Here is a test of one of the practical effects. In this scene Lou will be in the lab. She is in a frozen state in a block of ice on a machine. I attached her to a piece of plastic with holes in it so it can drain into the waterproofed machine below her. I'm using a stand in for the actual Lou because I'm not sure this is going to work, or if the ice is going to ruin the character.

I got a section of 5" PVC to freeze her in. After it was frozen (it took 3 days) I ran the pvc under hot water until I could gently pull the ice core out. I then placed her on the machine base. It draines through a pipe to a bucket under the set.

I set up the camera and I'm taking a time lapse of the melting process that can later be sped up. This will hopefully create a pretty cool looking effect. I really have no clue how long this will take to melt, so I may need to do it a couple times depending on the information I can accumulate from this test.  The camera is taking a picture every 5 minutes.