Destruction. Delay? Delight?

The inevitable end -- delayed if possible

Ice lanterns don't last.  You can delay the inevitable, but at some point you might as well enjoy watching the destruction of your luminaries by sun, rain, wind, and heat.

Ice turns to water or even directly
to water vapor as the sun shines
on the ice lanterns.

Delaying ice lantern meltdown

* protect against sunlight by positioning ice lanterns in the shade
* use LED lights rather than candles
* move ice lanterns to a freezer when they aren't on display
* if using candles, isolate them from the luminary with an insulator
* limit burn time of candles
* make the ice lanterns as thick as possible
* place ice lanterns on top of thick bases of ice

Making the best of the meltdown

* if a candle melts through a lantern into the base below, reposition the candle

The candle sits inside the upper ice
lantern, which is on top of an
upside-down globe luminary,
itself on a column of
ice lanterns.

Several days of candles burning in
the upper lantern, along with warmer
weather, melt through the base of the
upper lantern and the solid upper end
of the base, creating a pool of water
in which a floating candle was lit.

This pair of ice lanterns shows one with
the base of the upper lantern melted
through and the one in the background
with the base still intact.  The column on
which the further lantern sits was made of
two Arctic Ice Lanterns with their open
ends joined, so that the large lantern on
top has a solid base under it.  The one in
the foreground is a large luminary placed
on the open end of another ice lantern.
Where there is more ice to melt through,
the candle is less likely to end up in the
supporting structure.

* Candles can be placed on something that at least spreads the heat over a large area, or on something that provides some insulation. Wintercraft recommends using a small upside-down plastic cup.  I usually put a lid from a can or a small ceramic plate under the candle.  Candles can create enough heat to melt through the ice below them.

With multiple freeze-thaw cycles, the metal
lids under the candles have melted through
layers of ice and have been frozen over.
Three lids are seen stacked within this
aging ice luminary.

A candle sinking into the ice.  The next time
 this lantern was lit, the hole was covered
with a ceramic dish to keep the candle
from sinking deeper in.

Enjoying the transformation

When there's no way to prevent the melting, enjoy the beauty of the transformation.

Cracks spread through the clear ice,
the upper edges melt, and the
walls grow thinner and thinner.

Even an amazingly thin remnant of ice can support a load -- until it suddenly collapses.

This increasingly lacy ice
lantern tower burned on
two levels for several nights
before it finally fell down.

More photos of melting ice lanterns, on Flickr.

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Constrained balloon ice lanterns

A fairly easy way to add variety to your ice lanterns

Making an ice lantern in a balloon can yield more than just globe and teardrop shapes.  A balloon that is constrained within a container can take on a totally different form.  Oddly, I made ice lanterns in bucket-type molds and separately in balloons for a couple of years without thinking of putting the balloons inside the molds.

This large luminary was made in a
36" party balloon inside an IKEA
"Fniss" wastebasket, producing
a softer form that is taller than
the wastebasket mold.

We had actually been constraining balloons all along -- just not thinking of it that way.  Wintercraft's sturdy balloons require only a minimal support, but ordinary thin latex balloons flatten into a blob if they aren't placed in bowl to maintain their rounded shape.  The instructions for making a globe ice lantern from an ordinary balloon simply assume that some kind of support is needed -- and we went beyond that by using bowls with fluting to make the globes more interesting.

An ice globe luminary made by
constraining an ordinary latex
balloon in a fluted bowl.

A blob.  This balloon does sit on a
plate with a slight rim, but the large
balloon would need more support.

Ordinary balloons' weakness becomes an advantage when you want to create varied forms, and especially if you enjoy more rounded edges to your designs.  This Norwegian website opened my eyes to the exciting options that this method offers.

You can curve a shape above the rim of a container, and you can make oval and other forms.

An oval bucket used to make a
luminary with both a curved top
and an oval shape

You can soften the lines of the Arctic Ice Lantern without losing the six flat faces that provide surfaces for decoration.

The Arctic Ice Lantern mold being
lifted off a balloon with a frozen
ice lantern in a rounded shape

Removing the balloon, with the
Arctic Ice Lantern hexagonal
mold in the background.

Note the bubble wrap under the ice lantern.  Although the luminaries are usually resistant to cracking, setting them on a layer of bubble wrap provides extra protection, and it also insulates them from warm surfaces.

Smoothing the contours of the
central hole (which had remained
open as the rest of the walls froze),
using a flat-bottomed metal pet
food bowl full of hot water.

If the ice lantern is removed when the walls are at the right thickness (about an inch), there will be a hole in the ice where the mold was sitting on the ground.  Sometimes, a thin layer of ice or slush covers that area and can be easily broken through.  If the luminary has frozen further, or if the surface that it sat on was particularly cold, the ice could be thick there, and it might need to be melted using the metal bowl with hot water, in order to reach the core of liquid water.  The arched surface of the balloon seems to direct the ice crystals to form straight lines, so if you want a nice round hole, you need to smooth the edges.

