HowTo: Grow Your Own Snowflakes

CalTech's Kenneth Libbrecht reveals the sublime beauty of snow crystals when photographed with a specially designed snowflake photomicroscope. The physicist is author of the Field Guide to Snowflakes and The Secret Life of a Snowflake, and recently posted an instructional guide for growing your own snow crystals.

You Will Need:

• One used 20-oz plastic Coke bottle
• Three large-diameter styrofoam cups (or something similar)
  
  
• A small kitchen sponge (1/2 inch thick)
  
  
• A short length of nylon fishing line (thinner is better; 1-pound test is good)
  
  
• A strong sewing needle
  
  
• Four straight pins
  
  
• One paper clip
  
  
• Some paper towels

Libbrecht's microscopic images, via New Scientist: