Tuesday, March 17, 2020

How To Make a Crystal Skull

How To Make a Crystal Skull Learn how to make your own crystal skull, for Halloween, Day of the Dead, or just decorating your space. Its an easy crystal growing project that produces an interesting conversation piece. Crystal Skull Materials I choose borax to grow the crystal skull, but you could use any crystal recipe. One interesting option might be to grow a sugar crystal skull and place it in a punch bowl. boraxboiling watersmall paper skull (I got mine at Michaels craft store)bowl deep enough to hold ​the  skull Crystallize the Skull Make sure the bowl is deep enough to hold the skull.Pour boiling or very hot water into the bowl.Stir in borax until it stops dissolving. This project looks cool with clear crystals, but if you like, you can add food coloring to color the crystals of the skull.Place the skull in the bowl of crystal growing solution. Paper or cardboard skulls take a while to absorb the liquid, so the skull may float for a while. This is fine and usually resolves on its own, but you can weight down the skull with a glass or another bowl if it bobs up to much. Another option is to turn the skull periodically to make sure all surfaces get exposed to the liquid.Check the progress of crystal growth every couple of hours. You should have a nice crop of crystals within an hour to overnight, depending on how saturated your solution was and how quickly it cooled. When you are satisfied with the crystals, remove the skull and place it on a paper towel to dry.If you want even more crystals on the skull, take the crystal skull and place it in fresh solution to get a second layer of crystal growth. Make sure the new solution is saturated (no more borax will dissolve) or youll risk dissolving some crystals rather than growing more.

Sunday, March 1, 2020

Three Peeves in One Newspaper Article

Three Peeves in One Newspaper Article Three Peeves in One Newspaper Article Three Peeves in One Newspaper Article By Maeve Maddox Im one of the diminishing breed that wakes to a rolled newspaper at my front door. Sadly, I often find food for DWT posts when I open it. This morning not one, but three pet peeves leapt to my eye, all from the same story. I wont use real names. The article is about the sentencing of a man, Smith, who was an accessory to the murder of a teenager, Jones. Another man, Green, was tried separately. Green, the triggerman, has already been tried and sentenced†¦ The choice of the word triggerman bothers me because it is one of those words that has its place in fiction, but doesnt belong in a straight news story. Its use has the effect of glamorizing a punk who killed a 17 year old for $30 and a hat. It belongs to a category of dime novel words that strike me as being out of place in general reporting, detective yarn words like heist, bust, and swag. The two [Smith and the triggerman] were suppose to give Jones a ride to his home. They were supposed to give Jones a ride. Two females went along also†¦ The use female as a noun outside a medical or natural history context always bothers me. Ive written about these particular peeves elsewhere on the DWT site: Inappropriate word choice to report on crime Use of -ed verb forms Non-technical use of female as a noun Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Possessive of Proper Names Ending in SDoes "Mr" Take a Period?Honorary vs. Honourary