Ice bollocks - year 3!

Its only a week till Christmas 2019 and my yearly hobby of building some crazy Ice shit in the garden is complete.

This year the planning started way way long ago early in Spring. In the last few years I had expanded from freezing small 1 or 2 litre ice blocks from juice or milk cartons to larger and more re-usable plastic/recyclable tubs or bowls. The milk cartons were collected by dumpster diving and took hours to get the 100 or so I needed and then each one had to be carefully removed from the ice within otherwise I had to go out again and look through peoples bins to find more.

Last year I bought about 15 or 20 tubs from Dollarama that worked well, but because of the frigid temperatures the Ice froze too fast and a lot of the plastic bowls were destroyed and unable to be reused. So this year I started to freeze early, at the start of November, hoping that the cool but not dangerous temperatures would create a slow freeze and enable re-use of the bowls. I also got a lot more bowls - Beginning in April, I bought 4 or 5 bowls a month meaning that by November I had about 35 that were ready to be used, without one big outlay and people looking at me weirdly in Dollarama! I also invested in a tiny 4 foot long hose that I could use to fill bowls form the outside tap and then disconnect to bring inside, to defrost and be reused. Thus saving me time and spillages!

the first lot of bowls a long time ago....

Hoarding of bowls, food colouring and ideas continued until the temperatures fell below zero and then work started in earnest. But this year was not a good one in which to start early. As I explained a few weeks ago, the temperatures fell and then rose again, spending a week or more well above freezing and normal temps. I had about 40 frozen blocks ready to build in the back yard and they were going to melt.
In desperation I moved them all into the shade,  piled them all together to keep cool, and flung a tarp over the top to stop the solar rays from the sun melting all my hard work.

Ready to go...

The hose was great!

Trying to save the blocks

Some didn't make it

Will they survive?

There are many problems to overcome doing this kind of thing. The worst thing that can happen in the blocks being useless. They can freeze too quickly - the insides stay a liquid and then when you try to build, they fall apart. If you try to prepare too many blocks, you have to look after them. You cant just leave them lying on the deck because they will freeze to the ground and break when you try to dislodge them. Or if you put then onto 4x6inch 5 foot long wooden planks that works and they are removable, but the sheer weight of the blocks (each weighs about 21lb or just under 10kg) means they sometimes split in 2. So I used gardening material meant to stop weeds growing. This material stops the ice sticking and is cheap. Plus you can fold the sheet over and pile blocks on top of each other, so after the thaw that's what I did to protect and store them

This year I wanted to build something different - a wall instead of a tower. So I worked out that starting with 11 on the bottom row and reducing by one each time I would need 66 in total to build with. Add in breakages and mistakes and I estimated about 80 would be good enough. So I set about freezing them. Fill bowls outside, put in colourant, place in the cold and wait 2-3 days. Break out the blocks and repeat with any bowls that survived. Luckily, I am getting much better at all this and have only lost about 10 bowls to breakages this year. The freeze  went better that I could have hoped - most survived the thaw  - and by December 1st I had about 80 blocks ready to go. The build could begin.

The main focus of the build is keeping everything safe. I don't want a block falling on me or anyone else, so the important bit is keeping things solid. The method is to build one row, carve the top of that row so it is as level as can be (using a large bread knife) then collect snow. Snow is fucking amazing. Mix it with a bit of warm water - not too much and not too little - and you get a gray slush that you can use as cement or mortar  -- only this stuff sticks quicker than superglue and is more solid that rock -   Stick some of this onto the top of the row below and the side of any blocks and then simply stick an ice brick onto it. Two minutes later and you have a wall that would stop a train. Its mental, quick and tiring - but a lot of fun.

The hard bit in past years was carrying all the ice from back garden to front - but this year we bought Hannah a sled - so this was used ( along with small ramp I built built from broken blocks) to transport 5 bricks at a time  - about 100lbs in weight, from back to front garden. time and effort saved all round - I feel that I am getting quite accomplished at all this!!

So I built, collected snow, froze more blocks, moved blocks, collected snow and carried on for the last week or two freezing my arse off, but enjoying every minute. After 6 rows were complete, I got out the ladder and carried on, hoisting the 21lb blocks 7, 8 or 9 feet up as the wall grew bit by bit. One brick was left out and instead I froze a round ice window, behind which I placed a flame bulb - making the round window look a little like a glowing roaring winter fire - about 8 feet in the air!

Finally, a couple of days ago, the final brick was placed and the final wall measured at 3 metres high. 66 bricks combined to a weight of about 640 kilos, not counting the ice used for cement. I attached a few Christmas lights, and tidied up. It is complete.

Hannah enjoyed taking a look.

and took a seat...

It grew quickly

Lights were installed...

It grew more

There was still a lot to do..

The ladder came out...

the sun went down

Lights were lit...

Here's a closer look...

So, that was that for the year - although I still have about 20 bricks and plenty of winter left, so I might carry on with another project. Hannah liked sitting on the low wall when I started, so I may build her a chair or two to sit on. Then I need to get stuff sorted for next year. I have an ambitious idea for next year, but have no way to practice ice building to the scale I need, unless I do it outside.
For next years project. I have to be able to freeze a tube of Ice - about 6 to 7 feet long and be able to remove it from whatever I freeze it in. Maybe I should start now and get ahead of things, so come next November, allowing for a thaw, I can get started on something a big crazier than just a wall!! 

I have already had a few people stop and take photos, but its not about that for me - Its about trying to make the best of winter - 5 to 6 months of cold, snow and big coats. But much like a lot of Winnipeggers, I decided to seize the opportunity and make the best of it. Its all a bit of fun and if it brightens peoples days as they drive past on their way home from work, thats a bonus!