I really like the purple lit version of my tiger head ice sculpture. (below in the post) But the eyes of this frosty tiger have it. And you can see the luge tube coming from the back of the head.
updated and expanded when added to iss 6/23/23
tiger head ice sculpture design
On the Gulf Coast, Tigermania rolls on after LSU’s football National championship (this was back in 2008 actually), so I’ve had to do several tiger head sculptures lately. (As I update, LSU is in the finals of the College World Series, so maybe something will come of that!) This is a difficult sculpture which is obviously top-heavy as well as off balance towards the tiger’s nose, so it needs an adequate base and I would recommend attaching a separate piece of ice. The leftover ice at the top of the template is probably not an adequate base, so you need an additional slab of ice, about 20”x13”x4”, to use as a base.
The other major issue is welding a half block of ice onto the front of the head so that you have enough ice depth to carve the sculpture. It needs to be a very clean aluminum weld. I’ve included front and side templates for the sculpture. If you’re not comfortable with aluminum welding techniques or using multiple templates, then you should probably wait until you are before attempting this sort of sculpture.
tiger head ice sculpture (luge actually) for a wedding in the Florida panhandle (the bride and/or groom had ties to LSU).
Any tiger head ice sculpture also has elaborate striping. You can snowfill the stripes or leave them unfilled. Also, while carving, try to leave the canine teeth as large as practical. It’s easy to accidentally cut them too small, which necessitates cutting them off and adding new ice (as in a photo later in the post).
When I’ve made this sculpture as an ice luge, the funnel and top of the tube have gone into the top of the head, towards the back a little. The luge generally exits out the mouth or in the lower jaw, which can be a little tricky. But how cool is it to get a shot out of a tiger’s mouth?
this is an angry tiger 🙂
side views for the tiger head ice sculpture design
profile templates for the tiger head
my special project tiger head ice sculpture
Sometimes, when I feel like I have a LITTLE time, I try to work on sculptures that I want to do, not ones that I have to do. I’ve done this before with a dragon head and some other sculptures. I tried it with a tiger head ice sculpture, but it didn’t turn out so well.
I moved pretty slow on this project and I ended up losing the sculpture because of a major power outage from a hurricane. Most of the city lost power, so there was no place to put it. This stuff happens in Nola; can’t be helped. I should know better though. But it was good practice and I hope to try again.
not too long ago, I was working on a very elaborate tiger head ice sculpture and I was taking my time on it. This is how it looked when I first started, with extensive templating.
this is about as far as I got because, unfortunately, I took TOO long and a hurricane-induced power failure killed my tiger. (I was making adjustments with a red marker.) Sadly, this has happened before with hurricanes and ice sculptures, but hopefully I’ll have time to try an elaborate tiger head ice sculpture again soon 🙂
this was one of my earliest tries at my tiger head ice sculpture. Take care not to cut the large teeth too thin or small. In the sculpture above, the canine on the right had to be replaced, resulting in the white snow above the tooth.
for more info and some guidelines
If you have any questions about my tiger head ice sculpture design, email me or comment below. (It might not let you though if it’s been a while.) 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.
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