my oyster ice sculptures have had a variety of looks over the years. This one is a bit more upright and got some nice color lighting at a hotel off Bourbon St. in New Orleans.
updated 5/24/24 with a link to an old post
my oyster ice sculpture design, with a big ice pearl
Over the years, I’ve made a lot of oyster ice sculptures and I don’t know that any two have looked the same. Which makes sense, since oysters all look different. But pretty much all my oyster ice sculptures have 3 things in common: a bottom shell with a base, a top shell standing more or less upright, and a big pearl.
By the way, these pearls are WAY oversized. Ok, the oysters themselves are WAY oversized, for that matter. But the pearls are out of proportion for even these monster oysters. They can’t even close their shells! π¦ͺ (That’s an oyster emoji, in case you can’t tell. That one could use some work…)
this is a very basic drawing of the oyster ice sculpture design. I could make it more detailed but honestly, the detailing on oysters is always going to be different. You can make it realistic, stylized, or whatever you like.
here’s a real oyster shell that I kind of, but not really, use as a reference
the inside of oyster shells is very smooth. However, with oyster ice sculptures, the situation is different since the ice is see through. Also, the dark spot is where the oyster attaches to its shell.
a possible template for your oyster ice sculpture
Alright, this template for my oyster ice sculpture is different from most of the other templates on the site. It’s more a suggestion than directions. It’s also a bit incomplete, since it only shows the lower shell. But envision that this is a full thickness ice block. You’re going to cut away the two pieces for the base and the pearl. Then you’re going to be left with the large chunk for the shell. You’ll SPLIT this large chunk to get the two shell parts you need. Since the bottom shell is a bit more technical, I’ve prioritized it in the template.
Also, one thing I forgot to show on the bottom shell: you’re probably want to add a drain hole so that it doesn’t fill with meltwater.
So moving on, you can cut out the basic shell shape. It doesn’t have to look like what I have, since oysters vary quite a bit. Then you split it into 2 slabs. You’ll probably want to work on the slab for the bottom part of the shell first. You can also take the base chunk and split it into 2 equal thickness slabs. Freeze the 2 base slabs to the bottom of the bottom shell piece. Make sure you remember that you’re going to be adding a top shell and a pearl so you’re going to want to prioritize support under those parts. You don’t want it to tip when you add them.
The pearl and the top shell are the most visible parts of your oyster ice sculpture. So you want them to look pretty. The bottom part of the oyster is the most technical and functional, so you want it to work well. It doesn’t have to be as pretty.
When you make the top shell, you need a flat well spot. This weld attachment is different from the one on the bottom shell, since it’s on the edge of the shell rather than on the large slab surface. So you need to cut a flat spot for the weld, meaning the overall shape of the top shell will be slightly different from the shape of the bottom shell.
Once you have your weld surfaces, you can see how the top shell sits. Does it stay up on its own or does it start to tip? Ideally, you want it to stay up on its own and not feel precarious. You can adjust the weld surface angle and the weight distribution of the top shell so that it sits upright on its own.
The lower shell should have a little island for the pearl to sit atop. You’ll likely want this island to be back near the shell weld spot, but not too close. If it’s too close, the pearl can interfere with the position of the top shell. Also though, the pearl can help support the top shell if you’re having trouble getting it to sit right. Finally, the other function for the pearl is to kind of hide the shell weld, since that’s not really the way that oyster shells come together.
One last thing: I’ve never actually used a template for an oyster ice sculpture. The included template has good guidelines for how to get all the parts for your oyster. But oysters are generally one of the easier ice sculptures to freehand carve because they’re so forgiving from a design point of view.
oyster ice sculptures require a simple weld
You COULD make an oyster ice sculpture without any welding, just sculpt a closed oyster. Of course, then, it looks like a textured lump and you get the dreaded “What is it?” question. So let’s just assume that you want an open shell oyster ice sculpture.
Even if you have little experience welding ice, you shouldn’t be intimidated by this fairly simple weld. It’s the easiest kind of ice weld, a horizontal weld. Basically, it just needs to be flat and level and then in most cases, the ice will do all the work (as long as your ice is pretty cold when you do the welding).
