Rainbow igloo lights up Edmonton backyard

[View the story "Rainbow igloo lights up Edmonton backyard" on Storify]

Storified by CBC News Community· Mon, Jan 07 2013 14:58:12

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As a New Zealander visiting Canada for the firsttime, Daniel Gray may have hoped to see a few igloos on his trip - but he certainly didn't expect to spend 150 hours of his vacation building one out of colourful,custom-made ice blocks.

But that's exactly what he ended up doing when he arrived in Edmonton five weeks ago with his girlfriend, Kathleen Starrie. The couple made the trip to Canada to visit her family.

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As it turns out, the igloo was actually hisgirlfriend's mother's idea.

"I wanted to keep him occupied, not with my daughter necessarily. I wanted to keep him busy with something else," said Brigid Burton in an interview with Global Edmonton.  "I didn't want (Dan) to just be twiddling his thumbs while he's here in Canada so I thought, this needs to be something that's got some meat to it."

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Now complete, photos of the "rainbow igloo" have been spreading all over the web since Saturday,when Gray posted them to Reddit.

"Made a coloured ice igloo while visiting my gfin Edmonton, Canada," wrote Gray in the thread. He linked to some photos of his creation and a local news article in which he explains the process and the inspiration behind the project.

Burton had been preparing for the project sinceOctober, saving up old juice cartons and filling them with coloured water in anticipation of Gray's visit.

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"Her mum has been collectingthem since October. Asking cafes and people at work to donate them. In totalshe collected over 300 but we needed more than that so we had to melt the sidesand slide them out and reuse them," Gray posted in a follow-up question on Reddit.

As for how the ice bricks were held together, hecredits a substance called "snowcrete."

we mixed snow and water together which stuck very well to the ice and held it in placedaniboi22

Melting wasn't an issue thanks to Edmonton's sub-zero winter temperatures, and according to Gray, the spiral structure of the dome makes it quite strong.

yeah but it is very solid. I have sat on the top of it.daniboi22

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In total, it took Gray, his girlfriend, her family and some neighbours approximately five weeks, 500 blocks and 150 hours to complete the project. Gray's online reaction to the amount of attention the igloo is receiving indicates it was well worth the effort.

Thank you all so much for your up votes and comments. Never would have imagined that it would have been this popular!! The weather channel is now coming over to have an interview and we are having an igloo party this afternoon.daniboi22

Many on Twitter and Reddit were taken with the rainbow igloo.

Just saw the cutest igloo ever on the news <3 it was built with rainbow bricks and love <3 <3 #CanadianRomance @MadelnCanadaKatrina Stasyk

I want to live in an igloo in Canada.Mauro Accinelli

And lived in Canada, MT: @ywallin This is the first thing I'd do if I had a backyard: How to Build a Rainbow Igloo http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/01/how-to-build-a-rainbow-igloo/sgabe

It's snow joke... it's a rainbow igloo! http://boingboing.net/2013/01/05/rainbow-colored-igloo.htmlPee-wee Herman

Looks like a good place to chill.Ditka_Da_Bus_Driver

I CE WHAT YOU DID THEREGoldenDriller

Pretty cool way to use old milk cartons! Yes, we said cool and yes it was a pun. http://fb.me/ZGXuQ4zvFair Oaks Farms

How cool is this multicolored igloo? Only in Canada, eh! http://imgur.com/a/R5V5xPatti McKague

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