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Minnesota from Scratch

Thanks for stopping by! I'm Stephanie Thurow / MinnesotafromScratch and this is my website. I'm a food preservation instructor and bestselling author of Can It & Ferment It, WECK Small-Batch Preserving and WECK Home Preserving. My fourth book, Small-Scale Homesteading, is now available for pre-order! Join me here for info on food preservation, recipes, organic gardening, chicken keeping, urban homesteading and so much more.

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How to Make Frozen Ice Globes – Wintertime Fun

January 6, 2014 by Stephanie 7 Comments

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Last year my in-laws gave us an Ice Globe making set but we didn’t get around to making them until this weekend. With temperatures in Minnesota being lower they have been in two decades, we were inspired to have some fun with ice. Basically the kit comes with large, thick balloons that you fill up with water and let sit outside for 20+ hours until the water is partially frozen inside. Then you take the balloon wrapper off, pour out the water from the inside of the globe and light it up!

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I was impatient for the large globes in the kit to freeze, so I found a few balloons we had around the house, and filled those with water. The process is exactly the same, but instead of waiting 20 hours, we waited 7 hours… granted the temp was -15 degrees F so things froze pretty quickly. We periodically checked the firmness of the balloons, and once they felt like they had a solid shell, but weren’t totally solid, we brought them in. Do not put the balloons on the concrete without a layer of parchment paper (or some barrier), otherwise they’ll stick to the ground. You can also just plop them in the snow until frozen, that’s what I did with the balloons.

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IMG_3997

This one we opened a little prematurely but it still worked nonetheless!

This one we opened a little prematurely but it still worked nonetheless!

I recommend taking the balloon off over the sink because the  unfrozen water from inside the globe with spill out. You can either light the globes up with a waterproof flameless candle (which is what I’d recommend), or you can use tea lights. If you use tea lights, you need to create a chimney in the top of your globe so the flame doesn’t get snuffed out. You can use a drill for creating the chimney.

MinnesotaFromScratch.wordpress.com Ice Globes

These globes will last through the winter as long as the temp remains low. I encourage you to get creative by adding some food coloring to make colored globes!

Other tips:

  • Temps should be under 20 degrees F or 7 degrees C to make the globes.
  • Small balloons can take 14 to 18 hours to freeze and larger ones, up to 30 hours.
  • You can melt open a chimney instead of drilling by placing the globe over a lit candle that has plenty of airflow underneath and it will melt a chimney open.

What are your favorite wintertime activities?

Thanks for reading,

Stephanie

Filed Under: Fun Stuff (DIY), Homemade, Just for Fun Tagged With: balloon ice lanterns, balloon ice luminaries, fun winter projects, how to make ice globes, how to make ice globes with balloons, how to make ice lanterns, how to make ice luminaries, ice globes, Ice lanterns, kids projects

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Davon says

    January 6, 2014 at 9:52 pm

    Those are awesome! Thanks for sharing!!

    Reply
  2. Mary says

    January 6, 2014 at 10:10 pm

    I will certainly try that! Thanks for the detailed instructions.

    Reply
  3. Allison A says

    January 7, 2014 at 6:47 am

    Those are so cool.

    Reply
  4. Martina says

    January 12, 2014 at 5:56 pm

    Wow this is such a great idea, I’d have never thought of it, and it soo easy to make 🙂 Thank you

    Reply
  5. Heather says

    January 15, 2014 at 3:08 pm

    How fun! I saw someone do something like this on pinterest with food die and water balloons. She put die in the balloons and made a string of what looked like giant Christmas lights. I want to do that next year!

    Reply
    • MinnesotaFromScratch says

      January 22, 2014 at 10:04 am

      That sounds soooo cool! Thanks for sharing.

      Reply
  6. Tom Hedberg says

    January 1, 2015 at 9:38 pm

    So happy our Wintercraft kit got you started with new wintertime fun! The temps are finally cooperating for some great globe ice lantern making weather again. Lots more tips and tricks at wintercraft.com. Especially for enjoying your ice globes indoors as centerpieces…Enjoy!

    Reply

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Hi, I'm Stephanie. I'm the best selling author of Can It & Ferment It, WECK Small-Batch Preserving and WECK Home Preserving. My fourth book, Small-Scale Homesteading, is now available for pre-order! I'm a certified master food preserver, food preservation instructor, organic gardener, chicken keeper and nature lover. I specialize in creating easy to follow recipes and directions to help other homesteaders meet their goals.

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