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.