Middlemoon Creekwalk

One of our favorite ice lantern events is Jen and Tom Hedberg's Middlemoon Creekwalk.

Click here for a link to their 2016 blog posting about that marvelous late-winter event.  

The Creekwalk was begun several years ago by the Hedberg family, who inspired our interest in ice luminaries in the first place.  We brought ice lanterns to that display in 2015 and 2016 when they invited the community to join them in lighting up a small creek near Lake Harriet in Minneapolis, but the main "show" is the hundreds of luminaries that Jen and Tom place along and even in the creek.  It's magical!

While the rest of the city celebrates the early spring, some of us are hoping for one last blast of winter cold and snow, so that we can enjoy the Creekwalk enchantment again this year.  If 2017 brings another opportunity to make and light ice lanterns, that link will provide up-to-date information.

The Star Tribune published an article on Jen and Tom's ice lanterns and the Middlemoon Creekwalk -- click here to see their blog entry about it.  (We were mentioned as community members who contributed ice lanterns to the 2016 Creekwalk.)

From the StarTribune February 18/19, 2017
issue (regular Saturday and early Sunday),
this article by Kim Ode celebrates Jen and
Tom's successes in the difficult 2017 ice
installation season, closing with the faint
hope of one more cold snap to let the
Middlemoon Creekwalk happen.

The Goldfish Bowl and the Ice Fishing Scene

A globe ice lantern with fish is provides 

a bit of whimsy to a winter display

 When I found an ice tray for making fish, the obvious idea was to add them to globe ice lanterns to make a fishbowl.  I fill the molds to the point of almost overflowing, make a globe ice lantern with a fairly thin wall, then "weld" the fish to the inner wall of the globe.  If they are added just after breaking the balloon, when the inside of the globe is still moist, they will simply stick in place.  Otherwise, dipping them into very cold water will make them adhere.

The ice fish glow golden in the candlelight

A Minnesota variation is the ice fishing scene.

This ice lantern was made in an IKEA Fniss wastebasket.  The bottom is open, and the fish were added by "welding" them in place on the inside with a little bit of water to moisten them.  There is a fish-hole drilled in the top, using an ordinary electric drill.  Gingerbread-man shaped ice figures were held in place with a little bit of moistened snow under their feet, and a toothpick fishing pole with a length of wire forms the fishing rod.

Because using a candle would melt and enlarge the fish-hole, this lantern is lit by placing a LED under it.

The ice-fishing scene serves primarily as a daytime decoration along the sidewalk, where its Minnesota theme is popular with passers-by.

This smaller ice-fishing scene was made with
a hexagonal ice lantern turned upside-down,
also with gingerbread-man figures fishing
through a drilled hole in the surface.

The ice-fishing scene could be lit with a candle, but that would tend to melt and enlarge the fish-hole, so I used LED lights instead.

For information on making ice globes using Wintercraft's balloons, click here.

For a general discussion of using balloons to make ice globes, click here.

To see how to find and use the ice appliques, like the gingerbread figures, click here.

Click here to return to the introductory page, with links to many other ice lantern ideas.

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Middlemoon Creekwalk photos and information

Winter may be melting away too quickly in 2017, but there are many beautiful photos from the 2016 Middlemoon Creekwalk on Wintercraft's Blog HERE.

Making Ice Windows with Arctic Ice Lantern molds

Ice Windows offer a solution to some of the limitations of the Arctic Ice Lantern mold.  (It has an unfortunate tendency to crack if it isn't watched closely while freezing, and it often develops a bulgy surface when water escapes from the core during the freezing process and piles up on what should be a smooth base for the finished lantern.  These flaws can be managed when making regular ice lanterns, but they are no problem at all for making these simple ice windows.)

When extreme cold requires frequent monitoring to avoid cracking the mold, you can freeze a small volume of water in the bottom without needing to watch for over-expansion.  If the weather isn't cold enough to freeze a full lantern in a reasonable amount of time, you can still make an ice window fairly quickly.  And if nobody is around at night to see ice lanterns, a display of ice windows can brighten your day by catching natural sunlight.

Other containers with indentations in the base could also be used.  Hot water produces a clearer window.  Add enough water to cover the indented area and allow it to freeze solid.

Many different ice trays are available for making decorations for ice windows.

The basic mold for a hexagonal ice window is the Arctic Ice Lantern mold.  It can be set on another of the same shape, or directly on a mound of snow, or on some flat piece of ice.

The Arctic Ice Lantern mold's indentation 

produces a hexagonal framed window if

it is covered with just a little water.

Adding ice decorations can be very simple:

This ice window has just an ice
gingerbread man, a star in the
window, and another star on top.

A single ice whale inside the frame provides the only decoration for this ice window, which is "open" because not enough water was poured into the mold to cover the indentation.

More complicated designs are possible, with ornaments added to a base or to points around the frame.

The base for this ice window was frozen in a
water bowl for the wild birds that was left
out overnight.  The window frame was
made in an Arctic Ice Lantern mold,
and the trees and snowflakes are
from silicone ice "cube" trays
and muffin /cupcake molds

Return to the introduction page