often, it’s necessary to add pieces of ice to a sculpture as many designs won’t fit well within the confines of an ice block. You have to go outside the block. Here, I’m sculpting the main section of an American eagle from nearly a full block of ice. Then I’ll have to add the eagle’s head and large wing sections to finish it.
updated 10/24/23 with a relevant video and then 7/28/23 with seo and way more stuff, since this entry was pathetically short
you often need to go "outside the block"
You’re facing a 300 lb. block of clear ice that you have to make into something. The only problem is that you’re having trouble fitting all of the subject into the block. Fortunately, you don’t have to fit it all in 40 inches by 20 inches. By thinking outside the block and properly adding ice to the edges of your design, you can create a much more effective sculpture without much additional effort.
For example, if you have to carve a person, sometimes it’s easier to add another piece of ice to the top of the block for the head, rather than try to cram everything into the block. (The Thanksgiving pilgrim design requires you to add his head.) For a great way to add ice to your sculpture, check out this method for welding ice.
In and around New Orleans, the fleur de lis is a frequently used symbol, and accordingly, ice sculpture. But the stupid fleur de lis stubbornly refuses to fit in the dimensions of an ice block! Unless of course, you make it super small, but nobody wants that.
I’ve tried various work arounds and adding ice to the side petals has been the best solution I’ve come up with, at least without using a CNC machine. (I’ve lately been taking a different approach, but I’ll come back to that later.) Skillful welding of the petals allows me to get outside the block and pretty much solve my fleur de lis dilemma.
living in New Orleans, I’ve sculpted a lot of fleur de lis ice sculptures. However, they don’t fit very well into ice blocks, unless you make them kind of small. This diagram shows how the sculpture extends outside the block and where I get the extra ice.
if you do the welding well, the welds aren’t that noticeable in the finished sculpture.
I specifically address getting outside the block in this video on welding ice with aluminum.
For some sculpture designs, another approach is to tilt the block some. Technically, this isn’t going outside the block, but it does get you outside of the block’s standard straight up and down rectangle. By cutting the bottom of the block so that it sits at an angle, you may be able to fit more of a particular design into an ice block than you could if it were standing straight upright. You might be doing this to use your ice as efficiently as possible, or you might be trying to create a more dynamic, less blocky sculpture.
However, to take full advantage of this tip, you need to do your homework. Take a drawing of your design and see how you might fit it into a rectangle with the proportions of a block. Turn it and see how the sculpture might work in different ways. Even better, use computer software (such as my favorite, Adobe Illustrator) to rotate and resize your design until you get the most efficient combination of sculpture size and ease of carving.
in the case of this swan, I’m trying to create a bit more dynamic ice sculpture, rather than trying to use my ice efficiently. But a slightly angled cut at the base definitely gets this swan outside the block.
When I first started sculpting ice, I let the ice block determine the boundaries. To some degree, that’s what I was taught and it wasn’t necessarily a bad way to start; it simplified things. I looked at that big ice block and tried to figure out how to get my sculpture from within its edges. I was trying to make the design fit the ice. Later though, I would start with the design and make the ice fit the design. This approach allows for MUCH more design freedom and you get outside the block on a regular basis!
links and stuff
This post is listed on the ice sculpting techniques page. Also, you might also find photos and info from this entry on the ice sculpting secrets Instagram account or the facebook page and you can comment there as well as below. Probably better there, actually, since this post is old and feeble.