The finished lantern as made in a
balloon inside an Arctic Ice Lantern
sits on top of one made in the same
kind of mold (upside down as a base).
You can see the contrast between the
sharp edges on the lower one and the
rounded contours of the upper one.
The faces of both are flat enough
to add ice appliques.

Without repeating the details of production, this is another example of a base made without a liner and an ice lantern on top that was frozen in a balloon inside the same type of mold:

This ice lantern and base
were frozen inside a
small plastic bucket.

Here is a step-by-step description of freezing the large luminary at the top of this blog post:  

A 36" latex party balloon is filled with
cold water while inside an IKEA "Fniss"
wastebasket.  To ensure that a hole remains
at the upper end of the finished luminary, the
bottom of the wastebasket at this stage, I put
a raised disc in the center.  The disc could be
any of several options, such as a yogurt cup,
a rubber stopper, etc., but I had found a
container lid that worked very well.
Usually, the end remains open
even without using a disc.

Blowing some air into the balloon makes
a flat base for the finished ice lantern.
This one is sitting on a cold porch,
where it took more than 24 hours
to freeze.  I often freeze some
smaller balloons so that I
can check their thickness
before deciding when to
unmold a large one like this.

Sealing the balloon with a removable clip makes the job easier.  I use clips that Wintercraft sells to seal their extra-strong balloons, but Ikea's clips for small bags would probably also work well.  Tying the end of the balloon works, too, but it can be difficult if the balloon is under much pressure.

I brought the ice lantern indoors
when it felt solid and other balloons
that I froze around the same time had
proven to be thick enough.  

Removing the wastebasket from the balloon,
which is sitting on bubble wrap after having
its clip removed so that the balloon flattened
over the base.  It sometimes requires
pouring hot water over the mold
to loosen it enough to remove.

The blue disc with the raised center
was a lucky find.  It happens to fit
perfectly in the wastebasket and
guarantees that the center of the
ice lantern's top (the base during
the freezing process) will be the
last area to solidify.  This is a
nice touch, but usually not
absolutely necessary.

This large ice lantern is hard to handle
because of its weight.  I cut a hole in the
balloon and used a hand-operated pump
to remove the water from the core before
moving the slippery lantern around much.

The balloon peels off easily.  Along the stress
lines, the ice crystals tended to form in straight
lines, making a rectangular hole at the top.

Because I would rather have a round hole at the top,
I smooth the opening using a metal bowl filled with
hot water, refilling it as it cools.  Spinning the bowl
quickly melts a shallow area that keeps it centered.

I decorated the luminary with ice
snowflakes.  The large size makes
the curvature gentle enough that
they will stick in place as well as
they would on a flat surface.

When finished, this ice lantern provided
good protection against a strong breeze
that extinguished other luminaries.

One of my favorite constrained balloon shapes resembles the glass chimney of an old-fashioned kerosene lamp.

A constrained balloon ice lantern
sitting on a base made in a plastic
party tray lid.

It is made by filling a balloon with water while it is held inside a vase with a flared top, then adding some air to make the flat bottom, and freezing it -- being careful not to let the walls get too thick.

This flared plastic vase is filled
over the top with water in a sturdy
balloon.  Air is added to make the
flat bottom of the ice lantern.

The chimney is narrow enough that it can end up with too tight an opening to allow placing a candle in it or getting adequate ventilation.  I have had to pare down a candle to fit down the hole and drill air holes in from the lower end when one of these ice lanterns froze a bit too long before being unmolded.  On the other hand, if they aren't frozen long enough, the chimney can be too thin and delicate.

This plastic vase came from Party City.
It has small struts at the bottom;  I put
a lid of that size over them to make an
air pocket to delay freezing there and
to help flatten the upper end of the
chimney.  Even so, it is often
necessary to melt open the
end of the chimney to
release the water
from the core.

Another very lovely constrained-balloon ice lantern is made using a plastic container with squared, outsloping sides.  This yields an ice lantern with sides that face upward, making its decorations easy to see when it is placed on the ground and protecting the flame from wind.

The plastic tub from Party City shapes
the ice lantern to produce flattened
sides that face upward and can be
decorated with ice appliques.

Unmolding the constrained
balloon luminary.

The slight inward slope of the sides
and the flattening that the mold
produces enable this ice lantern
to display the owl appliques
where they can easily be seen.

Constraining a balloon inside another object expands the options for creating different shapes.  It allows you to make ice lanterns that are larger than the molds you are using (but watch out for a flood if your balloon breaks!) and it produces a flatter base than you will usually get from simply freezing your luminary in a mold.

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Electric lighting for ice lanterns

Electric lights for ice lanterns

For some ice lanterns, candles won't work.  A candle needs a s chimney directly above the flame, and it should have a source of air.  Ice lantern lifetime is shortened by the heat of a candle.  For indoor use, or for outdoor luminaries that don't have a chimney or that are going to be used in windy conditions or for an extended period of time, LED lighting is more practical.  LED lights also offer a variety of colors, and some can be operated by remote control.

