After a recent beverage shoot I did, I realized that I really needed to invest on my future clients and give them some more choices with my fake ice. Though the ones I have are pretty expensive (from Trengrove) , it just gave me the chills to realize that I may not be able to handle other beverage shoots that require a lot of fake ice because I only have 4 very good ice cubes and 5 ice chips in my collection.
I went online and found a few good places that specialize on prop ice alone, I also got some el-cheapo ones for shoots that won’t really do closeups on the glass. Though there are some tutorials out there on how to make fake ice, I would still recommend leaving it to the professionals when it comes to these things, the DIY fake ice doesn’t give the same ice clarity in my opinion, unless you really work with resin or acrylic.
Price of fake ice can range from $2 – 70 dollars each, if you live in the US, you can rent some from $4-10 each. I’m just lucky that my dad decided to let me keep his a few years back since I was doing a lot of beverages at that time (these are the most expensive ones in my collection). These beauties are hand-made and hand polished blocks of good size, I was also able to acquire one more since 4 pieces simply aren’t enough to fill a bigger glass. They are still on their way to my house from the US. Today, these babies sell at Trengrove for about $40 each, it’s just crazy, but that’s why all these whiskey and cognac commercials pay big bucks to get good looking ice props that would compliment their high class drinks.
I was able to source out fake FLOATING ice, by an ice prop shop in New York City. I haven’t used it still, but I am saving this for a client who will probably want a more natural looking ice vs my totally 007 type. These are pretty rare, the next kinds of floating ice I know from Trengrove, they are $70 each and made from glass…really expensive! But someday, I’m thinking of having at least 3 in my collection. Clients love options.
I was also able to buy the el-cheapo ones for non-closeups on glass (i know some clients would settle for something like this here since it is quite difficult to find prop ice for photography) but surely, for a beverage client, I wouldn’t recommend these because they just look too “machine made” in my opinion, these guys can be on the background or inside some slightly cloudy drinks.
I was also able to find a very nice and clear fake with bubbles in it, it does look quite interesting in a glass. I find them quite beautiful and the clarity is just amazing. The bubbles give a nice added texture.
I also fell victim to something that looked big and got to my home in little small chunks (although they did say that these ones also float, they’re just not big enough for a conventional glass).
And I also found jumbo versions I’m hoping to use for pitcher drinks someday.
I really am excited to get more beverage clients now that the beverage book I styled won the gourmand book awards. Another thing I love about my job is finding something beautiful and being able to use it for a client’s shoot and they will just be as excited as I am. I am starting to get addicted to all this fake ice, I’m hoping to get some more soon.
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