Ice Present Tablescape

I've been going through some of my old pictures and found this photo of a table that I did for a Christmas dinner about 7 years ago.  I thought it would be fun to have an ice sculpture so the above table scape is ICE.  I had forgotten that I had done this so it was a fun discovery

Go here to see other tablescapes.

  I poured water into a plastic container.  Each night I put a new layer in the container.  The first layer I put dark blue food coloring in the water.  It froze overnight and then I did the same to the water only red next time.  I also added some jewels and ornaments to the water.  They had to be plastic of course so they wouldn't break.  I froze that layer overnight and then did a lighter blue for the next layer.  Finally, the last layer was just plain water with added jewels. 

I took it out of the freezer about 1 hour prior to the event so it popped out of the container easily.  Of course I had to put a tray underneath the ice so it caught all the water as it melted throughout the night. The red fabric is covering the tray.   Don't want all the your guests to get wet!

I tied a big purple ribbon around it and sprinkled sparkles on the ice.  It was a real treat and my guests were excited that they got to sit at the table with the ice!  What I learned is that the ice looked prettier as the night went on and it formed a gloss around it.  I had sparkly Christmas tree lights (battery operated) underneath the red fabric and it made the ice shimmer.

I may try a round ice box next time.  You could get all kinds of creative with this!  Hope it inspires you!