There are some ways that it can go bad of course. If you’re not a very experienced ice welder, then don’t give the top shell any lean. It should be at a 90Λ angle, just like an “L.” Also, it’s a lot better if the top shell is bottom heavy rather than top heavy. Trying to weld on a top heavy top shell usually means physics is working against you. Now that doesn’t mean that your oyster ice sculpture can’t have the shape that you see in the design drawing. It just means that you’ll want to take some weight off the top and make it thinner.
This weld is generally done at set up. It’s certainly possible to do the weld in advance and move the fully assembled oyster ice sculpture into place, but that makes it a lot harder than it needs to be. And a lot riskier if you ask me.
yeah, I know, this pearl is way over the top. I like it though!
making the ice pearl for your oyster ice sculpture
Do you need the pearl? I say YES, but technically, no, you don’t. It’s the hardest part of the sculpture to make and it gets in the way of putting food in the oyster’s bottom shell. But I think it adds a important focal point for the ice sculpture and offers a nice contrast to the irregular shape of the oyster shell.
So how do you go about sculpting a sphere from ice? You might be aware that a lot of this site was part of the old ice carving secrets site. On that site, I had a post that talked all about the various ways to make spheres from ice. And boy, would it be nice if I’d already restored it from the old site to this site. As I write this, however, I haven’t. So it’s now my highest priority post to restore. Once I do that, I’ll link to it so you can read the whole thing.
But I’ll give you a quick rundown of the process. To make an ice sphere, you make a cube.
Wait, what?! π€―
Ok, calm down, that’s not the end of the process. You start with a cube. Then you use an ice chisel to take down the centers of all the cubes edges and curve those surfaces like they would be on a sphere. Look at the graphic I’ve added below.
to make an ice sphere, you start with an ice cube. Then the next step is to take down only the centers of all the cube edges. If you use your imagination, you should be able to visualize the odd looking star shape that results.
What you get, after you’ve done this to all 12 edges of the cube, is something that looks like an odd star. The nice thing is that it’s been pretty easy to control this odd shape while you work on it, since all the corners are still there to help you hold onto it. It’s also helped you keep control of the sphere shaping. It’s a lot easier to lose control of the sphere’s shape if you take the more obvious approach: knocking all down all the corners until you get a sphere.
However, once you’ve created your odd little ice star, it’s time to start knocking corners off. You should do this carefully, since as soon as you knock a few off, the soon-to-be sphere is a lot harder to hold onto.
What you end up with is a strange looking shape that’s somewhere between a sphere and a 20 sided die from Dungeons and Dragons. (I used to play that game when I was younger, big surprise π€£) Then you just smooth down the corners (A texture saw is often a good tool for this.), and you have an ice sphere!
If this doesn’t make sense, check out this old post about ice spheres and balls from ice carving secrets. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait for me to make a TikTok on the process.
One last thing! To weld your ice pearl onto the the little island in the bottom shell, your ice pearl needs a flat spot. After I make my pearl as spherical as I can, I usually pick the spot where I screwed up the worst and make a flat spot with an iron. That’s my weld point.
your ice pearl doesn’t just have to be a clear ball of ice
making FANCY ice pearls for your oyster ice sculptures
Here’s an additional trick you can try with the ice pearls for your oyster ice sculptures. (Or, you can do it for any sort of ice sphere.) You can put a design in the middle of the pearl.
This seems like it would be a really difficult thing to do, but it’s not. It just requires a little foresight.
Remember the cube that you started with the for the ice sphere? Well, before you start work on making the cube into a sphere, you freeze your design into the middle of the cube. This is pretty easy, as ice welding goes. If you use the aluminum ice welding technique, you should have no problem.
Once you have your design frozen into the middle of the cube, make sure that it’s still a cube and then off you go with the sphere!
