Fish Gack

Ingredients:

1½ cups of water, divided (faucet-hot)

1 bottle Elmer's school glue (4 floz)

1¼ tsp borax

5 TBSP cornstarch

food coloring (optional)

We're still working out exactly what ratios of the ingredients for this recipe get the best result, but the instructions that follow should work well enough. Update: We've now perfected the recipe.

Put the cornstarch in a bowl. Add about some of the water, a little at a time, stirring slowly, until you get a thick shear-thickening non-Newtonian fluid. (This takes about half as much water as cornstarch. Incidentally, this stuff is pretty interesting all by itself. If you've not encountered it before, take a few minutes to amuse yourself before proceeding.) If you desire coloring, stir it into the cornstarch mixture now.

Set the cornstarch mixture aside. In another bowl, mix a small bottle (4 floz) of Elmer's glue into a roughly equal amount, or a little less, of the faucet-hot water. Stir until smooth. Then, still stirring, gradually sprinkle in the borax. This will transform the glue into a lumpy foam. Continue stirring until further stirring does not increase the amount of foam (about a minute).

In a blender, combine the excess water, the foam mixture, and the cornstarch mixture. Blend briefly; you should get something with approximately the texture of scrambled eggs initially, but it will flow together after a moment. Remove it from the blender. (It may stick to the sides a little) and place it in a bowl. Knead it until it has a smooth and consistent texture. The result is white in color, similar to the glue, unless you used coloring.

The consistency of this stuff is adjustable. If it's too thick, put it in a bowl of water, and it will thin out as it absorbs the water, forming longer strands and thinner sheets and becoming slimier to the touch. If it's too runny, remove it from the water and work it with your hands, it it will firm up into a moldable lump, almost like putty.

For a firmer, stiffer foam product, use these amounts (instead of the ones above):

½ cup of water, divided

1 bottle Elmer's school glue (4 floz)

1½ tsp borax

3 TBSP cornstarch

food coloring (optional)

For a stickier slime, use only 1 tsp of borax, and increase the water until you get the consistency you want.