resurrection fern: Lace and Ice

December 15, 2008

Lace and Ice

I came up with another very inexpensive, quick and easy cold climate decorating idea for the outdoors ( unless you live in an igloo). All you need are some lace doilies ( all mine are from the thrift store or rummage sales), some flat round pans ( I used trays, and pie plates) , water , a flat area to allow them to freeze and sub zero temperatures. It is somewhat ironic that as soon as I made these the temperature here has climbed and tomorrow it will be almost 10 degrees centigrade.

It was night when I laid these out on the porch to freeze so I didn't take pictures but the basic idea is lay a lace doilie flat in a cake pan or round tray. Cover with about a cm of water and leave overnight to freeze. In the morning gently loosen the frozen discs and then make small holes with something sharp. We used a screw. It is better to make the hole about 2 to 3 cm in from the edge and make it where their is lace for strength. I then used some crochet cotton to string them up for hanging. * So many of you have commented on putting the thread through before freezing. Great idea that I also thought of after the fact. The thing about most of my ideas they start with a concept and I am never quite sure what the end result will be or how I will use it. In this example I wasn't quite sure they would be hanging so that is why the holes came later. It was really easy to put the in , my daughter did all of them but I and none of them broke.

The real challenge was to photograph them because with the air warming up and a constant gentle breeze they just kept twirling like beautiful lacey ballerinas. It was quite magical. As I watched them I think I could hear the dance of the sugarplum fairies.

Coco Chanel said “I consider lace to be one of the prettiest imitations ever made of the fantasy of nature; lace always evokes for me those incomparable designs which the branches and leaves of trees embroider across the sky, and I do not think that any invention of the human spirit could have a more graceful or precise origin.”

I hope I have inspired you to make some frosted lace of your own.

Have a wonderful weekend and I just wanted to let those who made purchases from the shop on the weekend that your parcels will be mailed today and if all goes as planned should arrive before Christmas.

Posted at 12:01 AM in arts and crafts, christmas, tutorials | Permalink

Comments

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oh my goodness such a lovely idea- i will give it a try we definetely have the weather for it!

Posted by: nadia | December 23, 2008 at 02:10 PM

Hi!

Today I posted an entry on my blog with a link to this tutorial.

Would you let me know if that's OK?

Thanks,

Nancy Ward
http://paperfriendly.blogspot.com

Posted by: Nancy Ward | December 23, 2008 at 08:55 PM

This is just wonderful. We have done this sort of things w/ our scouts. You can do some w/ Tie Die also, which makes them look totally AWESOME! and then hang them up by your porch light so the light shines through them at night. I'm in Alaska, where it's very cold, starting in October. These work wonderful up here, and you can have them hanging up until around April.

Happy Holidays

Posted by: Denalialaska | December 26, 2008 at 10:32 PM

These are spectacular I only wish I lived where it was cold so i could make these.

Posted by: Annie | December 29, 2008 at 11:01 AM

trop chouette!
Wonderful!

Posted by: barbibouille | December 30, 2008 at 04:11 PM

WOW! Those are great! What a great way to indulge in some of winter's beauty! I must say, in Southern California, I won't be able to do that here, and even though I certainly don't miss the snow at ALL, I will enjoy seeing yourpics! :)

Posted by: tattingchic | January 02, 2009 at 09:54 PM