• 1
    Fill the 5 gallon bucket ~halfway with COLD water

    Fill the 5 gallon bucket up with around 2-3 gallons of cold tap water. You can eyeball it, doesn't have to be exact.

  • 2
    Boil ~1/2 gallon of water in the stockpot for your methylcellulose

    Methylcellulose is actually less soluble in hot water - the opposite of most chemicals. In our case, that's actually useful - in hot water, the methylcellulose stays in suspension as a bunch of non-sticky little particles, and is easy to break up until it's evenly dispersed. If you try to mix methylcellulose in cold water, it clumps up and is a real pain.

  • 3
    (optional) add pigment

    If you want to add a pigment, it's usually best to add it to the hot water now, before you stir in the methylcellulose.