welcome to ice sculpting secrets!
Hi, I’m Dawson List and welcome to ice sculpting secrets! I’ll be your host as we talk about pretty much all the things that go right and wrong with ice sculptures and sculpting ice.
On this site (eventually), you’ll find out things like how to make giant blocks of clear ice and why you can’t just stick a trash can full of water in your freezer to make one. (I used to think you could 
) And what’s the dirty little secret with all those ice luges? (Or, maybe just: wtf is an ice luge?) Plus, how in the world do you get a job as an ice sculptor? Is that even a job?! All of these things, tons of ice sculpture designs, and a whole bunch more!
If you ever visited the old ice carving secrets site, you’ll see a lot that’s familiar. But it’s been a while, so there’s a LOT more to talk about. And if you’re new to this site, then welcome!
what's this site for?
ice sculpting secrets is kind of half textbook, half autobiography. It’s difficult to separate the ice sculpting from the experiences around it, so I’m not even going to try. There are a lot of New Orleans ice sculptures and New Orleans themed designs, since that’s where I live and mostly work. SOMETIMES the posts and info are kind of random, often because they’re related to whatever I happen to be doing at the time 
But the idea is that this site is useful to you, in learning to sculpt ice, while also maybe adding some fun and entertainment. Since ice sculpting really can BE fun and entertaining, that’s not a big stretch! 
Now, I’m warning you right now, there is an awful lot of crap 
about ice sculpting here, more words than all but the longest books. I’m actually tracking the word count as best I can; currently my count is at well over 240K for just the posts, not the pages. (The pages represent a lot of uncounted words at the moment.) I’m probably not yet quite to a Game of Thrones level (GRRM’s first GOT book approached 300K words 
), but I suspect I’ll get there relatively soon!
As things are right now, I’ve pretty much worked on everything that’s already here; there are a few pages that need some work still, but they’re in the minority and I’ve at least touched all the secrets posts. I talk about that more below. However, there is still a lot of older content that I haven’t restored from the old ice carving secrets site.
I really want this site to be useful to YOU, so if you want to let me know what you think, please do! Right now, the best way is on facebook, IG, or TikTok. Oops, and YouTube. (Plus, you could follow me, so you know what I’ve been doing lately 😉)
@icesculptingsecrets Here’s the making of a tailgate ice luge (and a tiny bit of the fun!) for the L’Auberge Baton Rouge party before the LSU-Florida game. I really like that St. Roch Vodka bottle design! . . #iceluge #icesculpture #icesculpting #tailgateparty #lsufootball #lsutigers #lsuflorida #laubergebatonrouge #strochvodka #icesculptingsecrets ♬ Synth bass, four-on-the-floor, EDM, painful(1011084) - Kenting
spin the stork! Here’s a unusual 360˚ view of a stork and baby ice sculpture. 42 pictures were required! Here’s the design for the stork and baby.
what's new and different?
It’s a brand new platform and a new look for ice sculpting secrets, so I’m SLOWLY getting the whole thing online. In this reboot of my old ice carving secrets site, there are over 300 posts and pages here, so far. It’s not like I just started rebuilding everything yesterday; there’s lots to see, if you can get to it. (TIP: the SEARCH 
function is pretty damn useful!) Also, there are new posts too, like my top 10 ice sculptures list!
Not too long ago, I finished fixing/updating/upgrading ALL the design posts! They’re not all perfect and some STILL suck, but most are awesome! There are even a few newer designs right now too. (taco luge, anyone?) A significant priority for updating going forward will be adding CNC versions of the designs and some have already gotten that. While I won’t be including files (for now), I WILL be talking about how to approach a design with your CNC machine. And that’s something that I don’t think you’ll really find ANYWHERE ELSE!
The ice sculpture galleries are on their way back too! There are 40 galleries now! Still, probably more than half are dysfunctional and incomplete (working on that 😬) Some are old galleries but there are a few very recent ones too (particularly in icy places and competitions), related to my recent trips to China and Europe. Once I get the existing galleries more functional, there will be many more to come!
Once my horde of advertisers (
) start forking over boatloads of cash
, I’ll pay someone to fix everything that’s still effed up (What that really means is, I have to do it all myself and it might take a little while, lol.) Fortunately, nobody is sitting around holding their breath waiting for it. You might well be the only person that’s been here today 😉 so I’m taking my time to do it right. But for now, enjoy what’s here and feel free to comment, if the post will let you (many won’t for now). If it won’t let you and you’ve just GOT to say something, join my socials below and do it there. Thanks!
-Dawson