A stomach-churning twist on classic frozen treats, 100 stabilized ice pops made from Taiwan’s polluted lakes, rivers, beaches and ports feature an unsettling array of sewage found in public waters.

Each of these edible-scale popsicles was first frozen then preserved in polyester resin and wrapped in packaging. Diverse flavors feature ingredients such as plastic, arsenic, mercury and metal. Unappetizing titles include Yang-tzu-chou Drainage, The Large Ditch in Tianwei, and New Huwei Creek.

Some even look tasty at a glance, like some kind of hand-crafted iced delight. But the game of choosing something to try quickly becomes a nightmare of deciding which might be least terrible. Surely one without bits of cork, bottle caps or candy wrappers would be better, but then again: invisible poisons could be much worse.

Art students Hung I-chen, Guo Yi-hui, and Cheng Yu-ti from the National Taiwan University of the Arts concocted titled their line of less-than-delicious designs “Polluted Water Popsicles.” Their work was nominated for the Young Pin Design Award and featured in the New Generation of Design Exhibition this May at the Taipei World Trade Center.

When a cold front blew in over Lake Ontario, photographer John Kucko caught wind of the phenomenon and rushed to shoot images of a remarkably frozen home.

Located in Webster, New York, the house is entirely trapped inside ice, a combination of sheets and icicles wrapping the residence on all sides. Outdoor furniture and landscaping elements between the lake and the house were likewise wrapped in frozen water.

An unusual combination of waves, wind and freezing weather contributed to the mix, as well as the home’s proximity to the lake. Winds over 80 mile per hour pushed water the short twenty feet to the residence. You can see more images and videos on the photographers Facebook page.

Years ago, artists in Detroit did something similar but intentional with an abandoned home, showering it with water and letting it ice over for effect.

Ice fishing huts and art shanties allow people to enjoy peaceful winters and creative expression on frozen lakes, but for those with something more dynamic in mind: rotating DIY islands of ice are also an option.

Ice circles have been known to form naturally, particularly in streams where a current can round the edges of a free-floating chunk and keep it spinning. The ice circle below captured by Kaylyn Messer is one such example, found this winter in the Snoqualmie River near Seattle, Washington.

These kinds of formations happen on their own at times in Scandinavian and American rivers, water currents slowly shaping the ice. Lakes with fully-frozen surfaces are another matter — creating ice islands on their surface requires a bit more ingenuity (or at least: labor and machinery).

Once created, these may or may not move on their own, depending on currents below the surface — in some cases they have to be helped along by an outboard motor. Seating and shelters can be brought out to make them more homey (small fires can even be lit if the intended use is temporary).

Fair warning, though: if you plan to light your ice circle on fire at the end of a festival or gathering, be sure to stay far back from the flames and warming ice.

The best part is that there is no waste in the making of these things nor assembly required. And if your first attempt fails (assuming you don’t go down with the island), you can always carve out more.

Ice ain’t all it’s cracked up to be and neither are these obsolete & abandoned factories that once made it, as these 12 examples coldly show.

Judging by their architecture alone, many abandoned ice factories can be dated back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries – an era before the advent of economical household and commercial refrigeration. Home iceboxes, icehouses, fishing boats and ice cream producers had to acquire ice from somewhere, and that somewhere was the local ice factory.

Take Crystal Ice in Sacramento, California. Built in the early 1920s, the iconic local landmark was gutted by fire in November of 2015, likely derailing or at least substantially affecting extant plans for redevelopment as the Ice Blocks urban retail spaces project. Flickr user Jim Jackson (AxonJaxon) captured the former ice factory in comparatively better days – February of 2014 to be exact.

Nice House

The former Consolidated Ice Company Factory No. 2 located in Pittsburgh, PA’s Lawrenceville neighborhood opened in 1907 and closed in 1951. Hard to believe the factory wasn’t bought, demolished or re-purposed over the subsequent half-century but hey, such is life in the Rust Belt. On the bright side, the ice factory and its associated two-story office building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in the year 2000 and a portion is now being used by Ice House studios.

Chilling

Flickr user Rolfen captured the ruins of an abandoned ice factory in Öjersjö (near Gothenburg), Sweden in April of 2010. The photographer’s crisply detailed HDR images don’t detract from the overwhelming eeriness of the place – if anything, they enhance it!

Icy Hot

You’d think a place like Sharjah in the blisteringly-hot United Arab Emirates would do whatever it takes to keep their ice factory functioning… well think again. The abandoned Kalba Ice Factory now functions as an art exhibit space, presumably air conditioned.

The 2015 Sharjah Biennial 12 held at the abandoned ice factory featured a series of artificial columns composed of “natural elements such as leaves, bark, shells, coral and dead birds, alongside human consumer products in the form of plastics and deformed sport shoes.” Wait, dead birds??

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Outside The Blocks 12 Coldly Abandoned Ice Factories

The new Freezeway pilot project now live in Edmonton aims to draw residents out of hibernation, encouraging them to skate along an iced trail system slated to double as a seven-mile commuting corridor.

What started as a landscape architecture student’s conceptual project has already become a 1,300-foot ice pathway in winter that also serves as a bike route during the summer.

The vision is well-adapted to the conditions of the city, which faces below-freezing temperatures for up to five months out of the year, and has been nicknamed Deadmonton for its lack of wintertime outdoor activity.

The opening of the first stretch of Freezeway has been accompanied by a disco-style light show of rainbow colors projected onto the frozen path.

From the designer: “This project is not meant to be a tax payer’s burden. The Freezeway is meant upgrade city infrastructure for a multitude of uses, potentially doing wonders for the redeveloping City’s core, our international reputation, as well as attract investment into the City. The proposed route exists entirely on existing City infrastructure; the land is already secured. The numerous character areas along the route could be developed in phases, lending themselves well to private funding/sponsorship, like Calgary’s GlobalFest, or Vancouver’s Festival of Light fireworks shows, funded by donations of over 1 million dollars annually.”