Custom Furniture Blog

Crystal Clear Ice Cubes

January 27, 2021 by admin

How to make crystal clear ice cubes

How to make crystal clear ice cubes to add some class to your beverage. Have you ever wondered how those fancy bars get their ice cubes to look so dang good and crystal clear? There are so many products out there that fail miserably. I can’t tell you how many times I have ordered different products only to be disappointed.

Crystal clear ice cubes to the rescue

Well have no fear because I have stumbled across the correct process and it’s SUPER EASY! It doesn’t involve purified water, or boiling water or any fancy moulds. It’s all about how the ice freezes and the cooler is the key! It doesn’t take some crazy expensive cooler either. The one I use comes from Amazon and it’s only $12 bucks.

Tools needed to make crystal clear ice cubes

The cooler, a large bread knife and a hammer is all you need. Each batch yields about 12 crystal clear ice cubes! It’s so super simple to do!! Here are the steps to take and the products you will need to pick up from Amazon if you don’t already have them at home.

The crystal clear ice cube simple process

First I want to tell you about the process and how the ice freezes so you can understand why this method yields beautiful crystal clear ice, EVERY TIME! The process that makes the ice freeze clear is dependent on the vessel you use to freeze it.

The process involves freezing unidirectionally, meaning, in this case, freezing from the top down while insulating the sides and bottom. Freezing from the top down cause all the air bubbles (This is what causes ice to be cloudy) to get pushed down as the water freezes leaving behind beautiful crystal clear ice. All other moulds that I have tried always failed not because of the purity of the water but because the froze on all sides at the same time forcing the air bubbles to the middle of the ice cube thus making the cube cloudy and leaving you sad and unfulfilled.

Why is this the best way to make crystal clear ice cubes?

The tools you need as I mentioned above are inexpensive and some you may even have around the house already. If not, I have provided a link to the three items I use below. Also below is a link to a pdf document that explains step-by-step how to make crystal clear ice cubes with VERY LITTLE effort.

Be kind and share your new found clear ice knowledge

I was so happy to learn this process that I shared it with all of my friends immediately and not one of them was disappointed, in fact they were all extremely grateful and so excited and impressed that they send me a photo every time they make a drink. I’m not gonna lie, it makes the drink taste better even if it’s just in my head. I also take a photo every time I make a drink because I still can’t believe how easy it is to make and how great EVERY drink I pour looks!

Here is a list of the tools that will make you successful making clear ice:

Coleman FlipLid Personal 5 Quart Cooler – Amazon $12.35 – https://amzn.to/39iyh8H
Orblue Serrated Bread Knife – Amazon $13.97 – https://amzn.to/3iOOvJP
SE 20 oz. Rock Pick Hammer – Amazon $18.99 – https://amzn.to/3a022Ko

Now for the secret you’ve all been waiting for to make the most amazingly clear ice cubes you have ever seen.

A step-by-step guide making crystal clear ice cubes

Fill the Flip Lid Personal cooler https://amzn.to/39iyh8H 2/3 of the way with water.
Tap water will work just as well as bottled or purified water. *Do not overfill*
Remove the cooler lid and set it aside. *Do not freeze with the lid on or it won’t work*
*important* Put entire cooler, without the lid, in the freezer and freeze for 24 hours.
Remove the cooler from the freezer and turn it upside down on a sheet pan to
catch the excess water. Leave upside down until you hear the ice drop, should be
less than a minute or two.
Set the cooler aside and grab a hammer https://amzn.to/3a022Ko and a large serrated knife. https://amzn.to/3iOOvJP A long bread knife works perfectly.
Break open the part of the ice that is filled with water and let it drain. Knock off
all the excess partially frozen ice.
Cut a 1/4” deep groove approximately 2” from the edge and then tap the knife with the hammer and it should make a clean break along the groove. (It’s a good idea to measure your whiskey glass to make sure 2” cubes will fit in the glass) You can also use the pick end of your hammer to make organic shaped ice instead.
Continue step seven until you have all the ice cut into approximately 2” x 2” x 2” cubes.
Drop a cube in your glass, pour your favorite Scotch, Whiskey or other beverage of choice over the crystal clear ice, snap a photo, send it to your friends and enjoy.

Click below to download a FREE sharable/printable pdf:

https://envisionaryimages.com/CrystalClearIceCubes.pdf

Custom Coffee Bars Bring Church and Community Closer

July 25, 2018 by admin

Coffee shops in churches have been rising in popularity for years, especially among the upcoming generation. When you introduce a comfortable environment for members of all ages to grow together as a congregation and reach out to the community, you help to inspire even more meaningful conversations in your own church lobby. If you’ve ever thought about creating a fun, personal setting for the members of your church to connect, adding a coffee bar to your church’s welcome center may be the perfect solution!

