although this is not a particularly daring ice sculpture, the blocks of ice in this seafood presentation must be securely frozen to one another for obvious safety reasons.
updated 10/25/23 with a goofy video and 8/15/23 with seo and tweaks
ice sculpture fail: when ice falls
I’m trying to think of all the ice sculpture fails that I can remember: when an ice sculpture has fallen, one way or another. Fortunately, it hasn’t happened too much to me. (knock on wood/ice) It’s always scared me to think about the possibility of my ice falling during an event and hitting a guest, especially a child. This has never happened with one of my ice sculptures, but sadly, it has happened, although very rarely. This has made me sometimes overly cautious, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing considering the stakes.
Over my career, I’ve had a few ice sculpture fails. I had a couple of sculptures fall after the event was over (not counting competitions). Once a vase fell after a bridal show and another time, a reindeer fell after Sunday brunch. The reindeer was really just inexperience. I would NEVER set up a sculpture like that again; the base was too small.
There were also other times that I suppose you could consider major, I MIGHT talk about those at a later date 🤦♂️😱😬 Mainly, they were just really embarrassing. Nobody was injured, which is the major concern! All in all, I’ve been lucky, but I’ve also helped to make my own luck.
I’ve also been around other ice carvings where things haven’t gone too well. Probably the worst ice sculpture fail, back when I lived in Albuquerque, was when a large piano ice sculpture fell off a very high display (8-10′ high?) during a holiday Sunday brunch at a hotel. I had nothing to do with the sculpture, but I happened to show up just after this particularly scary ice sculpture fail because I was looking to see what the major hotels were doing for their brunches.
Apparently, they had failed to put fabric or something underneath the ice to keep the sculpture from sliding around on the plastic support it was sitting on. The sculpture wasn’t set up on a standard tray, so after a while, it just fell off of the display. Fortunately, it went down the side that WASN’T the same as the kids’ buffet. That could have been a disaster; everyone was fortunate that it wasn’t.
these people can’t even stay in one place when it’s icy. (I like the UPS guy 😆) Avoid an ice sculpture fail by putting something under your ice to keep it from going someplace you don’t want it too! If you can’t see the video, check it out here.
More recently, another carver in my area had a carving fall during an event. I wasn’t there again, but you sure hear about it after the fact if an ice sculpture falls! The bartender at the event said that when he had his back turned he heard a big crash. He turned back around and the carving had slid off the table. As I said, I wasn’t there, but I’m pretty sure that the first mistake was again that the carving was placed directly on the plastic tray, without anything to keep it from sliding around. (It’s also likely that the tray was set up improperly or that the base of the carving was too small.)
When I set up sculptures, I make it a point to place a single layer of white fabric (like a single cloth dinner napkin) under at least part of my sculpture. This will keep the sculpture in place and is vital if you have to attach anything to the carving. If a cloth napkin isn’t available, then I’ll use bev naps or a paper towel.
If the sculpture isn’t underlit, then I’ll place the carving directly on a tablecloth and bunch the rest of the tablecloth around the base of the carving like a “cloud.” Make sure in this case that the tablecloth doesn’t go outside the tray or you’ll have water on the table or the floor as the tablecloth soaks up the water in the tray and lets it drip out. What’s important, though, is that you keep your sculpture in one place. You don’t need something that is already melting to be moving too.
links and stuff
There are other ways to keep your sculpture in place and I have a lot more to say about ice sculpture fails. Like here. And here. And finally, here.
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