Ice Candles, Winter Decor and Marking

[TallGrass]

If you have weather where hi's stay well below freezing 25°F (sumthin-Canadian°C), here's an easy way to light up the front porch, front walk way, or outside of a hut if you have a large bucket ala 5-gallon and a candle. Easy to source materials, easy clean up, and ... self-extinguishing?

If windy and or snowy, you may have to get creative and add a cover with a vent hole, and make (drill, melt) a hole or three low on the side for fresh air to enter. If you ever do hut trips and get there early, many have a 5-gallon bucket somewhere and you can make this in a few hours if temps are cold enough, a nice welcome to those coming next or getting there after dark, and likely can last for several others using the hut later.

Little votive candles are cheap and the metal recyclable, and if you pack in a larger candle you can leave it with the hut (though some may have regs on open flames such as using a glass enclosure indoors).





Extra effort, but the offset angles can get interesting refractions, especially if frozen hard and clear outside.

[stilltryin]

We make these over the holidays and often give to friends/neighbors. My wife likes to put dried leaves and flowers on the outside -- places them and then "paints" them with a paintbrush dipped in water. She is from New Mexico and these are a northern version of their luminarias.

[mca80]

Thanks, looks real cool and something I may do when I stay in a hut in the Porkies for a night or two in Feb. What is a votive candle?

Also, @stilltryin, what part of NM? I lived in the Sacarmento/White Mountain range in southern NM for 7 years. Now that I think back, I should have ditched my alpine gear then and gotten into nordic skiing instead of doing so only a couple years ago after moving north. So many spots I hiked at the time where I thought it would be cool to ski, but didn't even know telemarking/xcD was a thing.

[stilltryin]

...
Also, @stilltryin, what part of NM?

Los Alamos (Dad was dentist not scientist); my wife was on ski patrol as a teenager at the local hill. One test was to climb the hill (no skins). She is a way better skier than me! a great partner.

[Wintaar]

That’s such a cool and thoughtful idea—makes me think of when we set up a simple ice lantern outside our cabin with a tea light in a ceramic candle holder. The glow through the ice was honestly magical, especially after a snowy hike back in the dark. We tucked it into a snowbank with a little DIY wind shield made from a cut-up water jug.