Most of us ice nerds know about making a clear ice sphere shell as pioneered by The Aviary, but you can use the same easy technique to make other shapes.
The technique to make the ice shell for a drink inside a sphere can be found in The Ice Book – and you can also find it in this story in Imbibe Magazine.
Inspired by a video of a Midwestern lady who used the same technique to make covers for ice lanterns in 5-gallon pails, I made some other shapes.
Notes and Tips for making Ice Shell Containers
- Fill a plastic container with water and leave the top off. Freeze for a few hours until you can see a shell forming around the insides.
- The top layer will be thicker than the bottom and sides, so keep that in mind.
- After the first few hours I dipped the container in warm water to loosen it and slid out the shell. I put it back in the freezer outside of the container so that the bottom would freeze faster.
- After the layer is thick enough, poke a hole and let the interior water drain.
- I expanded the holes using a metal stick dipped into hot/boiling water. See below for another method.
For this shot glass below, I used the copper pan bottom to melt off the top of the shape entirely. I think it looks great. The downside is that you loose a lot of the height of the shot glass this way, so this would be best in a taller container.
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