The Craftiest Workshop

When I found out we would be hosting Christmas Day dinner for my husband’s side of the family, I wanted a way to include those family members that had passed away in the last few years. Sometimes families will set an empty chair at the table but we only have enough extra chairs, couches or loungers that everyone could sit somewhere to eat; not enough room at a table. It was also that we were remembering not one, but four family members no longer with us. Chris’s aunt, a close family friend that lived with her and two of his cousins.

I have seen the ice lanterns that people have made and thought how easy it would be. You take a pail, fill it with water, put a smaller container in the middle, it freezes and Bob’s your uncle. Yeah right!!

My first attempt was with a heavier ice cream pail I got from the Haskap u-pick. It has no lid and was a thicker plastic so I guessed that it wouldn’t crack. I used a larger soup can as the inside container. I filled the pail with water about 3/4 full. I knew that I needed to weigh down the can so it would create that hole in the ice. In my infinite wisdom I decided to just put water in the can for weight. No room in the freezer to put the pail but it was around -20 overnight when I tried the first attempt, so I just stuck it outside on the deck.

The next morning I brought the pail in and attempted to remove the pail and the can. The pail came off the outside of the ice almost instantly but the can with now frozen water wasn’t going anywhere. I ran water and banged the top of the can but nothing seemed to work.

Back to the drawing board and attempt number 2. So, I knew the pail was going to work so I filled it with water again. I still thought the can would work if there wasn’t ice expanding it outward. I didn’t have any rocks on hand because of all our snow so I decided to use some coins to weigh down the can. I think I put in twenty nickels from the spare change cup. That amount of weight had the can floating about an inch and a half down in the water.

There was a light breeze out that evening when I set the pail outside. No matter where I put it, the can wanted to float to the outer edge because of the breeze. I managed to get it to stay in the middle by taping masking tape to the edge of the can and two opposite edges of the pail.

The next morning, the can was again off center and had been pushed up almost completely out of the ice. I didn’t even have to run water to remove the can but the indent it left was non-existent; it was more of a mound than an indent.

Third times the charm right?? I was getting frustrated a feeling a bit deflated. This is what science is all about hypothesis and experimentation. Changing the state of matter and displacement. Why did I feel like I was back in school?

My brain started to work for the third try. I knew the end result I wanted was a center hole in a round bock of ice. Why not make the round block first and then figure out how to create the hole? Once I had the round block of ice I asked myself, “how does one remove ice?”

The two options I came up with were chipping or melting. I chose melting and I contemplated using a propane torch before I settled on boiling water in a can.

I placed the ice in my laundry sink and filled that same soup can with boiling water. Holding it down with an oven mitt, the can began to form a circular hole.

I dumped water from the hole as it melted and replaced the water in the can with more boiling water from the kettle. It helped to stir the water in the can as it cooled from the ice.

The only thing that wasn’t great was the drain channel that formed on the one edge from the water leaving the hole. I was not 100% satisfied but I decided that this was the method I would use to make the other three lanterns.

On the night that I left out the 4th pail of water, it was only a low of -10. I had put out the pail mid afternoon and was removing it the next morning around 9am. Maybe 18 hours of freezing time at -5 to -10 temperatures. I mention this because it was the perfect combination of time and temperature. I removed the pail as usual. As soon as I put the can with the boiling water onto the center of the ice, the middle core gave way and the hole was there. The ice had froze from the outside in but the middle core was not yet frozen. The hole was a bit bigger than the can but there was a perfect ring around it.

I set the ice blocks out on waxy paper plates. The temperature was warming up to 0° and I didn’t want them to get frozen in place on the deck.

photo credit: Eugene Graham

On Christmas Day, we ate around sundown so I decided to wait until after supper to go out as a group to light the lanterns. After the after supper naps, I asked everyone to come out on our deck. We struggled with lighting the tea lights even though there wasn’t even a breeze. Maybe the fake battery powered tea lights would be a better choice?

photo credit: Eugene Graham

Once the candles were lit, I played the song “Different Kind of Christmas” by Mark Schultz. One thing about being in the country on a winter’s night, there was just the song playing and no other noises.

After the song was over and a few tears cried, we all went back inside but left the candles burning. Aunty Margaret, Gail, Dave and Dan were all with us in spirit.

**if you use tea lights, the heat burns the candle into the ice. If you leave the tea lights out after they are extinguished, they get frozen into the ice.