The Traveling Sisterhood: A Recipe for Slime and This Amazing Thing Called Borax!

A Recipe for Slime and This Amazing Thing Called Borax!

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Borax is a natural mineral and an eco-friendly cleaning product. It's most often used for cleaning but it does a million things... er, almost a million. When you add it to your detergent, it softens the water to clean your laundry better, it cleans the calcium deposits off your sinks, really it cleans just about anything, and you can make slime with it. And there is this awesome bible verse that illustrates it wonderfully:

He is before all things,
and in Him all things hold together.
Colossians 1:17

Because, as you will soon see, as sticky as the polymers of glue are, they need the Borax (just like we need Jesus) to hold everything together in order to form something truly amazing (in our case: us; in this case: slime).

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Ingredients & Instructions

Elmer’s Glue, 8 oz bottle

Borax

Food coloring

Water

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  • Mix 1 cup (8 oz) glue and 1 cup water in a bowl. Add food coloring if you want colored slime.
  • In another bowl, mix 1 Tbsp borax with 1 cup water until the borax is dissolved.
  • Add the glue mixture to the borax solution, stirring slowly.
  • The slime will begin to form immediately; stir as much as you can, then dig in and knead it with your hands until it gets less sticky. (No one makes slime without getting a little messy!) Don't worry about any leftover water in the bowl; just pour it out.
What's happening?
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The glue has an ingredient called polyvinyl acetate, which is a liquid polymer. The borax links the polyvinyl acetate molecules to each other, creating one large, flexible polymer. This kind of slime will get stiffer and more like putty the more you play with it!
The polymers in Silly Putty have covalent bonds within the molecules, but hydrogen bonds between the molecules. These hydrogen bonds are easily broken. When low amounts of energy are slowly applied to the putty by twisting or pulling it, only a few bonds are broken and the putty stretches or “flows.” When higher amounts of energy are applied by yanking quickly and hard, there are many hydrogen bonds that break, causing the putty to break or tear.
Yes, your child or someone elses may leave the slime in his mother's purse or drop it on the carpet of the church or (insert your own little worry here)... but never fear!
Just soak it in soap and water, run it through the laundry if that's possible or, if in carpet, simply wait for it to dry out and scape it right off. Voila! The polymers are unbonded as easily as they were bonded in the first place.

78 comments:

  1. I like using Borax in my laundry. It does make it smell cleaner and they look brighter.

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  2. hannah12:04 AM

    oh thanks for the giveaway. I've been wanting to try borax for a long time now and would love to give it a try!

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  3. hannah12:05 AM

    tweeted https://twitter.com/achrissmile/status/342144896574046208

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  4. I love it TY for posting the recipe =)

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  5. follow on twitter
    shirleyacarr

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  6. twitted
    https://twitter.com/shirleyacarr/status/342246434663452672

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  7. never tried but thought was just for laundry???

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  8. https://twitter.com/Myflower121870/status/342246851925377024

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  9. commented on another
    http://tsisterhoodbookshelf.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-kingsbury-collection.html?showComment=1370433046771#c7788260011679697831

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  10. Borax is completely awesome. I use it for so many things!

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  11. Facebook share!

    https://www.facebook.com/donna.cheatle.9/posts/177499509081636

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  12. Anonymous9:16 AM

    So cool, but when I first read the title, I thought of boric acid...do they make it with borax, or do they just have similar names?
    Jody C.

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  13. I have used Borax to make my own laundry detergent.

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  14. I forgot all about Borax slime-- did that experiment with my older kids but totally forgot for my younger ones. Maybe I'll do it with them this summer!

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  15. Would love to make slime with my grandkids!

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  16. I love making slime! Tweeted here: https://twitter.com/the2ndthought/status/342490442643959810

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  17. I have used Borax to make laundry detergent and I've added it to loads to make them cleaner...didn't know you could make slime with it! You can also use it for preserving flowers.

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  18. I'm going to try making slime with my nephew. What a fun project!

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  19. Tweet
    https://twitter.com/clc408/status/342610831797788673

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  20. I make homemade laundry detergent so I use a LOT of Borax. I haven't made slime in several years. Need to do that with the kids for a fun summer project.

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  21. I tried to make this with my Girl Scout troop and it didn't work out. Will have to try again with this larger recipe!

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  22. I love Borax! I use it for flea control and various other things.

    mrsmiki77 (AT) gmail (DOT) com

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  23. I follow on twitter @mrsmiki77

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  24. I have always heard of Borax - time to try!

