The Mohawk people call December the Time of the Cold Moon. December is the start of real winter for us here in the Mid-Atlantic, and many of this month’s full moon names reflect that. The Creek call this moon the Big Winter Moon, the Shoshone refer to the Winter Moon, the Abenaki call it the Winter Maker Moon, and the Oneida call this moon the It’s a Long Night Moon, which is relates to the Winter Solstice, which occurs this month and is in fact the longest night of the year. In my mind the Cold Moon is always linked to hibernation: animals are hibernating, and we humans spend more time inside, slowing down and getting cozy. It’s also the time we start to find what I call “puddle ice” when puddles and standing water have iced over bit not frozen completely. My children love to search out puddles this time of year and shatter the crust of ice into glittering shards. To celebrate this full moon we gathered up those pretty shards of ice and used them to make beautiful winter sun catcher. It doesn’t have to be quite as cold for this to work either– we don’t always have cold enough weather to freeze ice solid in molds, but as long as it is cold enough for puddle ice this project will work!
Puddle Ice Sun Catcher
This is a simple yet effective project for a chilly day. If your area doesn’t get cold enough to form puddle ice you can put a shallow pan in the freezer and break that instead, although it won’t have the interesting variations of natural ice.
Materials:
- puddle ice
- a round cake pan
- liquid food coloring
- salt
- some string or twine
Method:
First, have a good time breaking and collecting your ice! It doesn’t matter how big your shards of ice are as long as they fit into the cake pan.
Next, layer shards of ice into the pan so that the whole surface is covered and the pieces if ice overlap. Nestle a loop of string near the edge (this will become your hanging loop)
Now, sprinkle salt over the surface our your ice. This is melt and refreeze the ice joining the pieces together. Make sure you put some salt where the string is and over enough of the surface that the whole thing holds together.
Follow the salt with some drops of food coloring. The salt will diffuse the color and make interesting patterns. It will also trap bits of color in the ice as it melts and re-freezes.
Let your sun catcher sit in the pan in a cool shady spot for 10 minutes or so and then see if you can tip it out in one piece. (Or stick it in the freezer)
Once it has fused into one piece hang your sun catcher on a tree branch and enjoy it’s beautiful colors!
Why does this work? When salt comes in contact with ice, it melts the ice a bit. The water from the melted ice and the salt then combine together, lowering the freezing point of the water to below freezing (32° F/ 0° C). Saltwater has a lower freezing point than fresh water by about 4° F. The water then refreezes, joining the pieces of ice together and refreezing around the string, allowing you to pick the whole thing up!