I am searching for a way to make a round ice ball.  Just like your
standard everyday ice cube, but not rectangular; a sphere.

I have a few important restrictions;

1.  The ball should not be constructed as 2 half spheres put together;
the mold or process should create the ball as one solid piece.

2.  The ball should be no larger than 1 inch in diameter and no
smaller than 1/3 inch.

3.  Mold should be reusable and capable of being repeatedly frozen.

4.  I am not looking for a place to buy them, I am looking for a means
to freeze them myself in my home.

Topics I have searched but come up empty are; candle molding,
chocolate and/or hard candy molding, ice cube trays, lead musket ball
molds.

The answer does not have to be "online".  For example, if you tell me
that Target carries something that will work, that's great.

Greetings Pwc21:

Hutzler: About midway down the page at http://www.hutzlerco.com/ko.htm
there are two sizes of round ice trays available:

Item #15 $2.20
2 pc. Ice Ball Tray (14 balls)
2 piece tray makes perfectly round ice balls. Fills easily with
liquids. Round ice balls are easy to remove from tray. Designed for
stacking.

Item #24  $3.20
2 pc. Ice Ball Tray (24 balls)
2 piece tray makes perfectly round ice balls. Fills easily with
liquids. Round ice balls are easy to remove from tray. Designed for
stacking.

Both trays make the same size balls (Item #24 just includes an extra
row).  The ball size looks to be about 1" in diameter but no
dimensions are specified so I phoned the company and spoke with a lady
named Joann.  She measured the diameter for me...the balls are 1 3/16"
in diameter.  :(  However, if this extra 3/16 of an inch is okay, the
contact info for Hutzler is:

Hutzler Manufacturing Company
4 Grace Way
P.O. Box 969
Canaan, CT  06018-0969
Toll-free phone: 800-243-7700
mailto:hutzler@snet.net

Joann also suggested adding a touch of food coloring to the ice balls
for a festive look.

*********

At http://www.gourmac.com/iceballtray.html is another 24 ball ice tray
and I'd wager it's the same as the 24-ball tray above because the
address on the page is the same as Hutzler: "Gourmac Inc. 4 Grace Way
Canaan, CT 06018 USA"

*********

An inexpensive yet tiresome way I can think of to make them without a
special tray would be to fill skinny balloons (the kind for making
balloon animals) with water and then tie them off at the desired size.

*********

Had it not been for the extra 3/16 of an inch, I would have posted my
findings as an answer.  If you find them acceptable as an answer,
please post here to let me know.

Best regards,
journalist-ga   


SEARCH STRATEGY:

"round ice" tray "ice balls"
"round ice" tray
"ice balls" tray
"round ice cubes" tray
"round ice tray"

I located another one (no diameter specified) but it originates in
Syria and I'm not able to phone their offices.  The tray is
highlighted at http://www.alreemplastics.com/collection.html - a
close-up of the trays is at
http://www.alreemplastics.com/images/iceboll_tray.jpg and the contact
info for the company is:

Reem Plastics 
P.O. Box: 33130 
Damascus - Syria 
Factory Tel: 00963 - 11 - 8221000 /1/2/3/4/5/
Factory Tel : 00963 - 11 - 2010
Fax : 00963 - 11 - 8221006 
mailto:reem@alreemplastics.com

Gulf Area Office:
Reem Plastics 
P.O. Box: 40573
Dubai - UAE
Tel : ++ 971 4 3355108 
Fax : ++ 971 4 3348441
mailto:msioufi@emirates.net.ae 


SEARCH STRATEGY:

"ice ball tray"

This may be of interest.

http://www.cdsalesman.com/golfersweb/golfice.htm