August 3, 2011

graceful manta ray ice sculpture design

a manta ray ice sculpture at the 2011 OC Fair Ice Museum in Costa Mesa, CA

updated 11/10/23 with the video and then 5/17/23 when added to iss

my manta ray ice sculpture design

This manta ray ice sculpture was part of the 2011 Orange County Fair Ice Museum in Costa Mesa, CA (put together by Roland Hernandez and Carving Ice, now the Art of Carving Ice). The manta ray was one of two window pieces for the museum that I did; the other was a sea turtle (The museum has a nice feature this year: nine windows to the outside that let you see some of the ice without having to venture into the cold. Last year, they had windows, but not as many.)

Manta rays are related to sharks, but they’re not generally dangerous to people; their teeth are vestigial and their tails have no stingers. They are filter feeders, feeding on fish larvae and plankton. They can, however, get very large, as large as 25 feet across. This is not all that surprising when you consider that the largest shark, the whale shark, and the largest whale, the blue whale, are also filter feeders.

The sculpture design features a manta moving upward with waves below. This is not an implausible design; manta rays will breach the surface, leaping into the air like dolphins and whales. Two views of the design are provided; the main design is the topside of the manta, while the other view is the underside. The underside shows the gill slits.

For the tips of the manta’s “wings,” two aluminum welds are required. You could do asymmetrical welds, but in this design the weld lines are parallel to match the overall symmetry of the manta and also to simplify the part creation: to make the basic part, you make it once and split it.

here’s the standard view of the manta; technically the top, since he (or she) would normally be swimming kind of flat rather than breaching the surface.

this remarkable video can give you a better understanding of how a manta ray actually looks and moves

sculpting your manta

I’d say this is kind of an intermediate level ice sculpture. There’s some welding and the water and kinda delicate supports make it a bit harder than a beginner level sculpture. But it’s not crazy, so if you have a little experience under your belt, it’s a nice piece, especially if you’re looking for a sculpture that’s a little unusual.

You COULD use a thin block (4″ slab) for this, but then you’d miss out on all the dynamic splashy water shapes below the manta ray. A thin block also doesn’t give you much ice to work with for the tips of the “wings.” So maybe a 6″ or more thick block, I’d say.

Also, one note about displaying it: it’s probably going to drip off of the tip of the lower wing, so be ready for that. Maybe use a little larger tray.

here’s a template for ya

how to assemble your manta ray ice sculpture

and finally, the underside view of your manta ray ice sculpture

how would it work on a CNC machine?

Creating my manta ray ice sculpture would be A LOT with my current CNC machine set up. I think the most I would do right now is use the CNC to engrave the template since I’d have to use a slightly thicker block rather than a thin slab (see what I had to say about this above). But we’ll see in the future; I may be able to get enough space under the gantry to do some of it. We shall see.

for more info and some guidelines

If you have any questions about my manta ray 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.