Hanging drop ice shapes

The hanging drop, an advanced technique

A special variant of the teardrop- or flame-shaped ice lantern shape is the hanging drop.  It's made by filling a balloon with water, knotting the end, and then hanging the balloon by the knot.

Ice shapes must have their liquid cores released to prevent shattering.

If the drops are frozen with nothing touching them, it is necessary to melt a hole to let the water out.  I hold them pointy-side-down in bubble wrap and melt holes in the bulgy end, using a flat-bottomed metal bowl full of hot water.

Another way to make an entry hole is to hang two balloons close together so that they touch, creating unfrozen spots on the sides.

It is also possible to create a hole in the bottom of a hanging drop by positioning it above an insulating object, just touching so that the contact point remains open.

I froze this ice-drop in a 12"
balloon, hung by its knot until
the wall was close to an inch
thick.  I melted a hole into the
core to release the water inside.

Making some hanging-drop ice
shapes, using clothespins to secure
the knots to the shelves in a
little wire-frame greenhouse.

Melting a hole in the ice lantern after unmolding it is inconvenient, time-consuming, and difficult.  If the hole is melted in the bottom, it's complicated to get lights in and out.  The next batch of hanging-drop lanterns that I made were in pairs, to produce an entry hole in the side.

In this little portable greenhouse, the end of the balloon can just be twisted around the wire of the shelf and fastened with a clothespin.

More than a dozen pairs of balloons
filled with cold water and suspended
so that there is a contact point that
remains open when the wall freezes

The balloon has been punctured, and
water is running out from the hole in the
side of the ice lantern, as the split in the
balloon extends rapidly upward.

The completed ice lantern, with the balloon
nearly completely removed.  

These ice lanterns are being lit by
a string of 25 lights, each inserted
into the side of one of the lanterns.

Although the hanging-drop ice lanterns are easy to make, they are challenging to illuminate.  Candles need a chimney, which these don't have, so either they are lit from outside, have LED lights inside, or are displayed as unlit ice objects.

With a hole melted into the
bottom of the hanging drop
ice lantern on top of the two
Wintercraft ice globes, it was
fairly easy to "weld" it in place
using the water that was
draining from the core.

This hanging drop ice lantern
is lit by a small electric tea
light, inserted through a
hole in the side.  

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