“At night, especially with the lights shining through it, it looks like a colorful disco ball; it’s really cool," said Michelle Arnott.
Arnott is a stained glass artist. She owns Diamond Rock Glass Studio and teaches classes in Tomahawk.
When she saw the idea of a rainbow igloo, she couldn’t pass it up.
“I actually saw a YouTube video of another lady–I think she lives in Minnesota," said Arnott. "She was building one, and I just thought it was so cool and I wanted to make one.”
Michelle and her husband started with around 100 tins and added a mixture of water and food coloring.
“It took a few nights for those to freeze; you need a really cold night," said Arnott. "We had some kids come over and help us carry them from our patio over to our front yard here and helped us un-mold them. So then we used a really watery snow-slush mixture that acted as cement to hold those bricks together.”
From there, they assembled the igloo.
The igloo took Michelle and her husband around 50 hours to build, and it cost less than $100.
“We kind of figured it out as we went," said Arnott. "What we figured out really quickly is that we need mostly water and little snow to act as the cement. My husband and I are both pretty ambitious and we enjoy a challenge.”
Michelle’s had a lot of people ask about the igloo and want to bring their kids to see it.
She’s happy to be able to show people some color when they drive by or take a look inside.
“The fact that I love color--and to me this kind of looks like stained glass, especially with the lights shining through it--really drew me to it," said Arnott.
This Saturday and Sunday you can visit the colorful igloo. Visit the Diamond Rock Glass Studio Facebook page for more information.
Feel free to send story ideas or just say “hi” at mjohnson@wjfw.com