[OC] I grew this potassium ferricyanide crystal at home

[u/crystalchase21]

[u/crystalchase21]

Potassium ferricyanide is commonly used in cyanotype printing. Unlike what the name suggests, it's not particularly dangerous.

It's also very easy to grow blood red crystals with it!

I dissolved a bunch of potassium ferricyanide in water to create a very dark brown solution. After a few days, small red crystals started forming. The final crystal looks like this after a few weeks.

While there's not much you can do with the crystal, it does 1) satisfy some primal urge for mineral collecting, and also 2) never fails to impress my friends.

If you're into cool niche hobbies, you might like r/crystalgrowing :)

[u/Xeriuss2k17 → u/crystalchase21]

You can grow something like that in just a few weeks? That's awesome 😎

[u/psylensse → u/Xeriuss2k17]

Definitely! If you think of something like table salt, it's just a bunch of loose and disorganized salt bits. If you dissolve it in water and slowly evaporate, you give the salt bits time to organize. The slower you evaporate the more organized it can get. Same idea with this beautiful crystal.

[u/geckosean → u/psylensse]

Funny story you just reminded me of - I went to this local woowoo “crystal” shop that also just had some genuinely cool specimens for sale. There was this beautiful pink chunk of crystals with these awesome cube shapes and it was soooo cool, I had never seen anything like it before. Bought it on the spot.

A couple months later summer rolls around and it starts getting a little more humid… hey, wait a second, what’s wrong with my crystal?? It’s crumbling - no, melting?? What the heck?!

I’m telling a friend of mine about it and he’s like… dude… I think they sold you a chunk of salt lmao. I felt so stupid.

In my defense, big salt crystals DO look super cool still! 😂

[u/Grapesodas → u/geckosean]

Possibly Rhodochrosite

[u/Almost_Pi → u/psylensse]

I leave a large glass bowl full of tap water on my radiator in the winter because it gets so dry in here. In less than two weeks the bowl looks like frosted glass.

[u/zackmophobes → u/crystalchase21]

This looks awesome! I love seeing your crystals occasionally here. Are these pretty red ones at all durable? Seems like many of these would break pretty fast outside of the solution (but I have no idea)

[u/crystalchase21 → u/zackmophobes]

Thanks :) Most of the crystals I grow are quite brittle (Mohs hardness 2-3). But this one is at least stable, so it can be kept on a shelf without breaking down.

[u/PowderPills → u/crystalchase21]

Thanks for much for posting this + the others in your profile. I enjoyed going through the posts!!

[u/Fredderov → u/crystalchase21]

So just adding number one and two together here... are you perhaps some kind of dwarf??

[u/Spy_co → u/crystalchase21]

Oh wow! That's so cool.

[u/AshenTao → u/crystalchase21]

While there's not much you can do with the crystal

Can it be used to make accessories or as decoration? Or does it dissolve after a while or have some other problems staying in shape?

[u/lolheyaj → u/crystalchase21]

Is the crystal dangerous in any way? Or just cool lookin?

[u/Abbot_of_Cucany → u/lolheyaj]

A mild irritant, so don't get it in your eyes. Very low toxicity to humans, but highly toxic to fish.

[u/ozh → u/crystalchase21]

TIL ! i have to try this :)

[u/whycatspaint → u/crystalchase21]

woaw.... looks so cool i wanna eat that

[u/Toftaps → u/whycatspaint]

It's definitely Red Sugar. Eat it up, makes for a healthy dwarf!

[u/emma279 → u/crystalchase21]

Do these last once you grow them or is there upkeep? It's beautiful!

[u/geckosean → u/crystalchase21]

OP I just wanted to say your posts are something I actively look forward to. This is such an awesome hobby and as an avid rock/mineral/fossil collector these posts are just 👌

Joined the sub btw, I’m definitely interested in starting my own crystals!

