my ears always perk up when someone orders a dragon ice sculpture. So I was looking forward to this dragon head ice luge.
dragon head ice luge
I’m sure you’re sick of hearing it, but like so many things on the site, this dragon head ice luge design is a work in progress. I kinda liked what I made. I didn’t love it. I didn’t get the time to spend on this design that I wanted. But I’m posting what I’ve got here and maybe later I can come back to it and improve it. (That does happen sometimes, surprisingly π¬)
I used my CNC for this (but you don't have to)
My CNC has changed how I generally make tubed ice luges. Because the CNC can get your ice extremely close to being perfectly flat, it’s relatively easy to weld together two slabs of ice and get a very tight weld. I made my dragon head ice luge from two 3″ thick slabs. First, I flattened the back of the front slab (not shown), and then I cut out and added all the front side detail shown in the second image below. Then I cut the back slab, which has the luge track.
I was in a bit of a rush, but I thought this was a pretty good start for my dragon head ice luge design. I mostly designed this on my iPad, based on a image that I found online (but I had to change it a lot to make it work in the ice block). Notice that the luge track is shown.
this version of the dragon head ice luge is the same as above, but it’s missing the luge track shown in the first composite, since that goes on the slab below
here’s the back slab for the dragon head ice luge and it includes the luge track and funnel cut.
a party idea
I don’t generally try to come up with these for the sculpture designs on the site, but here’s a party idea for dragon head ice luges: dueling fire π₯ and ice π§ dragons! Maybe make mirror image versions. Then light one reddish and one blueish. To complete the theme, pour Fireball through the fire dragon and Rumple Minze through the ice dragon. Sounds like fun, no?
so how could I take this design further?
Sometimes it’s fun to think about how crazy you could make an ice sculpture if you had lots of time and the client had a big giant budget π€£ For this dragon head ice luge, to make it more spectacular, I’d probably start with the horns. This dragon actually has 3 horns, but since it was a flatter design that I was making with my CNC, all 3 horns kind of got jammed together. Rather than trying to sculpt the horns out of this relatively flat sculpture, I would probably weld on horns that extended out from the sculpture.
I’d also like to do some work on the teeth. Doing really nice teeth on a dragon is a really delicate exercise and they generally wouldn’t last long for an event sculpture. So instead, I might try some snowfilled teeth that had a bit more longevity. I’m not totally sure that that would work well, but I’d definitely like to try it. I almost tried it when I sculpted it this time, but I opted not to at the last minute.
The spines on the back of this dragon head ice luge really suck! That’s because I didn’t have a very good plan for them, I just figured I would stick them on. Had I worked them into the design, I could’ve done a nice curved weld and they would’ve looked like they were supposed to be a part of the dragon, rather than an afterthought. I’ll have to fix that for next time.
Finally, I wish I’d done a better job on the eye of the dragon. It’s not terrible, but the eyes are almost always a focal point on any sort of creature sculpture, so it’s vital to get them right. I just would’ve spent a little bit more time on this one, working on it with a small Dremel tool, perhaps.
links and stuff
This dragon head ice luge design is the 199th design on the site. I picked a dragon design on purpose as I approach the big 200. (You’ll see what I chose for the 200th design soon. And I’ll also explain why.)
Since my New Orleans ice sculpting business is called ice dragon ice sculptures, you might be able to guess that I like dragons. Accordingly, I have other dragon designs on the site, and I’ll be adding even more soon. Check out the single block Asian dragon design, the double block Asian dragon design, the dragon sushi tray, and Victor Dagatan’s dragon. There’s also a quick story about my special ice dragon sculpture.
Be sure to check out the design page for many more 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!
