Making an Ice Bowl....

What you’ll need

-- A large, round glass bowl

-- A smaller round metal bowl

-- Scotch tape

-- Water

-- Flowers, leaves or whatever decorations you want to be in your bowl

Decorating ideas

For a Thanksgiving/fall themed bowl: yellow leaves (available for sale at Publix), miniature corn, tree bark.

For a Christmas/winter themed bowl: cinnamon sticks, poinsettia flowers, holly.

Step 1: Pour 1½ inches of water in the large glass bowl. Take the smaller metal bowl and pour 2 cups of water in it. Place the small bowl in the big bowl, so that it sits there, floating. With some scotch tape, secure the small bowl in the middle of the big bowl.

Step 2: Using a pitcher, slowly pour more water in the big bowl, making sure that the tape holding the small bowl in place doesn’t come unglued. Pour water almost up to the top, leaving some room — an inch or so — for the ice to expand.

Step 3: Now to the fun part: decorating your bowl. Pick leaves, flowers, cinnamon sticks, tree bark or whatever small object goes well with your decorating theme and carefully lower each piece in the water. Some items — especially large flowers — will be extremely easy to place and they will stay right where you put them in between the two bowls. Smaller and heavier items such as cinnamon sticks might sink to the bottom. Don’t worry about it right now. You will have a chance later on to fix this.

Step 4: Place the bowls in the freezer and let cool down for a couple of hours. Check on it periodically, until the water has turned into slush. If you need to move any of those smaller, heavier items, this is the right time to do it. The consistency of the slush will make it easier for you to put each piece of decoration in place. If your hands are sensitive to the cold, wear a thick rubber glove while working on this step. Place the bowls back in the freezer and let sit for at least 48 hours.

Step 5: After two days in the freezer your bowl is ready to come out of its mold. Remove the scotch tape. Using a measuring cup, pour 1 cup of warm water inside the small bowl. Be careful not to pour any of the warm water anywhere else, or you will ruin your ice bowl.

As soon as the ice block inside the small bowl separates from the bowl, pick it up and discard it. Now pour cold water in the small bowl. This will make the metal bowl detach from the ice.

Now it’s time to remove the ice bowl from the big glass bowl. Place the glass bowl in the sink — ice-side up — and fill the sink with cold water so that the water level almost reaches the top of the glass bowl. Be careful not to overfill: the water should only touch the glass bowl, not the ice.

In a couple of minutes the ice bowl should separate from the glass bowl. As soon as the ice bowl starts moving , carefully flip the bowl over a kitchen towel. Immediately store ice bowl in the freezer until ready to use.