Crystal Recipes by Color

This is a list of colored crystal projects. These crystal colors are natural, not caused by food coloring or another additive. You can grow natural crystals in pretty much any color of the rainbow!

Alum crystals are among the quickest, easiest, and most reliable crystals you can grow. Did you know you can make them glow in the dark by adding a common household ingredient to the crystal growing solution?

It's very easy to make a glow in the dark crystal geode. The rock is a natural mineral (eggshell). You can use one of several common household chemicals to grow the crystals. The glow comes from phosphorescent paint, which you can get from a craft store.

Learn how to make a glow-in-the-dark crystal snowflake or other glowing holiday ornament. This is a safe and easy project that's great for kids and kids-at-heart. The crystal decorations are light-weight and inexpensive to make.

Rock candy is candy made by crystallizing sugar. You can grow sugar crystals yourself, plus add color and flavor to make rock candy that you can eat.

You can grow crystals in any color - even black! This crystal growing recipe produces black crystals. You can make them solid black, like black diamonds, or translucent black, like smoky quartz.

Make your own stalagmites and stalactites using baking soda or sodium bicarbonate. It's an easy, non-toxic crystal project.

Copper sulfate crystals are among the easiest and most beautiful crystals that you can grow. The brilliant blue crystals can be grown relatively quickly and can become quite large. Here's how you can grow copper sulfate crystals yourself.

Grow blue tetragonal crystals of calcium copper acetate hexahydrate.

Geodes are rocks that contain crystals. Normally, millions of years are required for flowing water and minerals to deposit crystals, but you can make your own 'geode' in only a few days. Grow blue copper sulfate crystals inside an egg shell to make your own geode.

Grow your own blue-green monoclinic crystals of copper acetate monohydrate.

Do you want to grow a big single crystal instead of a mass of crystals? Then try out these instructions for growing a big alum crystal. You can apply the techniques used here to grow big single crystals of other substances, too.

Monoammonium phosphate crystals are among the quickest, easiest, and safest crystals you can grow. Learn how to grow these crystals yourself.

Do real snowflakes melt too quickly? Grow a borax snowflake, color it blue if you like, and enjoy the sparkle all year long!

Grow a cupful of epsom salt crystal needles in your refrigerator. It's quick, easy, and safe.

Most crystals take days or weeks to form. Use this technique if you have a sunny day and want crystals FAST!

Epsom salt crystals are easy to grow and form quickly. Here's what you need to know to make your own magnesium sulfate crystals.

Potassium alum or potash alum crystals grow very quickly and easily. If you color the crystals red you can get beautiful 'ruby' crystals. Here's what you do.

If you don't have the time or patience to grow crystals over hours, days, or longer, try growing these sheet crystals. You'll get results in seconds!

This is one of the quickest and easiest crystal growing projects there is! All you need is a bit of salt, water, a steel pan, and a stove to produce salt crystal rings, ferns, and other shapes.

Sugar crystals are also known as rock candy since the crystallized sucrose resembles rock crystals and because you can eat your finished product. You can grow clear sugar crystals with sugar and water or you can add food coloring to get colored crystals. It's simple, safe, and fun.

Grow this crystal geode overnight using plaster for the geode and a non-toxic chemical to make simulated emerald crystals.

Make delicate, colorful crystals! This is a great classic crystal-growing project. You use charcoal briquettes (or other porous materials), ammonia, salt, bluing, and food coloring to grow a sort of crystal garden.

Learn about the chemistry behind magic rocks and make your own chemical crystal garden.

Do you want crystals that are naturally bright and colorful? Grow orange crystals of potassium dichromate.

Learn how to grow purple chromium alum crystals and how to grow clear crystals over a core of colored crystals.

Bismuth is one of the easiest and prettiest metal crystals that you can grow yourself. The crystals have an interesting geometric hopper shape and are rainbow-colored from the oxide layer that quickly forms on them. Try these step-by-step instructions for growing bismuth crystals.

These are instructions for growing easy red monoclinic crystals. Don't let the 'cyanide' part of the chemical name put you off -- these crystals aren't edible, but neither are they more toxic than most other compounds.

All it takes is silver nitrate and either copper wire or mercury to grow these sparkling metal crystals.

It's easy to grow crystals of tin metal using a simple replacement reaction. You can see the crystals in an hour or so, or leave them overnight for more/larger crystals.

Turn the surface of your glass patio table into a safe place for kids to explore crystals. Here's an easy crystal project you can do on any warm, sunny day using ingredients from your kitchen. You get white crystals as written; use other recipes for other colors.