Alcademics

I was recently in Shanghai judging a cocktail competition and saw a dinosaur hand puppet for kids in a store. Naturally, I thought, "I bet this would fit in my cooler and make an awesome ice block."

Ice fans, I was correct. 

The head fit perfectly into my igloo cooler. I filled it with water along with the cooler and stuck it near the water's surface. It was just touching the sides so I didn't need to support it- perfect fit. 

If you're not up to speed on how the block came out so clear, it is because of Directional Freezing. I didn't allow the entire cooler to freeze, but removed it before the whole block froze; about 2 days. (In fact the bottom side of the dinosaur isn't frozen enough and pokes out of the ice a bit - if I do it again I will leave it in a little longer.)

This would be a fun presentation as a display block for events.

Even better, if I made yellow-tinted ice balls (saffron-infused water) and put mosquitos inside them, for a full Jurassic Park themed cocktail service! 

For more information about directional freezing and wacky ice projects of all types, check out the Index of Ice Experiments page here on Alcademics.