Thinking over ideas for decorating the interior of an apartment for the New Year holidays, rarely does anyone think about the fact that the area around the house can also have an elegant, almost fabulous look due to simple but very effective balls created from ice.
Ice balls are multifunctional, easy to manufacture, do not require serious material costs and are very beautiful.
The area around a private house can be decorated with whole compositions of such balls, they can decorate the paths to the house, and even placed in random order in the snow, ice balls completely transform the yard, giving it a festive look.
Such balls look very nice in the role of candlesticks - small candles-"tablets" during burning heat the surface of the ball and a natural depression is obtained, which does not allow the candles to slide.
To decorate the territory of the courtyard of a multi-storey city building, ice balls are suitable as extraordinary beauty pendants on trees.
The creation of ice balls begins with the preparation of a dye - it can be gouache diluted in water, culinary food dyes, pigments for interior paint.
The dye is diluted in water filled in plastic bottles, or poured directly into a mold for making balls.
The most common balloons are used as a form. Using a household funnel, a small amount of dye is poured into the ball or it is poured dry, and then water is added from the tap until the ball is inflated to the desired size.
It is best to carry out the procedure of filling the balls with water over the bathtub - if the "shape" breaks, then you will not have to remove colored puddles from the flooring.
If ice balls are planned to be used as hanging decorations, then it is recommended to put a long strong thread into the mold before tying.
The final step in crafting ice jewelry is freezing. The workpieces are laid out in the snow, trying to avoid contact of the balls, and left to completely freeze the water in the mold.
If possible, after one and a half to two hours, it is recommended to turn the balls to the other side - this way they freeze faster.
If jewelry is made in a city apartment, then the workpieces are placed in the freezer.
After a day, the rubber shell is slightly incised on the ice balls and the jewelry is completely released from the mold.
Alternatively, you can use rubber gloves instead of balloons as a form - you get very original and funny ice "palms".
It is not recommended to make too large ice balls - even at rather low temperatures, the water in them freezes for a long time and unevenly, and the shape of such decorations is drop-like.
To make square or rectangular colored ice blanks, you can use 5-liter plastic bottles.
If there is no dye at hand, then do not be upset - you can put spruce branches, flower petals, rowan berries or leaves of houseplants in the mold.
Transparent balls, through the walls of which flowers and greenery are visible, look no less impressive than colored ice balls.
