How to make cleaning putty
Stats
Time: 3 minutesMaterial cost: less than 50 cents for a golf ball-sized blobDifficulty: Easy
Ingredients
½ teaspoon of borax1 tablespoon of extra-strong white glue2 tablespoons of warm water(Optional) food coloring
Tools
2 small containers Measuring spoonsA small plastic spoon (or chopstick)
Instructions
- Make a borax solution. Pour 1 tablespoon of water and the borax into one container. Stir thoroughly to dissolve the borax. But first, you need to make it.
Note: You can use cold water if you want, but it will take way more stirring than you think.
- Make a glue solution. Pour the white glue and the other tablespoon of water into your second container. Stir to mix well.
Pro tip: The kind of glue you use is critical. School-grade white glue will render a messy, non-stretchy, not-that-sticky slime, while using extra-strong glue like Elmer’s Glue-All will result in a more malleable, resilient goo.
- (Optional) Add color. If you’re into it, you can add food coloring into your glue solution to make your slime pop. But since this is a cleaning putty, sticking to white will make it all the more satisfying when you peel that gross gunk off your keyboard.
- Slowly pour the borax solution into the glue solution as you stir. You’ll see the texture of the glue solution almost immediately turn into slime when it comes into contact with the borax.
Note: You might not need all of the borax solution. If the slime is big enough or there’s no more glue solution, you can stop pouring.
- Knead the slime in your hands for a couple of seconds. This will fully integrate any leftover water into the slime.
How to use your cleaning putty
Your keyboard
Depending on the kind of keyboard you have, slime can get in between the keys and extract some of the accumulated gunk. Once you’re done with it, toss it in the trash. Never flush it down the toilet. Try cleaning these places to start: You may need to be persistent. This cleaning putty is sticky, but not so much that it will leave residue where you don’t want it. Although this makes slime slightly inefficient when it comes to cleaning, it’s safer to use with electronics—you certainly don’t want bits of slime preventing the R key from working properly.
USB ports
There are lots of reasons why your flash drive may be malfunctioning, or why your phone is not charging fast enough. Dirt and debris in the USB port is a big one. To clean it, carefully push your slime into the hole with your thumb, then slowly remove it. Repeat as necessary. If some of the slime sticks in there, use your finger to get it out. Those are just a few places we know slime will clean well, but you may find others. Just don’t try to use it on your own body—soap is way better.
