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Greg and Keegan Courtney's Emerald City Ice Sculptures |
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On January 9th, 2001 Greg Courtney sent us a recipe for building Emerald City Ice Sculptures and we wanted to share it with you. The following are excerpts from his e-mail messages.
I'm a commercial artist who creates signs and murals. The crazy idea of freezing a water balloon occurred to me about two weeks ago. I
recognized the ability to make something beautiful out of these when I popped/cut the rubber off the first one and saw how clear it was with a beautiful air bubble design within the ice. We had a light snow but it couldn't be packed to make any snowmen. Wanting to make something outside with my son Keegan (age 5, who acts out the scenes in The Wizard of Oz as he watches the video for the
umpteenth time) led to our Emerald City project. My son will love telling the kids in his art and computer class about this page (he's in kindergarten).
Our first version has predominately melted. Our second attempt I incorporated large icicles chiseled off a hillside road cut cliff. Some folks thought it was Superman's fortress of solitude. It was starting to deviate from the
Emerald City theme.
 Greg Courtney painting a Wizard of Oz mural. |
 Keegan Courtney, Age 5 |
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RECIPE
Here is a simple way to make a beautiful Emerald City Ice Sculpture outside in your yard during the winter. The Emerald City is made of only two shapes, domes and rounded cylinders. These shapes can be made in ice very easily. Balloons come in round and cylinder shapes. Water balloons freeze when left outside in freezing weather.
The rubber will peel right off after freezing, leaving ice the shape of the balloon. It will have the appearance of blown glass, with beautiful air bubbles in the middle.
If you add about 2-3 drops of green food coloring into the balloon prior to filling with water it will turn the ice green. Pour some water from the balloon into a glass to judge the results. Shake the balloon to mix well, prior to judging. You can mix a drop or two of yellow to make it a yellow green. A drop or to of blue, for blue
green.
If you make 5-9 cylinder shaped water balloons these can be used for the Skyscrapers. Make more than you want, some of them may burst when they freeze.
Make about a dozen round water balloons these can be the smaller domes in front of the skyscrapers.
You can make the round balloons completely full for spheres or you can fill half with water, half blown up with air. This will make it a domed hemisphere with a flat bottom (the water line) when frozen.
Do not fill the balloons to their fullest capacity. Water expands when frozen so leave room for it to do that or your balloons will burst.
If the temperature is in the teens it will take about 30 hours for them to freeze outside. The balloons may not be frozen completely in the center and this will result in water spilling out when you pop/cut the rubber and you'll be left with a hollow ice balloon/light bulb shape. This can be used like this or you can let the others freeze longer. Be Patient. The thicker the ice the longer it will last. It will last several days when temperatures go above freezing.
To make the skyscraper section, lay down compacted snow as a base. This will hold your skyscrapers up when you insert the cylinders into the snow. The spheres and domes you lay in front of these.
You now have a beautiful emerald city in ice, and it only takes about an hour of labor.
(Moms and Dads) help the kids transport the water balloons in a large box, lined with a plastic garbage bag to catch any water from a balloon busting during transport. Do not leave balloons in the box outside it insulates them from freezing quickly. If you lay balloons in the snow be careful not to touch them until they have frozen adequately. Because the rubber skins freezes to the snow and the balloons burst when poked.
Our balloons where 18'' long for the skyscrapers. Larger ones can be bought at party supply stores.
You can spray yellow food coloring in the snow through an old Windex bottle. This will be the winding yellow brick road that leads to the Emerald City.
You can print out a picture of Dorothy, the Tinman, the Lion, and the Scarecrow. Glue to card board with a popsicle stick glued to the back. Insert into the ground at the entrance to the Emerald City. This will identify the Sculpture to anyone who "doesn't get it."
ADDITIONAL TIPS
TRAFFIC LOCATION: If you build your Emerald City in your front yard everyone will see it. Cars have stopped for ours. If you have rough kids in the neighborhood, build closer to your house, apartment or in the backyard to avoid destruction.
SUNLIGHT AND COLOR: If you build your ice sculpture where there's lots of sun use the food color sparingly (light green instead of deep green). Remember in science class you learned about light absorption when you wear light clothes vs. dark clothes. Our deep green melted in days, but the clear and light green lasted weeks. The dark green does look sharp though. If you have shaded area build you project there if you want it to last longer.
ADDITIONAL SHAPES / MOLDS: You can collect cottage cheese, yogurt and ice cream containers to make other shapes. Fill with water, freeze. Twist and pound containers to release the ice. Soak in warm water, if needed. You can use 2 liter plastic pop containers to freeze large, fat cylinder shapes. These must be cut open with a steak knife all the way around the bottle. And cut down the center as well. Have an adult do this because only adults should try to cut the plastic with a steak knife (scissors won't work because the ice blocks the blades from entering). I used 5 of these in ours.
Unusual Balloons : There are some enormous cylidrical balloons several feet in legth available. These may need to be filled on their sides with a garden house? Otherwise they'll probably burst under their own weight. The bend and twist ( clown ) balloons can be filled in the house sink. These make wonderful ice rods and curved shapes. Blow an air bubble in the end and use that to stir the food coloring by alternating which end highest.
TEMPERATURE: You need two consecutive days of sub freezing weather for the balloons to freeze solid or nearly solid .
CONTACT ME : If you have any further Questions or Suggestions. SOGGYNETNUT@cs.com
Good luck, Greg Courtney.
NOTE: The photographs of the Ice Sculptures above were taken several days after they were created and melting had already set in.
Recipe "reprinted by permission,
Greg Courtney © 2001, all rights reserved."
The above and below images "reprinted by permission,
Greg Courtney © 2001, all rights reserved."
Photographs of My Second Version
February 2001
Made with bend and shaped balloons 1 1/2" x 4 feet for straight ice rods. Made with squiggle balloons and regular balloons at base. Dorothy, Tin Woodman, Cowardly Lion and the Scarecrow are mounted on Plexiglas square planted in the snow.
Photograph on the left was taken in the morning and the photograph
on the right taken in the evening. Notice the change in the colors.
Keegan, my son is 4 foot tall.
After 3 days in the sun the food coloring has melted out. Looks frosted.
I added 2 extra arches. The ice is no longer transparent.
Making Spirals
I took 4 bend & shape balloons filled with water and blue food coloring. I taped them in a spiral around a safety cone. After freezing I removed the tape and balloon skins. The blue ice spirals where mounted in the snow (see the next photograph). This can be used in a fancy Emerald City.
Bend and shape balloons taped around regular balloons and squiggle balloons creating interesting shapes. These can be used to make a very creative Emerald City. Remove the tape and the rubber skin slowly and carefully.
CLICK HERE TO SEE GREG AND KEEGAN'S 2002 ICE SCULPTURES.
This is a wonderful project.
Thank you so much for contributing this to our readers. I wish I had some children to make this with as it sounds like great fun and would be beautiful as well. Come on folks let's do away with the winter blah's and build an Emerald City.
Send me photographs of your completed Emerald City Ice Sculpture Projects and I'll post them here with Greg and Keegan's.
Thanks so much,
Donna Stewart-Hardway