Cool looking craft – DIY Fake Ice

Updated 7-14-2017

IMG_3021I learned how to make ‘fake ice cubes’ by melting clear pony beads.
The tutorial I followed was on flickr.
Unfortunately that tutorial is now gone. However, I’ll look around and see if I can find another tutorial that is easy to follow… or I may make one myself. Either way, I’ll update this post in the future.

It took a few tries for me to get the hang of it. I really like the results.
I’m amazed at how real the fake ice cubes look.
I can think of several projects to use the fake ice cubes with.
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Have you ever made fake ice?
I hope you all Have a cool day!
icsmilemo

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IMO – This craft is Not for children!
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0-isesteps
The tutorial I used is now gone. But here are a few things I did that made the process easier.

There’s a few things I adjusted, added or did different.
*I used balsa wood to make my ice cube form.
*Keep the area well ventilated: I opened my windows and turned on ceiling fans and ran the stove-hood fan.
*Apparently my oven doesn’t heat as hot as the author of the tutorial’s does.
I had to bake at 400° to get the beads to melt successfully.
*I also had to bake them longer: I’d put half the beads in the form and bake them for 15 minutes then put the rest of the beads in and bake for another 15 minutes.
*Keep a close eye on these as they bake to make sure they don’t burn.
*Let the cubes cool before trying to unwrap the aluminum foil.
*To give the cubes a shiny finish, after I peeled the aluminum foil off my ice cubes, I trimmed off the shards and rough edges and then put the cubes back on the pan and in the oven for about 3 to 5 minutes.  I was careful to watch so they wouldn’t melt too much.
*I took them out of the oven and let them coolicsmilemo

egglight4Using a battery operated tea light
I made a fun little icy temporary tea light.

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edited in 6-11-2014:
I made this tea light by gluing the fake ice cubes together with E6000 glue.

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end of edit…

icsmilemo

There’s a few tutorials on the web on how to make fake ice by melting beads in metal ice trays.

icsmilemoI apologize for the missing links to the tutorial.
I’ll try to do an update soon. with either my own tutorial or a link to one.

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Great Glowing Easter Eggs

egglight1As I was going through my old blog picture/files I came across the many different holders/displays I made for battery operated tealights.
I decided not to wait til Friday to post this Flashback because Easter is coming up and this might make a fun decorating idea for someone to use.

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This is one of my more favorite ideas that I put together. I placed battery operated tea lights in plastic eggs. They’re such a fun inexpensive decoration.

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My husband told me that I needed to drill a 1/16 inch hole in the plastic egg so the heat from the battery operated light can vent out.

So, if you decide to use this idea of putting battery operated tealights in plastic eggs, be sure to drill a hole in the eggs to help the heat vent out.

Be sure to keep an eye on the eggs and tealights in case they over heat and need to be turned off.

Here’s wishing you all a very bright
& cheery rest of the weekend.

smileggs

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Here’s a photo pf the battery operated tealights I use.egglight4
🙂
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