Coffee Shops as a First Time Guest Welcome Center

Imagine visiting a new church and being greeted with a warm smile and cup of coffee. Comfort and inclusion meet you at the front door. A custom coffee shop in a church lobby creates this warm and welcoming environment for each new guest and church member before they’ve even attended a service. First impressions are important, and making your first time guests feel comfortable is the best way to ensure they feel like they’re already a part of the church. Adding a coffee bar to your lobby’s welcome center is a great way to instantly get guests and community members talking with other members and non-members of the church, forming an important and instant connection.

Welcome Members of Your Church and Connect Over Coffee

Many members may never have the time to meet and mingle outside of services, or may never see one another in a space personal enough to truly connect. By introducing a cafe to your church lobby or welcome center where members can converse while sipping coffee, you can create that much-needed place for your congregation and community whether it’s before services or throughout the week. You can even open your church cafe doors to the members and non-members in the community all week long during business hours! In our daily work and social lives, coffee is known for inviting deep and memorable conversations. That comfortable familiarity is easy to bring into your own church for your members and community with a custom coffee shop!

When your members connect, your church and community grow stronger. A new or updated church cafe is the perfect space for new or returning guests to get to know one another outside of services, and a great way to reach members of the community throughout the week! A custom coffee bar ensures that each person feels comfortable and connected, whether they’re a weekly member or a first-time invitee. Each time a guest walks through the doors, make sure they know that they’re valued by giving them the space to meet new people, have meaningful conversations with their growing church family, and get involved in the community!

If you’re ready to take your church’s welcome center to the next level and invite a space of personal conversation and a sense of community into your own lobby, contact Todd at Envisionary Images, LLC and get started on your custom church coffee bar!

Welcome To Envisionary Images LLC

January 19, 2016 by admin

Thanks for stopping by Envisionary Images LLC. I am glad you are here. Please take a look around. You will find everything from print design, identity design (logos), signage and more all the way to Welcome center furniture, pulpits and podiums, reception desks, and retail kiosks and design. Our specialty is with anything creative. We can be your one stop shop for all things design. Use the top navigation bar to navigate the site. If you can’t find what you are looking for don’t hesitate to call 817.422.2329 or email me at todd@envisionaryimages.com. I’m Todd, President and founder of Envisionary Images and I am here to help guide you through the process. Thanks again for visiting. Remember we only exist because of you and our goal is to make your experience here the best possible. We bend over backwards to make sure you get what you came for.

Sincerely,

Todd Carver – President/Design Concept Specialist

These Church Welcome Center Tips Might Just Get You Some New Members

January 10, 2014 by admin

When it comes to church hospitality, the importance of creating a welcoming environment may seem like a no-brainer; while other ideas on the subject might not be so obvious. Hopefully a few tips shared here can help you find the balance between receiving your guests with warm enthusiasm, and overwhelming them right out the door. There are many reasons to keep your church reception practices fresh and inviting, perhaps the greatest point coming from visitors themselves. Per a Barna Research survey among people seeking a church home, visitor friendliness was rated “extremely important” by 71% of study participants. By following a few simple steps, you can ensure that your church is offering guests a comfortable, encouraging environment in which they feel well-received.

Firstly, one of the best assets you have for making visitors feel comfortable is a friendly and knowledgeable staff who greet guests, and make the time to get to know them. Just as importantly, stay atop of training your greeters so they always have the freshest information on good hospitality practices and church information. Greeters should be aware that often times they are responsible for the churchʼs first impression, and should always engage people with an open—not overbearing—attitude and friendly smiles. Itʼs a great idea to position greeters in apparent areas such as the reception center and outside entrances, as well as places not so obvious in order to assist guests with directions and other important information they may need.

Secondly, make sure youʼre providing outlets to dispense inviting information for those who are new to your church. Having pleasant welcome center furniture, such as warm and accessible church reception desks or information centers, is a great way to offer visitors the information theyʼd like to receive without overpowering them with intimidating “in-your-face” methods. Stock your church welcome furniture well with the right information—such as Sunday bulletins, upcoming events and interest-specific programs like gender studies, youth groups, daycare and Sunday school details.

Lastly, pay attention to the environment youʼre constructing for both visitors and regular members. Itʼs helpful to create designated hospitality areas equipped with comfortable church center furniture so that a social space exists for fellowship, conversation and a way to gently encourage visitor assimilation. Also, offer church guests and members treats to let them know they are invited to stay. Encourage friendly gatherings and exchanges by providing a hot or cold beverage and tasty snack before or after services to make everyone feel at home. This is easily accomplished by having beverage carts and/or refreshment centers that are attractive and inviting, thereby increasing opportunities to develop social communion and friendships within your church congregation. If you feel you need to update your welcoming facilities, there is plenty of help out there to help you achieve just that goal. Envisionary Images located in Fort Worth, Texas is one such place; devoted exclusively to making furniture for enhancing your church environment with welcome desks, information centers, refreshment stations and anything else that will optimize a guest experience.

