OCBF wants me to add that if using alcohol for the liquid, instead of the carrot juice(or whatever), it has to be mixed not in a blender but in a pot on the stove under mild heat. Stir it constantly with a plastic spatula. The alginate will clump up but with the stirring it will break down and mix in. You don't want it to boil or simmer, so very low heat, just enough to get the alginate to mix in. Once it breaks down, the mix will begin to thicken, and end up like a honey almost. Pull it off, let it cool down. It will thicken some more but that's ok. It stayed liquid for us to be able to pull it into the syringe. Even 30 minutes later, after a couple of tries with the syringe it was still liquid enough to do what it was supposed to.
I think that the calcium chloride bath should probably be very cold or in a double bowl with the outer bowl being an ice bath. It will make the beads harden faster. I have to go buy a strainer too, like a tea strainer, not a slotted spoon.
