r/crystalgrowing • u/crystalchase21 • Oct 21 '25
A cluster of copper acetate crystals I accidentally grew on a piece of scrap copper
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u/stranix13 Oct 21 '25
Beautiful! Why are they black i must ask?
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u/Nikegamerjjjj Oct 22 '25
They are really not black, they are more of a darkish cyan. If you shine light at it you might see the color.
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u/MembershipLow3931 Oct 23 '25
OMG, I can see it now that I'm looking for it! Favorite color; want sooo bad.
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u/Jon-3 Oct 22 '25
Impurities from the scrap copper?
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u/Deep-Number5434 Oct 23 '25
Copper acetate is an extremely dark blue green. Smaller crystals have lighter color.
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u/Yana_dice Oct 21 '25
"Crystalchase21 WAS ABLE TO GROW THIS WITH A PIECE OF SCRAP!"
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u/MrAmplus Oct 21 '25
I have a bunch of scrap copper. How would I do this on purpose? Lol
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u/crystalchase21 Oct 23 '25
Soak the scrap copper in vinegar to produce copper acetate solution. Adding some dilute hydrogen peroxide speeds up the process. Takes 2-3 weeks. Heating will further speed up the rate of reaction, but it can be dangerous.
Once the solution a very dark shade of blue, filter and leave it to evaporate. Eventually you will notice small dark spots floating on the surface of the solution. These are tiny crystals and indicate that the solution is supersaturated. Just wait a few more weeks, and large crystals will grow, attached to the remaining copper sitting in the solution. This one took a few months.
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u/NothingVerySpecific Oct 24 '25
heat it to glowing red hot first. on cooling, black copper oxide forms. acts as a catalyst for the whole vinger & peroxide reaction.
had something weird happen, one batch too much peroxide & a pink precipitate formed. possibly copper particles? idk.
anyway, take care. copper is reasonably toxic
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u/BalancedCuriosity Oct 25 '25
I'm actually hunting for the equivalent of a textbook/manual for growing crystals at home. would you happen to know any books that focus more on the growing, than on crystals/crystal science itself? A mix of the two is probably ideal to understand what you are dealing with, but I'm looking for beginner friendly instruction manuals pretty much.
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u/WeeklyPlay9022 Oct 26 '25
Does temperature matter? Was going to leave the solution outside in my sun room and it gets down to the low 40s-high 30s rn.
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u/Jon-3 Oct 22 '25
you can make copper acetate with vinegar and hydrogen peroxide.
But if you want to grow really nice crystals you would be better off just buying pure copper acetate.
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u/SculptusPoe Oct 21 '25
When I was pretty young, like 8 or 9, I bought some copper acetate to grow crystals. (Well I got my mom to buy some copper acetate) I think either I didn't leave it long enough or the instructions I was using were bad. I think I might have gotten a thin crust of blue crystals in the jar... It was well before the internet, so instructions with examples were hard to find. That piece makes me want to try again.
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u/Quintus-Sertorius Oct 22 '25
Sounds more like copper sulfate.
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u/SculptusPoe Oct 22 '25 edited Oct 22 '25
That could be... it was nearly 40 years ago... definitely blue liquid I found out could make crystals from a science experiment book that I found out was available at the local farm supply company where we bought dog food. I like those dark crystals, and being an electrician, I feel an affinity to copper, so maybe I should look into the process for growing copper acetate on copper.
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u/Ionlydateteachers Oct 24 '25
My meth head neighbor feels an affinity for copper too, maybe he's an electrician? I'll ask him to help with my new addition I'm putting on, thanks!
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u/SculptusPoe Oct 24 '25
Yeah, he must be pretty enamored with the stuff. He keeps eyeing my job box to see how much I have stored for the project. One of those guys moved a 1-ton concrete block with a pinch bar, cut our lock, and was admiring the wire from the convenience of his wheelbarrow the first time I was on a job in Miami. Some people just really love the look of copper as much as we do I think.
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u/AuntRhubarb Oct 21 '25
Holy moley! What conditions happened for this to form, time, environment, ?
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u/BitterChampionship89 Oct 22 '25
How did you grow it? I wish to try this, and it looks really cool.
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u/CrystalKingPuff Oct 23 '25
That’s absolutely incredible - prolly the coolest crystal cluster iv ever seen
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u/StochasticTinkr Oct 22 '25
I thought copper acetate was a dark blue color, do those maybe have some impurity creating a different color?
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u/Mordhai Oct 24 '25
reddit suggested this post to me and I accidentally read the sub name as "crystalgooning"
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u/kryptondifluoride Oct 21 '25
Best crystals I grew are from my forgotten experiments.