Todd Carver, Envisionary Images LLC owner and design concept specialist, had the idea to build some of the most creative church welcome center designs available today, and then customize them to translate each piece into a churchʼs specific needs. During our interview with Todd, we found out some of the key philosophies behind his inspiration.

Q: What is most important to you about what you want to achieve through Envisionary Images?

A: My goal with creating Envisionary Images from the very beginning has always been to help the local church achieve the greatest quality in design and products at a reasonable price, making the best use of the churchʼs resources to serve its goal of reaching out to the community.

Q: What in your opinion are the most crucial items for optimizing a church welcome center?

A: A church welcome center isn’t just a reception desk, a church welcome desk should be both inviting and useful. We design every desk with specific goals in mind. Every church has a unique approach and we like to capture their specific approach in our designs. Most of our designs are “open” designs, giving greeters the personal access they need to meet their guests face-to-face instead of being trapped behind a wall. An in-person, friendly greeting is by far the better approach to making a guest feel like you are there to help.

Q: What motivates your church center design inspirations?

A: My motivation comes from my passion for design and the discovery of a need for welcome centers that is not being met. When Envisionary Images saw the lack of resources available in the marketplace for church welcome center furniture, we immediately transitioned our business model from a “church graphic design provider” to a “church welcome center furniture designer and fabricator.” Our business quadrupled over the following year and we are projecting a record breaking 2014. The need is there, and we aim to fill it in a meaningful way.

Envisionary Images services a broad range of churches locations, and include shipping with their costs to anywhere in the contiguous United States while still remaining competitively priced with all local markets. Envisionary Images is the premier source for quality furniture that, in most cases, ships fully assembled and ready for use. They also offer an entire line of high quality prefabricated welcome furniture to meet small-budget needs with top level products. For more information, please visit www.envisionaryimages.com

Design Secrets

February 10, 2011 by admin

I read an interesting article today and thought I would share it’s contents with my readers. I won’t copy the entire article because just like any article it had it’s ups and downs. The article itself was from a magazine that sadly isn’t in print today and by far has been the most informative magazine I have ever read on the subject of design. The article was titled “Rebellion – The recipe for conceptual brilliance is research, reason and a dash of nonconformity” and the article is by Marty Neumeier. It was published in Critique – The Magazine of Graphic Design Thinking back in 1996. Now I realize that was years ago but the bulk of the article still holds true today. The article basically states, that in a world where design has been watered down by everyone thinking they are a designer because they own a computer and can run Photoshop, there is still money to be made by true designers. Why? Because the money doesn’t come from the “art”, the money comes from the creative concept. While Ma and Pa Kettle can certainly put a place a photo and a tag line on a business card and call it design they still lack the creative skill it takes to get into the mind of their customer and relate to the world around them and their business will suffer because of their lack of understanding. The article states that the more conceptual designer will be the designer who prevails and wins more clients, why, because his/her concepts are not only beautiful but also help communicate, help sell a product or even help a client have a better image. A strong concept is described as “an idea so bold, and so clear that nothing can knock it off course It not only hits the target, it obliterates it.” Einstein compares the generation of an idea to a chicken laying an egg: “Kieks! auf einmal ist es da.” or Cheep! – and all at once it’s there. The equation for a good concept is described in the article as a formula (Problem + Fresh Perspective x Intuition = Concept) In the incubation stages of a good concept the mind takes several thoughts and ideas and combines them into what we would call a concept this process can only happen after the mind has thoroughly wrapped itself around an idea. The unconscious mind can’t work its magic until the idea has “ripened”

If you are the impatient type and do not want to wait for your idea to fully “ripen” there are creative exercises to help speed up the process. Try this one out next time you are in a crunch for a great concept: Write down as many words as you can think of that describe what you are trying to conceptualize. List colors, feelings, names, places, letters, animals, geometric shapes and anything else that pops into your head. Now choose two of those words at random and mentally combine them. Try the same exercise using picture and word combinations. These exercises are called combinatory play.

A Review of Monoface

February 3, 2011 by admin

If you have never visited the site monoface.com you are in for a treat. I highly recommend that you stop buy and take a look. Monoface is one of the greatest flash websites I think I have ever stumbled over. The concept is pure fun. Take a number of different facial expressions and combine them into an image. You can switch them out one eye, one nose, one mouth at a time for a face so funny you’ll want to tell all your friends. Tired of making your own faces? Hit the shuffle button and watch monoface make faces at you all by itself. It’s hours of fun that will having falling out of your chair and the faces are seamless. Up for a challenge? See if you can figure out what the real face looks like. The facial features are named so you can test your skills. Check it out, you’ll be glad you did. It’s genius!

MonoFace