Most people who love slime have thought about making it, and most of them talk themselves out of it with one of four reasons. It's too hard. It's too complicated. It's too expensive. Or, simplest of all: why make it when you can buy it?
We've heard all four for years, and they're fair questions. Here are our honest answers.
"It's too hard."
Making slime isn't hard. Making good slime the first time is, because nobody tells you what goes wrong.
The hard part is trial and error. It's the batch that never comes together, the sticky stage that seems like a failure but isn't, the activator added a little too fast that turns everything to rubber. Every slime maker goes through it, and so did we. Our founder, Jacob, started Slime Obsidian at 16 in his parents' garage, and a lot of what he made back then wasn't very good: too sticky, too stiff, a scent that sounded better than it smelled. He tweaked the formulas and made them again, and again, for years, until they worked.
That's the part a tested formula skips. When the amounts are exact and the order is right, the trial and error has already been done, by us. What's left is the enjoyable part.
If you want proof it isn't hard, make the starter slime tonight. It's glue and activator, and it takes minutes.
"It's too complicated."
Look up a slime recipe online and you'll find a dozen versions that disagree with each other, a list of products you've never heard of, and no way of knowing which one will work.
The fix is one formula you can trust. That's how we write ours: every ingredient named, every amount exact, where to buy each thing, and someone showing you each step. Complicated is guessing. A good formula takes the guessing out.
"It's too expensive."
It's the opposite. A jar of handmade slime typically costs around fifteen dollars or more for 6 or 7 ounces.
Making it yourself, a gallon of school glue and a box of borax together cost about the same as two jars, and they make sixteen slimes, each one filling an 8 oz tub. Add the tubs, a color and a scent, and a batch still comes to a few dollars.
Textures with clay, foam or beads cost more to make than the starter, but the pattern holds: the supplies you buy once make slime after slime, while a jar is one slime.
"I'd rather just buy one."
There's nothing wrong with a jar of good slime. We sent millions of them around the world ourselves.
But a jar is a finished thing. You get the slime, and you miss the part our founder kept to himself for years: the making. Taking an idea, experimenting, and watching it come to life. We've since closed the shop, and our formulas now live in The Lab. Our textures aren't sold by the jar any more. They're made, by the people who love them.
And when you make it, you're never down to your last jar again.
What only making gives you
There's a particular satisfaction in a slime you made from nothing. You poured the glue, you felt it come together, you chose the color and the scent. It's yours in a way a bought one never is.
That feeling grows. The first batch is a win. The tenth, when you know exactly when to stop adding activator, feels like a skill. Making slime turns something you enjoy into something you're good at.
The best group activity there is
Slime might be the easiest way to get a room of people doing something together, with their hands, with no screens.
- For kids, it's hands-on, a little bit science, and it ends with something they made themselves to take home. Measuring, mixing and waiting for it to come together is half the fun.
- For adults, it's a calm, absorbing evening with friends, and everyone leaves with a slime that's nothing like anyone else's.
- For families, it's an afternoon where everyone is at the same table, and the youngest and the oldest are equally good at it.
Everyone makes their own, so everyone gets a turn at every step, and no two slimes come out the same.
What turns a fun afternoon into one people remember is the setup: the right base for a group, how much of everything to have ready, and how to keep the mess where it belongs. Our How To Throw Perfect Slime Parties lesson in The Lab covers all of it, down to how much you need for the number of guests coming.
As with any slime: an adult should handle the activator, and slime is not edible and should not be played with by children under the age of 7 or without adult supervision.
Start tonight
You don't need to decide anything to find out whether you'll love making slime. You need a cup of glue, a spoonful of borax and a few minutes. Here's the starter recipe.
Frequently asked questions
Is it cheaper to make slime than to buy it? Yes, by a long way. A gallon of glue and a box of borax cost about as much as two jars of slime, and make sixteen.
Is making slime hard? The basics aren't. Getting a specific texture right takes practice, or a tested formula.
How long does it take to make slime? The starter takes minutes. Textured slimes take a little longer, and most of the time is kneading.
What age is slime-making for? Slime isn't for children under 7, and younger makers should always have an adult with them, especially for the activator.
Do I need special supplies? For the starter, just glue and borax. Textures add a few more things, all easy to find.
Where to go from here
Everything in this article comes down to one idea: making slime is wonderful once someone has done the hard part for you. We've done it, and that's what The Lab is.
Every Friday we drop a new formula, each in its own room with the story behind it, the exact ingredients and where to buy them, and a step-by-step video of Jacob making it. Our School lessons cover textures, care, clean-up and parties. Every month Jacob goes live to make slime, experiment and answer your questions. And there's a community of people making the same slimes you are.