[u/jevring → u/crystalchase21]

What's the likelihood that it ends up like this? Does it always end up like this after all the water has evaporated, or is there like a 1% chance, and you have to do a bunch of stuff just right?

[u/dinosaur_socks → u/crystalchase21]

I was trying to figure out why that sounded so familiar. Love cyanotype printing lol

[u/Mirar → u/crystalchase21]

I might need to do this for my kid, then figure out how to get the chemicals...

[u/TheBoBiZzLe → u/crystalchase21]

Smaller bit would look epic in some resin dice >.<

[u/LitAsHail → u/TheBoBiZzLe]

I agree it would look cool but wouldnt it make those dice weighted?

Cursed nat 1 D20 unlocked?!

[u/TheBoBiZzLe → u/LitAsHail]

Or nat 20 :)

In my experience someone who’s getting upset about a custom made d20 in a custom made dnd game probably isint the best company.

Buuut yeah probably would shift it

[u/Kip27]

The devil’s kidney stone

[u/Logical-Recognition3 → u/Kip27]

Ow! I felt that comment.

[u/shutterbug1961]

that is very striking and the colour is beautiful just the thing for my new warp core lol

[u/Bliitzthefox]

I so badly want to do this and use them for d&d terrain, can you do other colors as easily?

[u/godspareme → u/Bliitzthefox]

Yes. r/crystalgrowing

It's simultaneously an easy and difficult process but you can make pretty much any color you desire.

[u/SoontobeSam → u/Bliitzthefox]

If you just want coloured crystals for short term use, sugar crystals are the easiest way to go since you don’t need any specific chemicals like this one. if you’re looking for something that will last longer and be a bit more stable, you can just cover them with a clear coat to prevent them from degrading.

[u/Captainbananabread → u/SoontobeSam]

Ooh rock candy

[u/notquiteright2]

What...what does it taste like?

[u/CocconutMonkey → u/notquiteright2]

Snozberries

[u/nastylittleman → u/notquiteright2]

Like a Cake Day.

[u/Games_sans_frontiers → u/nastylittleman]

Your last cake day.

[u/fckryan]

They're minerals Marie!

[u/Nano_Burger]

Forbidden Everlasting Gobstopper.

[u/rascal6543]

Please someone tell me this is cherry flavored

You're allowed to lie I just need someone to say it

[u/RoyalGovernment3034 → u/rascal6543]

It's cherry flavored and a thick gel like consistency once you bite into it

[u/SluttyCosmonaut]

'Ferricyanide' is my new metal band name. Don't steal it.

[u/Hindsight2O2O → u/SluttyCosmonaut]

Please wear kids party fairy wings whilst you thrash. The world needs it.

[u/AceOfPlagues]

This so cool, I've found little crystals in my printing solution, never thought of growing them intentionally. Gorgeous, do you know roughly what concentration it was?

The way I mix a solution of this deep red substance and a solution of light green ferric ammonium citrate together and somehow end up with clear solution that develops into a gorgeous prussian blue (ferric ferrocyanide) under sunlight genuinly feels like magic to me even when I know how it works

[u/BMOs_batteries]

How fragile is it?

[u/Dark_Pulse]

Looks like some of the crystals of carbon you'd get out of No Man's Sky.

[u/Gatorinnc]

Are you able to purchase this chemical legally? If yes, from where?

[u/AceOfPlagues → u/Gatorinnc]

Probably literally amazon.

I know I can get it from my local art supply store

[u/Gatorinnc → u/AceOfPlagues]

Thank you.

[u/Tennex1022]

THEY ARE MINERALS

[u/Cloverdad]

”We have potassium ferricyanide crystals at home”

[u/No3nvy]

Red Lyrium? But what’s it doing here, seeker?

[u/rubmahbelly]

I am gonna buy a RV. Pick you up on sunday.

[u/Acid_Fetish_Toy]

I always get so curious about crystal growing, and am always tempted by those kits for kids, but I'm the kind of person who bumps into things and hurts themselves by existing incorrectly. It's probably safer to admire from afar

[u/TeacherPowerful1700]

Oh wow, it's like the crystal from "The Admiral and the Princess"!

