How to build an igloo in your own backyard
Jane Menchyk does her best work when it’s below freezing outside.
For the past two years, Menchyk has built an igloo in the backyard of her Butler Township home. The cold temperatures almost convinced her to forego her annual art project this winter, but she couldn’t stay away from the idea.
After hours of work, colorful ice blocks now make up a circular dome in Menchyk’s yard, an end result she said was worth the midnight shifts.
“I almost didn’t do it this year, but I saw how much snow we got,” Menchyk said. “Ice is in my blood. I played ice hockey in high school and college, so I just wanted a reason to go outside.”
Menchyk said anyone could learn to make an igloo of their own. She gained her knowledge of the process from videos other people have posted online demonstrating the process. She puts her own spin on her igloo by using food dye to color each ice block to make a dome that comprises a rainbow as someone walks around it.
To make the ice blocks, Menchyk leaves aluminum containers filled with water outside overnight so they are frozen and ready to place by the time she gets to work the following day. She chisels them into shape with a knife and paint scraper, a part of the process she has gotten better at in the three years she has erected an igloo.
The “mortar” Menchyk uses to attach the ice blocks to one another requires a process in itself — one where the colder the temperature, the easier it becomes. Menchyk pours snow into a bucket, then uses a makeshift masher in the form of a broken hockey stick to churn it into frozen slush as it cools to freezing.
Once the icy mortar is the proper consistency, Menchyk pours it onto a block as she slams it into place. As the mortar freezes, it glues the blocks together. After more than 200 repetitions of this process over the course of about a week, Menchyk has an igloo.
She documents the whole process by broadcasting her snow sessions on Facebook Live, which Menchyk said is to help other people learn how to make their own igloos.
Menchyk said the most important factor in making an igloo is keeping yourself warm while working in the elements, which she does by wearing special gloves, boots and snowpants outside.
“Safety is key, you don’t want to be afraid of the outdoors,” Menchyk said. “I feel like the Abominable Snowman.”
