or: freezing fake fish in ice
this aquarium ice sculpture’s scale is all out of whack! There’s a tiny great white and a huge clownfish, not to mention the giant hermit crab at the bottom; but it still makes a nice presentation. Maybe the clownfish will eat the great white? 🦈
is this really an ice sculpture design?
updated slightly 4/5/23
I’ll end up listing this in the design section, but there’s really no design here, just an idea. However, it’s not even my idea and I have no idea who was the first to try making a frozen aquarium ice sculpture. But it can be a very effective piece, even though most of the time, there’s almost no actual ice carving involved.
yeah, it's a pretty good idea...
If you’ve never seen this done before then you’re first thought is probably “What a great idea!” That was what I thought when I first saw this idea (honestly, though, I can’t remember where I saw it.) I’ve also encased a real aquarium with real fish inside ice (the fish survived because we made every effort to make sure they did.) Comparing the two versions, I’d say that the fake fish version is actually more effective and certainly easier to incorporate into a larger display. Below, we incorporated an aquarium block into a seafood ice bar.
how to make your frozen aquarium ice sculpture
If you decide to make your own frozen aquarium, you’ll have to solve two main problems: 1) where to get the fake fish, etc. and 2) how to freeze them into an ice block.
Finding the fish can be more difficult than you might think. The ones in the block at the top came from a Michaels crafts store. They carry a line of small plastic figures from a company called Safari, Ltd. However, I had to check more than one store, because not all of them carried fish figures. Next time, I’d probably order directly from Safari’s website. I found a couple of other sites on the web that might be good sources as well: tapirback.com and Celebrate Express. Certainly, some toy stores also carry plastic fish and it occurred to me that the gift shops at a large aquariums and beach side souvenir shops might be other sources. The plants and gravel were much easier; I just used gravel and fake plants for regular aquariums from a Walmart. There are also a number of shells that are hard to see in the photo above; they’re real and I think they came from a craft shop.
To get the fish into the ice, I used a Clinebell ice machine, along with a wire grid, some small clamps, and some cable ties. For a description of this procedure, check out the earlier entry on freezing items into blocks. It requires a bit of patience and some careful timing, but it’s not terribly difficult as long as you have access to a Clinebell machine. You’ll probably also want some neoprene gloves to keep your hands from freezing; at some point, you’ll have your hands in that cold water for longer than you’d like.
here's some boring extra info...
If you have any questions about this piece, email me or comment below. 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 facebook page and you can comment there as well as below. Thanks!