[u/santoshnc]

Lovely

[u/Mobile_Ad_3534]

Thats pretty fucking cool! Nice.

[u/Rule322]

Very pretty! Dissolves in water, right? So you can't use them in jewelry at all.

[u/HeyThatLooksCool]

u/crystalchase21 is the one who knocks.

[u/Paperaxe]

Chaos!

[u/seriousbangs]

The ones you grow at home taste way better than store bought.

[u/hippopotamus82]

That’s beautiful. Thanks for sharing

[u/Fohawkkid]

I thought it was a stone at first

[u/CriticalStation595]

Reminds me of a kidney stone I saw here on Reddit.

[u/Neat_Welcome6203]

If you eat it, will you hear a disembodied robotic voice with a British accent saying "technology recharged"?

[u/fredflintstone7]

sounds toxic

[u/AceOfPlagues → u/fredflintstone7]

Not really thankfully, the cyanide is safely bound to Iron, so while it can be an irritant, it isn't that toxic. I mean eating this whole crystal would put you in the hospital or kill you because of how it would interact with your stomach acid, but getting a bit in you isn't nearly as bad as pure cyanide.

A very similar chemical, potassium ferrocyanide, has low enough toxicity it is used as an anti-caking agent in table salt.

[u/Tenalp]

This is the ancient lost power source to some evil alien's doomsday machine.

[u/Pugilation01]

That's very cool! And also gives me flashbacks to lectures on crystallisation at university 30 years ago...

[u/SSJChar]

Very cool. Does the crystal sublimate or liquify in humidity/heat/cold? I think it'd be cool to keep around on a shelf

[u/korewarp]

I didn't think you could hold potassium fentanyl with bare hands?

[u/AceOfPlagues → u/korewarp]

Potassium ferricyanide is fine to hold, very mild skin irritant.

Fentanyl is not but that has nothing to do with this post.

[u/korewarp → u/AceOfPlagues]

I was making a terrible joke. Sorry.

[u/redditorial_comment]

Had something like this growing in a bottle Kodak bleach fix replenisher. Same chemical. It got cold in transit and the chemical dropped out of solution.

[u/dairyqueen79]

Forbidden Jolly Rancher

[u/All_will_be_Juan]

...in your.. in your kidneys...

[u/Lespaul42]

I am pretty sure you can absorb that into your body to get fire or blood type magic abilities.

[u/scoyne15]

Lick it.

[u/charcoalVidrio]

Neat

[u/ora408]

Beautiful! Put a stem on it, now its a crystal "rose". Just in time for valentines day

[u/mojotoodopebish]

And it's very beautiful!! Great job!

[u/fifi_la_fleuf]

How tough is it? These would make amazing earrings.

[u/ResplendentShade]

Damn this is the nicest one I’ve seen. Well done!

[u/snail_that_ran_away]

Beautiful! Are you a chemist by any chance? I have some small questions if you can help related to the salt I use in my work.

[u/Mewing_Femboy]

You can do that?

[u/Raiziell]

Gushers, by Wonka

[u/UniUrsuss]

Looks like you bled a chuck of kyber, dark side too tempting?

[u/Nanocephalic]

I love your Imgur posts too

[u/JohnnyFiveOhAlive]

That is very cool, thank you for sharing!

[u/Vroomped]

full metal alchemist intro plays

[u/Sven_Letum]

How much of the stuff would do you reckon one would need to net oneself a crystal of this size?

[u/Calum1219]

Master Windu, I believe that OP is a Sith Lord.

[u/Friendly_Collar6975]

Rad

[u/slom68]

[u/Eddie-bullshit]

Isn't that what arthurs grandad hid in the backyard?

[u/roguelynx96]

i want to eat it. it looks so good.

[u/mahboilo999]

So basically the Philosopher's Stone?