This flame-shaped ice lantern is lit
by a string of LED "seed lights"
with a battery pack that is
protected by a zip-loc bag.

A hockey-puck sized
battery-powered, water-
resistant, color-changing,
remote-controlled LED
light illuminates this
ice "flame" with a
side access port.

An especially useful option where prolonged use is planned is a wired string of LED lights.  The ice lantern and jack-o-lanterns in this photo were being lit in warm conditions, using strings of wired LED lights.

A wired set of lights on a timer can provide illumination of multiple ice lanterns at specified times.  These ice flames were set to light up at sunset for a few hours and turn on again for a couple hours before dawn.

Ice flames around a snow crocodile.

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Candles for ice lanterns -- recycling wax and pouring your own

When you have too many ice lanterns and not enough candles

Ice lanterns look great with real candles, but not every candle works great in cold and wind.  Sometimes it's best to pour your own.  Wax can be recycled from candle stubs, and there are also sources for several different kinds of candle-making wax (beeswax, bayberry, soy, and petroleum-based waxes are some of the options).  They vary in characteristics including tendency to shrink during molding, adherence to the mold (versus easy removal), burn time, smokiness, etc.

Home-poured tea-light candles

We buy commercial votive lights and tea-lights from several sources.  Ikea's candles work well, Wintercraft sells a candle that doesn't produce significant smoke, and there are candles with very long burn times.  We used the especially long-burning candles for New Year's Eve.

Tea lights from Ikea burn for two or three hours.

Inexpensive tea lights from the hardware store may not last as long as the home-poured ones, but they are a source for the foil cups that we use for pouring new tea-lights, and they work fine in moderate weather.  A local candle shop sells "seconds" for a good price.  Color doesn't really matter much in ice lanterns, so we buy 15-hour square votive lights there.  We also collect and recycle the wax from the candles we burn in our ice lanterns, and neighbors give us their candle stubs for recycling.

After the candles have burned out, we collect
the stubs and separate the wax from the tealights'
foil holders and the wicks and the 
tabs that hold them upright.

We sometimes buy large slabs of wax specifically for candle-making.  The wax is melted down in slow-cookers (Crock-Pots).  When we melt old candles in the Crock-Pot, we put them inside a metal insert that makes it easier to pour off the clean wax and discard the burned out wicks and other contaminants.

Melting candle stubs in a slow cooker.

Molds for votive candles often come with an insert that creates a hole for a wick.

Candle molds with a removable central
spike to produce a path to insert the wick.

The base that holds the spike pulls away
from the candle, and the spike is removed.

Pulling the spike out of the candle

These wicks are 3 inches long, which is
more than is needed for the votive lights
that we pour.  The excess is cut off and
used for wicking tealights.  These wicks
come pre-tabbed, but the tabs can be
purchased separately and used to
hold wicks in place for the tealights.

These wicks are thicker than many others,
which helps them withstand gusts of
wind outdoors.  Their length lets us
use the excess to make thick wicks for
tealights in addition to the votive lights.

Inserting a tabbed wick into a votive light

The tab is pressed in place in the bottom
of the candle.  The wick is then trimmed,
with the excess being set aside (upper
right in this picture) to use for tealights.

For use indoors, thin wicks are adequate, but in cold and windy weather a thicker one stays lit more reliably.

Wicks this long don't burn well, so
we trim them, using the excess for
tealights, like the one behind the
votive light on the right side.

Boxes of votive lights ready to use in
ice lanterns, where they will burn for
up to 9 or 10 hours.  

The votive lights illuminate our ice lanterns from early winter sunset to around midnight.  As the days grow longer -- or when we light the luminaries for the winter mornings -- a two- to four-hour burn time suffices.  For that, we buy or produce tealights.  The commercial ones may burn for only two hours, but we can extend that to as much as four hours by using the ends of the thicker wicks that we buy for our votive lights and by pouring the wax to the top of the foil cups.  

When we trim the excess wick after making votive lights, the remaining length is adequate for a tealight.  We crimp a tab onto the wick so it will stand in the center of a foil cup.

Crimping a tealight wick onto a tab.

The soft metal of the tab is squeezed onto the wick.

If the tabbed wick isn't held down somehow, it will float in the molten wax.  Commercial tealights appear to be poured all at once, with the tab glued down.  We instead pour a small amount of wax around the tab and leave it to harden before adding more hot wax.

The two tealights behind the one where the
hot wax is being poured could be used as they
are, but adding more wax up to the top produces
a longer-burning candle.

Not everyone who makes ice lanterns will want to also make their own candles, but if you are lighting dozens of luminaries every day during cold weather, it can be a practical solution -- allowing you to recycle the candle stubs, bringing down the price of the candles, and providing candles with better weather resistance and longer burn times than you would find from commercial sources.

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