Ice Spheres

 

 

I wish my heading sounded prettier and more magical, because these beautiful spheres made by filling balloons with water and then leaving them out to freeze certainly have a fairytale appeal about them.

I've had this idea Pinned for quite a while and just needed the right conditions to try it out.  This week we've had a lovely cold snap with snow and temperatures going well below zero.  PERFECT conditions I tell you!

All I had was a picture to go by... and I really had a DUH moment  when I began.  There I was with balloon in hand, ready at the tap, when it dawned on me that coloured water did not flow from the faucet and how was I going to get colour in there?!?

Just shows how lazy I've become...did I give it a moment's thought?  Noooooo, off I rushed to the WWW to find out the answer, which was blindingly simple!  Add a drop of food colour to the balloon before you fill it up!  Sigh.  Sometimes...

When they were filled up I placed them carefully (I could just imagine that coloured water exploding all over me) outdoors in the snow.  You know, I'm not that used to snow, and when I get it, I like it to stay smooth and unblemished as possible.  I only clear a minimal amount from my pathway for maximum wintry enjoyment!  Anyway, I placed them along the edge of my path and was rather sad to see how they sank down till they were halfway buried.

I loved the way the balloons looked contrasting against the stark white snow.  They reminded me somehow of plastic building blocks or smarties on a cake - not the all natural colouring smarties of today, but the cram-as-many-e-numbers-as-you-can smarties of old!

 

 

I wasn't sure they would freeze, the way they were half buried and on inspection the next day my suspicions were confirmed when my first one "popped" out of it's balloon skin, and coloured water gushed everywhere.
 

 

 

Only half of it was frozen!
   
You know I'd heard/read/assimilated somehow the knowledge that snow insulates...one of those half remembered things (don't forget I grew up in Sunny South Africa!) and it was a great way to show the girls how,  even at -8 degrees C, snow will insulate and prevent ice forming. 

So beautiful it takes my breath away

 

 

 

 

After turning and leaving them another night we have perfect icy spheres...... and I have a cunning plan to secretly leave little clusters of these brightly coloured orbs on the sidewalk around my neighbourhood. 

 

 

 

What we learned from making these:

Put food colouring in the balloon first
Stretch your balloon over a tap and fill with water
Leave your balloons in an exposed area overnight for quick freezing
Snow Insulates!
Food colouring does not freeze well so wear rubber gloves when removing the balloon!
Fingers get very cold at -6 even with gloves on
Frozen balls of ice are incredibly beautiful and every one single one is different