Colorful Ice Lantern Project - for kids of ALL ages!

Everyone asks about adding color to ice lanterns—absolutely everyone! So, I'm very excited to share this new colorful ice lantern project and the story behind it.

At this time of year Tom and I will do many shows and store open houses. Tonight we will be engaging customers at Gertens in Inver Grove Heights, MN for their Girls Night Out event (Wednesday, November 6 from 5-9pm). As I was pondering what ice and indoor displays to bring, I recalled that the last time I was at Gertens I bought a few packs of GelGems—colorful and translucent cut outs that are designed to cling to window so the light shines through them. I thought they might be fun to use with experiments in or on ice lanterns. 

I tried a few ways to freeze GelGems into ice, but the idea that made the most sense was to use them as they were intended. Because they were designed to stick to glass, GelGems stick very well to COLD ice. Because the GelGems are soft, they will stick to round surfaces like a globe ice lantern - or any ice lantern for that matter. 

I pulled out my collection of GelGems and stuck a few on a reject piece of ice in the freezer that I was going to throw away.

It worked perfectly—I was worried the GelGems would stick tight and not be able to be adjusted, but they stick AND can still be repositioned—even while the ice was still in the freezer.

The next experiment was to see how the GelGems stick to an ice lantern at room temperature. So I pulled a beautiful globe ice lantern out of the freezer and decided on a simple "Happy Holidays" message. Keeping in mind that ice sticks together best when cold, I stuck the GelGems on while the ice lantern was still frosted from moving from a cold environment into the warmth.

Again, the GelGems stuck well and could be repositioned. So I moved some letters around to be sure and decided that "Happy Days" was more fun!

And then I started thinking like a kid. Why not include hearts from my Valentine's Day GelGems collection and the black cat from the Halloween GelGems pack!

OK, now we're talking—this is cute, inclusive and fun! 

As long as the globe stays cold . . . below freezing!

Sadly, after a while of sitting indoors, the ice became slick and all the GelGems fell off into the greenery around the globe.

So, when I invite the neighbor kids over for a craft night, we will work on our ice lanterns indoors and then put the ice lanterns adorned with GelGems outside in below freezing temps so their creations stay cold and intact!

And for us big kids, our ice lanterns could have greeting such as "Welcome!", "Happy New Year!" or "It's a Girl!". I don't know about you, but I'm going to look for more GelGem letters!

So, I hope to see you tonight (Wednesday, Nov 6 from 5-9pm) at Gertens in Inver Grove Heights, MN for Girls Night Out! ALSO - We will have globe ice lanterns at GoodThings for their Grand Holiday Open House (Linden Hills location), Thursday, November 7 from 4-9pm and GoodThings will be offering Wintercraft Globe Ice Lantern Kits and my book, Ice Luminary Magic, this weekend at the Minneapolis Holiday Boutique at US Bank Stadium. 

 Enjoy the Glow!

-- Jennifer Shea Hedberg, The Ice Wrangler

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