One thing you’ll find that’s pretty interesting is that once you make the sphere, the design you froze inside the cube looks bigger than before. That’s because the sphere surface magnifies the design a bit. So that’s an extra little bonus, but also something you should expect when you start out.
oysters and New Orleans
You know how I frequently digress and get a little off topic while I’m talking about how to make my various ice sculpture designs? Yeah, this is that part. I was nice this time and put it towards the end though, so you don’t have to wade through my blather to get to the oyster ice sculpture design. So if you’ve already found out what you need to know, bounce away elsewhere. But if you’re curious, read on. Also, google likes it, so if you don’t, screw you ππ€£
I LOVE oysters. Notwithstanding the slight risk that you take every time you eat a raw one, they’re one of my favorite parts of New Orleans. (If you’re immunosuppressed, a nasty little bug called Vibrio vulnificus can take you out π±)
I’m not saying they’re not an acquired taste. I distinctly remember the first time my dad brought oysters home when I was growing up in Albuquerque. Btw, that’s NOT where you want to try your first oyster π«£
I was dubious about this slimy, gooey looking mollusk, but I tried it anyway. This was one of times that trying something new turned out for the good. Marinated raw swordfish and octopus π were times it turned out for the bad π€’ Btw, I’ll NEVER eat octopus again. Not only did I form a long term memory of just how unpleasant it was to eat, octopi are way too smart and cool for us to be eating them :/
Anyway, when I showed up in New Orleans, years later, I discovered the source of so much oyster goodness! Now, if I try to rank my top 10 restaurants in Nola, about half of them are because of the oysters they serve. I’ve included a few of my favorites below.
I like oysters in a bunch of different ways: charbroiled, raw, bbq’ed (see below), plus many others. The only way I wasn’t really impressed with was the Rockefellered version I had at Antoine’s (one of the oldest restaurants in the U.S.) It was okay, I suppose, but not worth the hype.
I also feel mostly good about eating oysters. As opposed to the environmental damage that much of our food production does, oyster cultivation and sustainable harvesting can actually be good for coastlines. Oysters are filter feeders, so they help water quality.
Finally, in case you’re wondering (you weren’t π) I HAVE found pearls before in the oysters that I’ve eaten. Several times actually. None of them were pearls that would end up in jewelry, but it’s still pretty cool to find them!
Casamento’s is old school New Orleans. The decor inside is super dated and odd: old tile with blue accents that reminds me of being at the bottom of a swimming pool. But I love this place and the oysters are SO good!
Drago’s is famous for their charbroiled oysters and for good reason. This is the original Drago’s in Metairie (part of New Orleans metro area), but they now have several locations scattered about.
please ignore the random trash cup that I didn’t see when I took this pic and I’m now too lazy to Photoshop out. Red Fish Grill is on Bourbon St. (hence the occasional random trash) and it’s one of my favorite restaurants in Nola. They also have my absolute favorite dish: bbq oysters with blue cheese π There’s also po-boy version that I used to request as part of my payment whenever I’d make an ice sculpture for them π€£
here’s the bbq oysters from Red Fish at a local festival, I think on the New Orleans riverfront. Yum!!
surprisingly, this dish gives my favorite bbq oysters a run for its money. They’re oyster NACHOS! And they’re not even a Nola dish. I found them at the Hurricane Oyster Bar out in the Florida panhandle. Deliciously combining oysters and Mexican food (sorta) makes this favorite for me!
CNC friendly?
Oh, I forgot, I have to talk about how this design would work on a CNC π¬
An oyster ice sculpture is one of the few designs on this site that gets only a little benefit from using a CNC. I suppose if you want to make the same exact oyster ice sculpture over and over, that a CNC would help. But oysters are supposed to look a little half ass, like the workmanship was a little shoddy and they made things up as they went along. CNCs suck at that look.
Plus, a CNC isn’t usually very helpful in the oyster pearl department either. You could use a lathe attachment to make spheres, but that’s a pretty specialized set up. You’d need to be making ice spheres and similar items for things other than oyster pearls for it to be worthwhile.Β
links and stuff
Eventually, I’ll add a clam design or two to the site so that you can see how it differs from the oyster ice sculpture. I think this is my first mollusk on the site, but there are tons more ocean-themed designs on the design page.
Also check out the design page for many more unrelated ice sculpture designs. Also, check out the design usage guidelines to see what uses are permitted.
You could also find photos and info from this entry on the ice sculpting secrets Instagram account or the facebook page. ice sculpting secrets is also on TikTok (sort of, so far, lol), although videos there aren’t really tied to posts as much. You can comment on IG and fb as well as below. And if it won’t LET you comment below, then definitely comment on fb and/or IG. Thanks!
