Freshman Violet Apodaca’s Passion for Slime

Photos by Ellen Swanson 

Freshman Violet Apodaca drizzles Elmer’s glue and sprays borax over cornstarch. She squeezes some shaving cream and hand soap as she kneads in drops of red food coloring. The now thick and fluffy consistency turns pink and her soothing companion is complete: slime.

Slime keeps Apodaca company while she reads “We Were Liars” and often right before bed so she doesn’t have to think about anything. When she isn’t practicing for Frequent Fridays, or working at Dips n Sips ice cream shop, Apodaca finds time to relax with slime.

“I like the texture and I think it’s very stress relieving,” Apodaca said. “If you need something to do with your hands while you’re doing something else it’s helpful.”

Because of all of the benefits she has reaped from the soothing ooze, Apodaca started her own Etsy account called “selftitledslime” to sell an array of slimes such as crunch, glitter, cream cheese and slushy slime. The difference between the types of slimes have to do with texture. While “crunch” is filled with mini styrofoam balls for extra texture, the “cream cheese” slime is softer and smoother. Her cheapest slime, Glitter Crunch, is listed at $4, and her most expensive, Birthday Cake slime, is listed at $9.

Although slime became a trend among social media and Youtube as of spring of 2017, Apodaca was inspired by a friend who brought Tide to school and made slime in art class over a year ago. At the end of the day Apodaca played with her friend’s slime before volleyball practice – relief hit and the hobby commenced. Now, Apodaca has made over 50 sets of slime in the past year.  

She has sold eight slimes, five from her Etsy shop and the other three to friends by request. Apodaca packages each round container of slime with a surprise gift like lollipops or in her latest order, a keyboard cover, along with a note. Not only does the note say thanks for buying, but it details what to do if the slime gets sticky and best wishes of enjoying their purchase.

“I feel like some bigger slime sellers just package and send,” Apodaca said. “I wanted to make it more personal.”

This homemade therapy comes at a low cost with a lot of care. The convenience of buying premade slime for cheap is simpler than getting all of the supplies to make slime from scratch according to customer Avery Brundidge. Apodaca hopes to pass on a cute and stress-relieving staple of her own to her customers. Rip it, squeeze it, stretch it, knead it; whatever it takes to feel at ease.