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  25. I'd love to try this
    Lilhottemomma@yahoo.com

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  26. Borax has so many uses

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  27. I so want to make that slime! Fun with the kiddies....and for Mommy too!

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  28. https://twitter.com/Freebies4Trini/status/342800523407282176

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  29. Oh my gosh. I didn't know you can use Borax to make slime. :) My daughters would love this! :)

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  30. Thank you so much for the slime recipe. I have used it in a presentation to get girls 5th through 9th grade interested in engineering and forgot it. I use slime as a laundry booster - the little ones can really get their clothes dirty.

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  31. Anonymous5:41 PM

    https://twitter.com/amytolley1/status/343498044148432897 SHARED ON TWITTER

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  32. Anonymous5:42 PM

    THIS IS A PRETTY COOL RECIPE MY BOYS LOVE THIS STUFF...THANKS FOR SHARING...

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  33. Anonymous5:42 PM

    I COMMENTED ON YOUR DRINKING A JAMBA JUICE AT THE MALL THANKS

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  34. what a cool craft project for boys. I think I will try this over the summer, thanks!!

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  35. I would definitely make the slime with my kids...they would just love that

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  36. I'll file this away for a rainy summer day.

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  37. https://twitter.com/susan1215/status/343914137354641409

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  38. I have heard of Borax before but I have never tried it.

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  39. I've used Borox in the past and really liked it. I need to pick up a box next time I'm at the grocery store!

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  40. We use borax for laundry detergent

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  41. Sunnie11:07 PM

    I really would like to use this for homemade laundry soap;.

    sunniewoodyplus2 atmsn.com

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  42. I'll have to try this because we have really hard water here as well.

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  43. I really would like to use this for homemade laundry soap;.

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  44. I use borax when I make laundry detergent.

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  45. I did not realize that this softens water. Our water is so hard and this sounds like a perfect way to soften it!
    Laurie Emerson

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  46. I would love to try this! I always hear good things about it.
    Brittney House bbrittbrat1398@yahoo.com

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  47. Anonymous5:23 AM

    I've made laundry detergent with it.

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  48. marlabald11:22 AM

    Thanks for the recipe!

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  49. have not used Borax in years.....

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  50. i follow Borax on pinterest,facebook and twitter.

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  51. i also follow on youtube

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  52. i would love to win a box. they made slime at my son's school and he loved it.

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  53. i subscribed to your newsletter

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  54. I bought some to use on hubby's construction work clothes.

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  55. I am amazed by how many uses this has! My kids would love the slime!

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  56. I use it in the laundry.

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  57. I love borax. thanks for the chance!
    diesel_had_my_baby@yahoo.com

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  58. I hope I'm not double dipping. I thought I entered this giveaway but I can't find my comment so I'm doing all the steps again. I use Borax in my laundry as a booster.

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  59. i love using borax because there are so many things you can do with it!

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  60. Debbie Lewis5:10 PM

    I add Borax to my whites when I wash them

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  61. I would love to try Borax!!

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  62. Thanks for the giveaway…great for laundry & household cleaning !

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  63. I have never heard of this! Sounds awesome.

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  64. I love borax, down to 1/2 a box now, would love to win.

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  65. Thank you for this great giveaway. I always see really cool ideas to do with kids on Pinterest using Borax, but I never thought to buy it while at the store.

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  66. I would love to make slime with my niece and nephew. kristiedonelson(at)gmail(dot)com Thank you.

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  67. I love the slime! Who knew you could do this!

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  68. Oh that looks like so much fun! I will have to try making that for Carter to play with!

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  69. I never knew anything about Borax! I have heard of it, but never used it and I had no idea you could for so many things! I love the slime recipe, this is the perfect rainy day activity to do with my kiddo's! They will love it!

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  70. I love using Borax for my laundry, it is a super product. I never made slime though!
    twinkle at optonline dot net

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  71. These looks like so much fun to make for the kids to do ,. They would love to play with it love the colors too.

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  72. I think I first heard of this on Pinterest, but I never really read what it was all about. My nephew would go crazy over the slime, and my brother would kill me if I ever introduced him to this.

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  73. that would be nice to have to make stuff with the grandkids

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  74. I am a part of a homeschool Science Club...this will be our next experiment. I am sure it will be a hit. Thank you.

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  75. My kids would love making this slime. I love how colorful the slime is too.

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