Crystal formation lab

This lab procedure was slightly trickier than the others in that it required a tid bit more finesse in going through the steps. Some of the smallest mistakes make the steps leading up to it all for nothing.
First, we needed to add a large amount of Aluminun Potassium Sulfate to a glass beaker of distilled water (the experiment will only work with distilled water). I did not use an exact measurement of Aluminum Potassium Sulfate due to lack of time, so all that I can say is that I added a good sized amount to about 250mL of distilled water. Then, we stirred the water until the Aluminum Potassium Sulfate had fully dissolved and made the water cloudy white. Then, we put our glass beakers on top of hot plates (basically safer, more portable stove tops) and continued to stir. After stirring for about 15 minutes, the solution inside the beaker had turned clear, signifying that it was time for the next step. We took our beakers off of the hot plates to let them cool and form seed crystals at the bottom. Then, we chipped away at the newly formed seed crystals until we a had a respectable-sized chunk that we could tie on a piece of string for the second main part of the experiment. (Note: if the seed crystal is not properly tied to the string, it will fall and ruin the experiment; as what happened to me)
Next, we repeat step one, except we don't let seed crystals form at the bottom. Instead, when we tied a seed crystal with the string, we tied the other end to a small wooden stick (much like a tongue-depresser). The reason for this is to suspend the seed crystal so that it sits in the middle of the glass beaker full of solution. (Note: wait until the beaker has cooled enough to be held or the seed crystal will dissipate) This caused the cooling to make the Aluminum Potassium Sulfate in the water solidify around the seed crystal instead of just the bottom of the beaker. So, basically, we covered the seed crystal in another layer of crystal. The result was this:

This lab lead us to learn two important lessons: 1. Solutions can have predictable reactions when solids of that solution are introduced to the experiment that produced the solutions. By dissolving a solute and making it a part of a solution, it can solidify around a solid in the water in which it was made. 2. Some experiments need careful attention to procedure to produce the right end product.