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How to make cloudy water?

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47K views 19 replies 10 participants last post by  um3k 
#1 ·
How to make cloudy water? (Solution found!)

Hi everyone. I'm making a prop for my Halloween display, it is a shelf with light-up bottles on it. The bottles are lit from below by LEDs built into the shelf. The problem I have now is that I need a way to make the water in the bottles slightly cloudy to diffuse the light. Can anyone recommend a way to do this? I considered milk, but I'm afraid it will spoil. Right now I have soapy water in them for testing.
 
#10 ·
Ok, time for an update. The first thing I tried was cornstarch, since a couple people recommended it. It worked well while it lasted, but it settled out of the water much too quickly, a matter of minutes.

Next, my friend tried baking soda, which lasted for about an hour. That would probably work, but isn't optimal.

However, as he was testing baking soda, I tried fabric softener. It works amazingly well, even after 12+ hours, it has barely settled at all! There were some chunks when I first mixed it, but they either settled or dissolved. Here's some test images of fabric softener:

View attachment 6224
Blue and yellow, up close

View attachment 6225
Overview

A big thanks goes out to UnOrthodOx for suggesting fabric softener!
 
#20 ·
Two requests for a how-to--that's enough for me! We'll be making another one before too long, I'll be sure to get good pictures of every stage of the process. I actually have quite a few pictures of this one, but the coverage is kinda spotty, and the depth of field is so shallow most of the stuff is out of focus. Though, I might throw something together anyways...
 
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