Pine Cone with Borax Crystals: Work in Progress

I am not sure that this will work very well.
The first problem was that pine cones float (I should have thought of that). I proudly and deftly solved this by putting the lid on and turning the jar upside down with the pine cone attached to string, caught in the lid, keeping it anchored.
Sadly, I think I anchored the pine cone too close to the edge of the jar so the crystals may end up more on the jar than that side of the pine cone. However, when I tried to open the jar to rectify this, I realised that the lid is probably going to be firmly attached to the jar with crystals.
Another possible problem is that the water is turning kind of brown so the crystals might be brownish or yellowy too.

On the left - floating pine cone
On the right - cleverly anchored pine cone
(too close to the side of the jar - pah!)

Sigh.