24 Comments
User's avatar
Daniel Appleton's avatar

I've looked at ice from both sides now. Hairy ice - I rather thought that it was a small - is there any other kind ? - Shih Tzu in cryonic suspension. Or a caterpillar. 😆🐛 I'll never see gelato or frozen yogurt in quite the same way again. Kudos, Mike !

Expand full comment
Mike Sowden's avatar

Thanks, Daniel. I believe this is the Instagram account you need! https://www.instagram.com/gizmoinmanhattan/

Expand full comment
Joy in HK's avatar

I saw the Shih Tzu, too!

To continue the Jonnie Mitchell theme:

"It's ice illusions I recall

I really don't know ice at all."

Expand full comment
Daniel Appleton's avatar

Nice !

I looked for a green crystal in the images, like the one in Superman that formed the Fortress of Solitude & held Jor - El's essence.

Expand full comment
Mike Sowden's avatar

If you flip an iceberg upside-down, you get a ready-made Fortress of Solitude: https://petapixel.com/2015/01/15/photographer-captures-rare-beautiful-photos-upside-iceberg/

Expand full comment
Linda Cardillo's avatar

Cool stuff. No pun intended.

Expand full comment
Evelyn Skye's avatar

I shared this one with the whole family and everyone was awed and impressed.

Thanks for making our evening!

Expand full comment
Mike Sowden's avatar

🙏 Thanks, Evelyn. Also - have you ever seen an iceberg upside-down? It's a real jaw-dropper for all the family: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/photographer-captures-stunning-underside-flipped-iceberg-180953951/

Expand full comment
Evelyn Skye's avatar

whoaaa

Expand full comment
Joy in HK's avatar

Those snow rollers give the "Iceman Cometh," a whole new perspective. Thanks very much for the excellent ice capades.

Expand full comment
Mike Sowden's avatar

Thanks, Joy! Yes, those rollers are another level of weirdness altogether.

Expand full comment
Jo Thompson's avatar

As you can imagine, I ❤️❤️❤️ this post. So much ice. Hairy ice! Needly ice! Problematically-shaped ice!

As for a ship built out of ice and sawdust, I’ll use it to remind myself that whenever I have a daft idea, it’ll never be quite as daft as this

Expand full comment
Erik Lokensgard's avatar

I should have known a fungus was involved with toupee ice!

Expand full comment
Sara Redondo, MD's avatar

This interview and post moved me Mike… Thank you very much, I just subscribed 😊

Expand full comment
Mark Diacono's avatar

I never knew about ice flowers!

Expand full comment
Lev Parikian's avatar

This admirably sums up the difference between my approach (“no idea, sorry”) and yours (“I’m going to go away and read about this until I can answer your question and 17 other ones while I’m at it”).

Expand full comment
Anna Brones's avatar

We just had some hair ice a couple of weeks ago! Have you listened to the 99% Invisible episode about the ice ship? https://99percentinvisible.org/article/project-habbakuk-britains-secret-ice-bergship-aircraft-carrier-project/

Expand full comment
Dr. Mariana Calleja Ross's avatar

This ice theme really blew my mind! ❤️ You're the best. 😍

Expand full comment
Amy Jay's avatar

AH! I had no idea that there was a name (or several) for Snow Rollers - thank you!

Expand full comment
Liz Milner's avatar

https://substack.com/@lizmilner/note/c-79274168?r=25q6l7

Not sure if this quite counts as hair ice (maybe crew-cut!) but I've not seen anything like it before in my garden...

Expand full comment
J just J's avatar

Very interesting. Clicking on the link about snow rollers then led to clicking on a link to ice eggs. Who knew ice could be so fascinating?

Expand full comment
Noel Keith's avatar

I LOVE the Hair Ice. I want it to have a part in updates of Happy Feet, White Fang, and Barbershop.

Expand full comment
JP Clark's avatar

Absolutely fascinating and beautiful at the same time. It’s interesting that the word sublimation comes from the Latin word sublimare, which means to raise to a higher status.

Expand full comment