posted by neatsocks at 9:43 AM on June 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 5:31 PM on June 11, 2015