1 Piece of cotton string

1 Pencil or stick

1 Paper clip

1 Food coloring (optional)

1 c Water

2 c Sugar

Additional sugar

Tie a short piece of cotton string to the middle of the pencil or stick. Attach a paper clip to the end of the string for a weight. Moisten the string very lightly, and roll in a bit of sugar (this will "attract" the sugar crystals from the syrup to the string). Place the pencil or stick over the top of the glass or jar with the string hanging down inside.

Heat the water to boiling, and dissolve the 2 cups of sugar into it. For the biggest crystals FAST, heat the sugar-water solution a SECOND time, and dissolve as much additional sugar as you can into it. Add a few drops of food coloring to the solution if desired.

Pour the solution into the prepared glass or jar and leave undisturbed for a couple of days. Depending on how much sugar you were able to dissolve into the water, you should start to see crystals growing in a few hours to a few days.