Miniature icicles for a 1:12 dollhouse

Recently I was trying to come up with a way to make miniature icicles. I found a website that showed a few step by step ideas using hot glue and cellophane/plexiglass. They only made a quick mention of plastic forks but they had no directions on how to do it.

So I decided to try and figure it out, and I think it did!

Here is how I did it.

First buy a box of clear plastic forks.

I first tried to melt the fork tips over a candle but as I predicted it left them black with wick soot. I didn’t have a lighter on hand so I sat there and kept repeating “clean fire”, “clean fire”. “How do I find clean fire?” Duh! Electric stove top.

Get your stove warmed up. I think I had mine on low. You don’t need red hot because you want to do this slowly until you get a feel for your fork and stove top.

Tape a piece of wax paper or freezer paper to the edge of a cutting board waxy side up. Have another small piece of wax paper handy.

Hold your fork over the heat about 1/2 - 1 inch away from the hot plate for about 30 seconds. Focus on one side for now.

When you think it is warm enough put the warmed up side facing down on the board and rub it with a piece of wax paper (with the wax side on the fork).

Then warm the other side of the fork tips and repeat above.

Once you are happy with the shape, lay your fork with the side you just warmed up, again, facing up. Run the tip of a knitting needle across the tips to make very subtle indents.

I say knitting needle because it has a rounded tip. If you look closely at icicle they have a slight indent as each layer of ice is formed from dripping. It is a soft line not a harsh cut. Honestly you could skip this step if you just want some quick icicles.

Consider that your first fork will be for experimenting with heat and the amount of time you hold your fork and the amount of pressure you use with your knitting needle.

Here is photo of what happened when pressing too hard with the wax paper when the fork was too hot.

You might have to keep warming the same fork over and over and then rubbing it to get it just right. I think I heated/rubbed one side of mine about three or four times each for each side.

Snip the tips with wire cutters at different lengths.

Dip the cut end into Tacky Glue and let it dry for half a minute then press up onto the surface you want them to hang from. Check in to be sure they are straight and don’t fall. Tacky Glue slowly moves when upside down.

Once they are dry use a little gloss varnish to make a frozen water line from melting on the surface where you think it would show. Mine is on a thatched roof so I would imagine that some of the dripping would be coming from under and inside the thatch as well as on the top.
Click on photo see it larger.

Have fun adding some magic to your winter wonderland!