Look at our new ice wreath! Isn’t it pretty?
We used a bundt pan to create the wreath form and gathered crabapples and holly berries to put in the bottom for some pretty color.
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We also added lambs ear, lavender, blueberry leaves, and some alyssum that are still in bloom. Maia poured water over the berries and leaves and we put the bundt pan in the freezer overnight.
The next day, I added a loop of ribbon for hanging the wreath. I held it in place with my thumb, poured more water over it, and set it back in the freezer to freeze in place. I probably could have put the ribbon directly in the water the first time to only do one round of freezing, but I didn’t think of it in time.
The ribbon loop worked (I wasn’t sure if it would). I put the bundt pan in a sink full of warm water to loosen the ice, then tipped the wreath out.
I love how it looks with the light shining through! We want to make more wreaths and some ornaments, too. As long as our cold weather holds out, we could have ice wreaths and ornaments all over the yard…
By the way, I thought I was so smart in coming up with this ice wreath idea, but I just did a search and it turns out that plenty of others have done this as well (mostly with cranberries)! I love this post by resurrection fern on her ice wreaths. Beautiful! And she shows you how to make one if you don’t have a bundt pan.
Have you tried making ice wreaths?
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I have done it several times but just made tiny ones using pie tins. We just left it in the garden overnight to freeze. This year the neighbours came and admired them. I love the fact that it is a wonderful way to teach about water freezing and melting as well as looking pretty. Yours is fantastic. I am tempted to go and buy a bundt tin just for this!
I LOVE this idea Jean. Something to do on another winter day! Thank you.
Julie R
GREAT idea! We live in a land of ice and snow so this is perfect for our climate. I’m going to do this with my boys this afternoon.
I feel compelled to comment now so you can have three Julie’s in a row…never done this, but now my wheels are turning about the possibilities. What a great, and easy idea. It would be so cool (no pun intended) to see several around the yard, with the sun making them sparkle! A real, homemade winter wonderland!
LOVE your nature wreath as soon as it is is cold enough to stay cold for many days we will be making this!!!
our bitter cold, gray no sun days are coming :)
This is so beautiful!
We have plans to make a few of these next month. I’ve wanted to for a few years but haven’t because I live in Phoenix, and its really never cold enough. This year I’ve decided its just silly not to make them, they are too pretty!
Beautiful! Like Amanda, we live in a warm climate. But why not join the fun? And we can also enjoy the ice melting in the sun.
Wow that is way awesome!
Oh WOW!!! I love love love this!!! I want to try this w/ my little ones :)
Just decided to make a trial run on the wreath :) I have a rubber angel food pan (all I have besides a butterfly cake pan)…so I put some pine cones…holly and some orange slices. I don’t have any berries around the house…so I can not think of something red or festive…maybe I will find something to throw in before it freezes :) Wish me luck!
What a fun idea. I think my son might enjoy this activity as well. Thank you for sharing!
How fun! We have had some very cold temps here in Florida the last few nights, so we might be able to actually try to make one of these…
Thanks for sharing.looks so pretty and festive.
Colleen:)
I know! Wouldn’t it be lovely to have several sparkling around the yard? I want to see if I can rig something up so I can hang one just outside a window, too.
Tiny ones would be great, too! I do love how the bundt pan looks, though. Maybe you could borrow one from a neighbor?
Let me know if you do it!
Yay!
I love this. We will be trying it this winter for sure!
We MUST do this tonight!! Thanks for the continued inspiration!
Awesome! I love love love this idea and I now want to do it with my class in January!!!!! We can pour the water, add outside goodies, and then leave it outside overnight! Science and art together!!!
I adore your blog. Thank you for your wonderful ideas!!
I’ve done pie pan ice sculptures for years with my preschool class in Phoenix. They love watching them melt as much as they enjoy putting the leaves and sticks and flowers in the pie pan. Then we add water and freeze overnight.
I just saw something similar to this on a blog this week. Can’t remember which blog it was, but they were making ice lanterns with tea light candles inside. I just googled “ice lantern” and a few useful things came up if anyone is interested in trying it!
Aha! I found the blog I was talking about with the ice lanterns…
http://www.ordinarylifemagic.com/2010/11/ice-lanterns.html
We haven’t tried one yet, but it’s been on our winter list!! I can’t wait to do it… but I think we’ll wait until we get back from holiday vacation so that we don’t miss it if it melts. Your turned out really nice!
I tried this last night…didn’t have much to throw in. Pine cones, pine needles, some Holly and orange slices. Was so excited to pull it out of freezer…but I must have done something wrong. I can not see through it :( Was I suppose to use warmer water or boil water????…ooopppsss
Love this idea!
Ooh! Orange slices sound beautiful!
Great! I love the idea of a whole class doing this!
Thanks for the link, Jenny! I love those!
Maybe you can do it when you’re up north, too!
Hmmm. Not sure. Is there too much water maybe? So too much ice around the pretty nature items? I think a thin layer is best, so you can see everything.
What a great idea! I had never seen these before and yours turned out great! This was one of my favorite posts I saw this week and I’ve linked up to it here: http://play2grow.blogspot.com/2010/12/weekly-favorites-december-12-2010.html
Great idea! I’m sending this along to my nephews in Chicago. It’s a little too warm here in Florida… Pretty sure that the 80 degree weather would have that wreath melted in minutes!
You can add some birdseed to the water and as it melts birds will come by and peck for the seeds. We hung ours right outside of our sliding glass doors. The kids loved it just as much as the birds did. Sometime we add seashells too just for fun :)