I used to call it “Ship’s Wheel,” but now it’s my ship wheel ice sculpture design since the apostrophe adds unnecessary complications in surprising ways.
updated 7/10/23 with seo, more word things, new design work, and a new variation on the design for Father’s Day.
a ship wheel ice sculpture for nautical events?
This ship wheel ice sculpture design showed up in the March/April issue of a newsletter. It’s a pretty straightforward design that involves stacking one half-block thickness slab on top of another and requires slightly more than one block for the full design. The short text blurb from the original article is included below, but the design artwork has been updated:
“Ship’s Wheel”
Dawson List, New Orleans, LA
Good for any sort of nautical themed event, a ship’s wheel is fairly easy to execute. It requires two half thickness slabs of ice stacked one on top of the other and frozen to a stabilizing base. The outer circle of the wheel is an ideal spot for snowfilled lettering if the event calls for it.
don’t forget that you need a base for this ship wheel ice sculpture. Not shown in the template above.
Aside from “Happy Father’s Day!” or maybe “Happy Birthday” to someone, I’d think a cool message for this sculpture might be “Bon Voyage!” as they might be embarking on a new phase of their life (either that or you just want them to go away 😜).
At least with the software that I use, which is a pretty good one, it’s still not fun to put type on a circle. But it’s probably worth the effort if the event calls for it.
here’s what the basic structure looks like. When you’re hand sculpting a piece like this, you’d generally do the welding first and then cut away everything that’s not a ship’s wheel. If you CNC it, the welding>cutting sequence is likely reversed.
a ship wheel ice sculpture for Father's Day
Why does a ship wheel ice sculpture work for Father’s Day? Well, several reasons actually. First, Dad may want to be out on the water in his boat that takes way too much money in upkeep and this sculpture reminds him that he’s stuck at Father’s Day brunch instead. Or, more charitably, it symbolizes that Dad is the captain and steering the family while hopefully avoiding wrecking everything on the rocks in a storm! 😱 Finally, maybe Father’s Day brunch is at the yacht club ⛵️, where of course it works.
random resource
I ran into this webpage while I was working on the new version of this design. It’s a set of 3D printing files for a ship wheel. It’s not something you can use for ice sculpting, since ice sculptures don’t really 3D print because the ice doesn’t come out clear, so far at least. But it is a cool look at the components of a wheel and is helpful if you’ve never been on a sailboat and had a hand at the tiller. (I actually have, years ago. They didn’t let me steer the ship for very long though, cuz they didn’t want to drown!)
the old version of the design looked like this. Not terribly different, but the new version is a little more refined.
more links and stuff
If you have any questions about my ship wheel ice sculpture design, email me or comment below. (It might not let you though.) If you would like to use this ice sculpture design or any other design on this site, please check the design usage guidelines. The design collection page lists designs on the site.
You might also find photos and info from this entry on the ice sculpting secrets Instagram account and you can comment there as well as below. Thanks!
