My husband and I traveled about a half an hour south of home over the weekend to watch a collegiate ice sculpting invitational.
Little trivia for you: I hate cold weather! So why would I want to spend hours in near-freezing temperatures, milling through the crowds?
Well, I had an article to write for a local paper for one thing, and I thought this might be a good topic. I also figured we could go out to eat while we were down there. Yea, food! I discovered a third reason once we arrived, and it's this third reason that I'll focus on for this post.
I didn’t realize until the competition that one can actually take college classes in ice sculpting. I learned that they’re usually part of the culinary arts curriculum, which makes perfect sense now that I think about it. Other professional ice sculptors likely learned their art while working at hotels or resorts…even on cruise ships…or under the tutelage of another ice carver.
On Friday evening, students engaged in a “blind carving” exhibition where they were given random templates and 90 minutes, completing pieces that could be displayed at restaurants, wedding receptions or other special events. On Saturday afternoon, students came prepared with their own templates and four hours ahead of them for the freestyle event.
Students started with clear blocks of ice measuring 40” x 20” x 10” and weighing about 300 pounds each. After all the cutting and carving, the typical finished product weighed between 110 and 130 pounds.
I had never seen an event like
this, so I was intrigued by the entire process, including the fact that competitors
started…with a template. Funny. I had this notion that they allowed the ice to
“speak” to them and then chipped away until its beauty was brought forth. (I’ve
been reading too many romance novels, I guess.)
I also had no idea that students roughed-in the work with chainsaws before mellowing it with an array of other hand and power tools.
I learned that there are actually ten steps to carving. Following these ten steps helps the artist plan the work and keeps him or her from wasting time with wondering, “What’s next?” or “What should I work on now?”
Not that I’m going to run out and create my own ice sculpture, but knowing the ten steps helps me appreciate the amount of work and precision that goes into this process:
I didn’t realize until the competition that one can actually take college classes in ice sculpting. I learned that they’re usually part of the culinary arts curriculum, which makes perfect sense now that I think about it. Other professional ice sculptors likely learned their art while working at hotels or resorts…even on cruise ships…or under the tutelage of another ice carver.
On Friday evening, students engaged in a “blind carving” exhibition where they were given random templates and 90 minutes, completing pieces that could be displayed at restaurants, wedding receptions or other special events. On Saturday afternoon, students came prepared with their own templates and four hours ahead of them for the freestyle event.
Students started with clear blocks of ice measuring 40” x 20” x 10” and weighing about 300 pounds each. After all the cutting and carving, the typical finished product weighed between 110 and 130 pounds.
I also had no idea that students roughed-in the work with chainsaws before mellowing it with an array of other hand and power tools.
I learned that there are actually ten steps to carving. Following these ten steps helps the artist plan the work and keeps him or her from wasting time with wondering, “What’s next?” or “What should I work on now?”
Not that I’m going to run out and create my own ice sculpture, but knowing the ten steps helps me appreciate the amount of work and precision that goes into this process:
- Create a design. Most artists start with a small drawing and blow it up onto template paper, large enough to cover the side of the ice. (Artists also like their finished pieces to be tall and narrow rather than short and squatty, for effect.)
- Apply the template paper onto the ice with cold water. Trace it using a die grinder.
- Rough in the design using a chainsaw; this process is also referred to as the First Dimension. Basically, the artist is cutting away all the ice he or she won’t be using.
- Perfect the First Dimension with a die grinder or sander. Shape every curve. Square every line. This step is important because it insures the shape’s hold during the melting process.
- Connect reference points (the intersection of any major reference lines) from the back side of the ice, again using the die grinder.
- The Block-In step is the most difficult part of the process. The idea here is to create different levels or layers, the ultimate goal being to retain all major reference lines from the template; if the artist loses them, he loses the design.
- Round the corners that require it.
- Sand the entire surface using an angle grinder. Hand sanding works for the hard-to-reach places or for the rounded surfaces. The goal here is to eliminate all tool marks and uneven surfaces.
- Detail with tools of choice.
- Brush off any excess snow. At temperatures above freezing, the sculptures are cleaned with water. A torch cleans best in temperatures between 15 and 32 degrees. Anything below15 degrees requires a buffing tool or hand sanding.
We’re talking ice here. Frozen
water. Going from rectangular blocks to works of art. Amazing.
Sadly, with the rising temperatures, Friday’s displays were already dripping by mid-afternoon the next day.
We
passed a Snoopy with a runny nose, a dragon-kind-of-looking thing whose horn
had fallen off, and a giant diamond ring losing carats by the second. Yet these
students toiled away, the blades of their tools kicking ice shards into their
faces and snow onto their forearms, their hair loosening from their pony-tail
holders and fringing into their eyes.
I’m thinking, “Sure they’re slicing and dicing the ice, and that’s probably…fun. But at what cost? All the planning, the late nights figuring out what design to go with, the hours of practice without an audience. Why would someone want to go to all this work, all this trouble, for something so fleeting?”
The answer came to me just as quickly: “For the love of it, the beauty of it, and the memory of it.”
Some of the onlookers probably left and thought no more of the event. But for an egghead like me, I pondered all I saw for hours, days, afterward.
There is a mystery to the process of ice sculpting—a magic, if you will. The greatest sculptors view that bulky chainsaw as an extension of their hands. And molding something so hard and obstinate to their artistic vision must be both exhilarating and rewarding.
I think of all the things in my
life that I toil and sweat over—writing, for instance. I slice and dice words
instead of ice. (You didn’t know words could be just as hard and obstinate, did
you? Well, they can; at least my words can.)
Sometimes my writing doesn’t last past the turning of the page. People may wonder why I go to all the work, to all the trouble. I come to the same conclusion as the sculptors: for the love, the beauty, and the memory of it. I write for the eggheads who ponder the words well past their maturity, and I’ll write as long as they’ll ponder.
What about you? What do you toil over for the same three payoffs?
It can take an infinite array of forms, so think big and dig deep. If you’re scratching your head as to what your contribution might be, use this year to find it. Create beauty where you are if, for no other reason, for the love of it, the memory of it. Stand proudly behind it, and you will be surprised at the people you will touch with it.
Enjoy your day. Enjoy this blog.
Sadly, with the rising temperatures, Friday’s displays were already dripping by mid-afternoon the next day.
I’m thinking, “Sure they’re slicing and dicing the ice, and that’s probably…fun. But at what cost? All the planning, the late nights figuring out what design to go with, the hours of practice without an audience. Why would someone want to go to all this work, all this trouble, for something so fleeting?”
The answer came to me just as quickly: “For the love of it, the beauty of it, and the memory of it.”
Some of the onlookers probably left and thought no more of the event. But for an egghead like me, I pondered all I saw for hours, days, afterward.
There is a mystery to the process of ice sculpting—a magic, if you will. The greatest sculptors view that bulky chainsaw as an extension of their hands. And molding something so hard and obstinate to their artistic vision must be both exhilarating and rewarding.
Sometimes my writing doesn’t last past the turning of the page. People may wonder why I go to all the work, to all the trouble. I come to the same conclusion as the sculptors: for the love, the beauty, and the memory of it. I write for the eggheads who ponder the words well past their maturity, and I’ll write as long as they’ll ponder.
What about you? What do you toil over for the same three payoffs?
It can take an infinite array of forms, so think big and dig deep. If you’re scratching your head as to what your contribution might be, use this year to find it. Create beauty where you are if, for no other reason, for the love of it, the memory of it. Stand proudly behind it, and you will be surprised at the people you will touch with it.
Enjoy your day. Enjoy this blog.
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