Saturday, December 22, 2018

Miniature ice figures

Sometimes it's not cold enough outdoors to make ice lanterns.  One thing to try in the home freezer is little ice figures -- ice "snowmen," or "icemen."

A tiny ice "snowman" on an
LED-illuminated ice base
There are several devices for freezing ice spheres.  These little figures use two sizes of molds.

A TOVOLO mold for making a single ice sphere
The top and bottom of the spheres can be flattened by rubbing them with a metal bowl filled with hot water.

The flat area was produced by rubbing a
flat-bottomed metal bowl across the end
of the ice sphere.  
The spheres can be stacked, then left in the freezer to solidify.



The flattened ends "weld"
together, allowing stacking
With a small-diameter electric drill, make holes for the desired features.

Drilling a hole for an arm
Twigs or stems from garden plants such as garlic chives and aster seedheads can be dipped in cold water and stuck into the holes to provide arms, eyes, buttons, etc.

The eyes are individual garlic chive
seed pods, and the arms are their
stems.  The hair is from a hydrangea,
and the buttons and nose are from asters

Raised up on a chunk of ice left from before a thaw, the tiny ice figure reassures passers-by that colder weather will return, and with it, more ice lanterns.


For larger icemen, click here

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