DIY: Holiday Ice Lanterns

Making your own Ice Lantern is very easy!  These can be used to hold candles or as a wine bottle cooler for a party.  They make great centerpieces, or lovely adornments for a walkway on a cold winter day.  Here's what you need:

1.  Two containers.  These can be glass containers: one that nests inside the other, or plastic or wax cardboard containers that are left from milk jugs, orange juice cartons, pasta sauce containers, etc.  Just make sure there is at least an inch or more between the two containers as they are nesting.

2.  Greenery or foliage of some sort (boxwoods, fir, or spruce are best), as well as cranberries, mini pinecones, or other bright, decorative materials.

3. Water

4.  Tape, to keep the interior nesting container from floating up and rising.

5.  A freezer

This wine cooler container was made using a milk jug and a pasta sauce container.  When the glass container was removed it fit a wine bottle perfectly!

Directions:  

1.  Freeze about an inch of water in the bottom of your exterior container.  This will form the base.

2.  After the base is frozen, place your interior container on top of the ice, and secure it in place with tape.

3.  Add your decorative materials around the sides of the interior container.  Fill the rest of the area between the two containers with water.  Much of the decorative materials will float to the top... this is okay.

4.  Freeze the containers again, usually at least 12 hours until it is set.

Hot water allows the interior container to slide right out.

5.  To remove the interior container after the ice has frozen, remove the tape and fill the interior container with hot water.  This will melt enough of the ice around it to allow it slide out.  I used a glass pasta sauce jar for the wine coolers, and a half pint mason jar for the candle holders.  I also used two pyrex glass baking dishes for a floating candle lantern.  Exterior containers I tried included a square cardboard orange juice container (seen above), a milk jug, and a glass baking dish.  All worked equally well.  

 6.  Remove the exterior container by running hot water over the outside of the dish.  Then find a pretty bowl to set your ice lantern in (so it won't melt all over the place).

Below is the ice lantern I made using the two glass baking dishes.  I can't wait until we have enough snow on the ground to line a walkway with these lanterns.

Using a floating candle ensures the candle will not tip over as the water melts.

And of course I couldn't let this post get by without a shameless plug for some of the floating candles we have for sale in our Etsy shop:

Rustic Floating Star (as seen above)
Set of 12 Small Floating Stars
Floating Flowers with Bee

Have a wonderful Holiday Season!  Merry Christmas from everyone at Honeyrun Farm!
-posted by Jayne

"Mom... Can I Have a Bowl of Bee Pollen?"

-posted by Jayne

My daughter asked me this last week while we were eating a pretty typical lunch... peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, some carrots, and milk.  

"You want a bowl of bee pollen for lunch?"  I asked, kind of chuckling to myself about her nonchalance in asking this question.

"Mmm-hmm."  She responded.

"Okay..."  I said, as I filled a bowl with about 3 Tablespoons of pollen and handed it to her.

I went back to cleaning the counter and doing dishes, when Mason said, "Mom, I did not get a bowl of bee pollen for lunch."

"You want a bowl of pollen, too?"  I asked.

"Yes."

"Okay, one more bowl of bee pollen, coming right up."

I love it that our kids find this as completely normal.  I'm pretty sure there aren't many other 3 and 4 year olds eating bowls of pollen along with their sandwiches for lunch.  Somebody please tell me when this will backfire and they start calling us weird hippie beekeeper parents?

I have a lot of great blog post ideas running through my head, but for lack of time, I will give you one quick and easy craft project we tried this week.  Wax Dipped Leaves!  Did you know that dipping leaves in beeswax preserves their color, and creates beautiful garlands for your Thanksgiving decorations?  Of course they won't last forever, but they will last long enough for you to enjoy the colors of fall a bit longer.

You will need:

About 1 lb. beeswax

A variety of colorful leaves

A double boiler, with a container you plan to use only for melting beeswax

Wax or Candy Thermometer

A string and some thread, if you'd like to string your leaves.

Newspaper or an old sheet to cover your work area

Directions:

1.  Melt your beeswax using a double boiler- a small saucepan containing the beeswax, sitting inside a larger pan of water. Melting beeswax over direct heat is very dangerous, as hot beeswax is flammable and can ignite. Use a thermometer to monitor the temperature of your wax. Stainless steel is recommended since copper, brass, and iron can change the color of the wax, making it look dull.

2.  When the beeswax has reached 150-160 degrees and has completely melted, you are ready to begin dipping.  Quickly and steadily dip your leaves down and up out of the beeswax.  DO NOT hold the leaf in for a long period of time, or the wax will coat the leaf completely and you won't be able to see the color of the leaves through the yellow wax. 

3.  Allow the leaf to drip over the container for a few seconds before laying it aside to dry completely.

4.  When you have finished dipping all the leaves, string them together with a needle and thread and hang in a beautiful location.  That's it!

Make sure your kids wear old clothing and understand the dangers of working with hot wax!

Another fun project I attempted was making floating beeswax candles out of acorn caps.  This worked really well, except the oak tree right outside our honey house has acorns with curly, ruffled edges, that just happen to be flammable.  Good thing they were floating in a bowl of water, right?  I am still looking for some large acorn caps that will not pose a fire hazard.  I used tea light wicks for these candles.  I do not plan to sell these, but if you wanted to buy some, I have seen them for sale in other shops on Etsy.  What a fun centerpiece for Thanksgiving!

Floating beeswax candles in acorn caps

I have a ton of other beeswax craft projects running through my mind right now.  As the weather gets colder I long for opportunities to engage my crafty side.  Can you believe it is November already??
Go out and collect some leaves for this project before they all blow away!