How to use crystal gel balls ??

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Palms

Palms

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Apr 1, 2008
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Can anyone help, i am doing a wedding and using tall lily vases. I am putting fairy lights inside the vase and wanted to add the gel balls (i think thats what they are called). I want them to distribute evenly up the vase but when i tried they just settled at the bottom.

Trouble is, i have seen this done so there must be a way. Does anyone have any tips or photographs, i know exactly what designs i am doing on the top etc, its just this with the crystal balls.

Thanks in advance to all you clever folk:squish:
 
We call them caviar..tiny balls that when soaked become about the size of cheap larger caviar...we do them in a floral bucket two-three days ahead of the event...then we add them to whatever it is we need.
Please remember that you DO NOT WANT TO POUR THEM DOWN THE DRAIN...they will clog like concrete. If you do it at a venue...they will be po'd. We usually bring them back and pour them into a large garbage bag and put it in the toxic recycle dumpster. We have also reused them..they seem to keep in the reach in just fine.
Hopefully I am talking abut the same thing you are...lol
Sher
 
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So i should put them in a bucket with hot water and then just add them into the vase with other water and the fairy lights? I dont want the vase to be full of them, i just want them randomly floating around among fresh water.

Sorry to be a pain but is this what you are both saying.

Oh and the plumbing thing, thanks i shall not pour them down the sink, although my hubby is a plumber lol
 
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Try Pioneer Wholesale. They have the ones you are looking for and are kind enough to include a chart for the amounts to use, if you ask. They are members here as well. They look ust like the clear marbles.

Also I believe that TJDragonfly says that he stores his in five gallon buckets and reuses them. do a search, you'll find the thread.


Edit: I am not sure about floating them, not sure if you can do that.
 
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Hydrogell Balls

Hello,

We have Hydrogell Balls in Australia, these do not float, and depending on how much water you put in the bucket will depend on how big they get, we use 20grams of balls to get 15litres worth. These are average sized balls, any bigger and they fall apart easily.

We used ours in a Lemon and Lime Centrepiece, they smelt like citrus after wards, so they were thrown in the garden (ours are non-toxic) but the ones we use in our Martini Vase are stored in a bucket with a lid to stop dust etc getting in, when we need to re-use them we re-top with water to get the correct size we need.

If you fill it with water they tend to float towards the top unless there is something holding them down and you start to loose the ball effect, if you use coloured ones you will still be able to see them and they might look effective (we have only ever used the clear ones and have not experimented with the colours)

Everyone thinks they look like marbles and are fantastic.

Hope this helps,
Steff
 
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Thanks to everyone for your input. I actually phoned the florist who i seen do this in a demonstration and asked him how he got them to float. He said that instead of soaking them for say four hours to make them as big as they can get, you should soak them for two and then put them in the vase.

Apparently this is what makes them float, i am going to try this on Thursday so if anyone wants to do this just ask and i will let you know how i get on.
 
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