Simon St. Laurent (one of the editors of our Arduino Cookbook) brought forth fire and ice to soften this time when the northern hemisphere’s light dims:
In the darkest season of the year, the lights go up.
Every year, Christmas lights go up on houses, trees, shrubs, and lately, all kinds of stands. They go up on my house too, three brilliant sets of LED lights that add up to a mere fifteen watts of power. Some of these displays are massive, some tiny, but nearly all of them are electric reminders of long-ago candles and lamps.
Electric light feels very different from candle light. Even the best electric lights seem frozen in place, or blink and move awkwardly.
I decided this year that I wanted to do something with candles again – something safely outdoors, far from the children and the house, but something beautiful. That brought me back to ice lanterns, something I’d talked about doing years ago…
4 thoughts on “Ice Candles for the Darkest Season”
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These remind me of the ice luminaries that are used at the Book Across the Bay race in Ashland, WI. They use them to mark the full length of the 10k course that stretches across Chequamegon Bay on Lake Superior. The race is at night and the only light sources are these ice luminaries, the stars in the sky, and a fire every kilometer. If I remember correctly, they made them by filling a bucket with water, letting it partially freeze, and then dumping out the remaining water in the middle.
These remind me of the ice luminaries that are used at the Book Across
the Bay race in Ashland, WI. They use them to mark the full length of
the 10k course that stretches across Chequamegon Bay on Lake Superior.
The race is at night and the only light sources are these ice
luminaries, the stars in the sky, and a fire every kilometer. If I
remember correctly, they made them by filling a bucket with water,
letting it partially freeze, and then dumping out the remaining water in
the middle.