wait, didn’t I use this pic the LAST time I did a quick tips archive post?! Yup, super lazy!
updated 11/19/23 a whole bunch when restored to ice sculpting secrets
quick tips 2, the sequel
This is the second archive from the quick tips section. Each time ten tips have been added to the section, they’ll be archived to make room for more. Check out quick tips archive 1, the original that started it all.
tempering ice blocks
One way to temper an ice block after it comes out of the freezer is to cover it with a couple of trash bags and let it sit at room temperature for an hour or two, depending on how cold your freezer is. Boxed Clinebell blocks can be left out in the box, although it takes longer because the cardboard is a better insulator. If you have a walk-in cooler available, you can usually leave blocks to temper overnight. In any case, you have to be sure that the block is stable and not leaning. Leaning blocks will lean more as they melt. Blocks left too long will fall over. (10/5/07)
cutting level
Very small bubble levels are available at hardware and photography stores and some have stick-on adhesive on the bottom. Attaching one to your chainsaw can help you see if you’re making level cuts. Of course, the block/sculpture has to be level too for it to work. (10/5/07)
cutting with a chisel
I generally cut primarily with power tools. Carving with Junichi Nakamura and Robert Bifulco in the past has made me painfully aware of my chiseling deficiencies, Quality ice carving chisels, properly sharpened, are designed to be pushed through the ice and shouldn’t be jammed into the ice. Striking or stabbing at the ice with a chisel damages its cutting surfaces. If your high quality chisels won’t cut unless you hit the ice with them, then they need to be sharpened. My apologies to Dean DeMaris for using his chisels before I knew this. (10/4/07)
cutting square
Some years ago, Robert Bifulco pointed out to me that when cutting with a chainsaw, carvers trying to cut straight into a block are generally slightly off to the right or the left. Check your angle of cut against a right angle square and see how close you are. Odds are that you’re consistently off at about the same degree when you aren’t aligning your cuts. I found that I tend to cut slightly to the right. Awareness of these sorts of tendencies can help you eliminate them or compensate for them, resulting in more accurate cuts. (10/4/07)
tie straps as sculpture handles
Heavy duty tie straps can be used as handles for your sculptures. Drill a hole through a substantial portion of your sculpture’s base and thread the strap through the hole. Secure the ends of the strap together and you have a “handle” that can be quickly removed from the sculpture when it’s no longer needed. (10/3/07)
handles for sculptures
If your sculpture has a fairly substantial rectangular base, use a chainsaw to cut slots in both sides that can be used as handholds for lifting. Make sure that the cuts are angled slightly upward and check to make sure that your hands will comfortably fit. You can make two quick cuts with a saw, spaced about 1 1/2” apart and chisel out the ice in between. I want to say that I first learned this from Chef Victor Rede, my original ice sculpting teacher.
I’ve included an example on what the handholds would look like on the waving Santa Claus design. Of course, they’re visible in the finished sculpture, but they’re in a spot that could easily be covered by crushed ice, floral, or any other base embellishments on the displayed sculpture. (original tip: 10/3/07)
cutting straight
Need to cut long, straight lines in a sculpture? You might want to use a long straight edge to mark your lines. But then, establishing the straight line cuts with your longest straight-line tool, your chainsaw, is often your best bet. The roughness of the cuts can then be smoothed with a smaller tool, such as a die grinder bit. (9/20/07)
its ability to cut long straight lines is why a chainsaw is a goto tool for splitting ice blocks.
a quick tip for quick freezing
Ronson butane canisters (white with red caps), available at Walgreen’s, Wal-Mart, and other places are a quick and easy way to help weld pieces of ice together. However, butane is EXTREMELY flammable (or inflammable; it’s all the same) and caution must be used when there is the possibility of any open flame or any other ignition sources around, especially hidden sternos or candles. Use around food is not advisable either. The canisters have a nozzle that you can press into seams and the liquid butane will cool your ice as it expands into a gas. (9/17/07)
snowfilling tips
If you carve outside the freezer in warmer temperatures, doing any snowfilling for logos can be a real challenge. In this situation, templates won’t stick as well, and any engraving can be quickly damaged by melting. I’ve generally found that carving with the ice upright works better; carving with the ice laying down can result in template paper stuck in your engraving. Fill engraving with snow as soon as possible to minimize melting and then use extra slush and snow to make an extra protective layer over it. The extra layer can usually be easily removed later. Keep templates in place until you don’t need them anymore with short freezing bursts of butane or gum freeze. (9/15/07)
Dremel/die grinder quick tip
Ever lose that tiny wrench for tightening your dremel tip? If you use a Makita GE0600 die grinder, the smaller of its two wrenches will tighten your dremel. It’s not a perfect fit, but it works and it definitely beats looking through piles of snow and ice for a tiny wrench. (9/13/07)
links and stuff
I’ll bet since you saw that this was the second quick tip archive, that you figured out even before I said something, that there was another one, quick tips 1. You were right of course, but there are four more as well, and they may even be available by the time you read this: quick tips 3, quick tips 4, quick tips 5, and quick tips 6.
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, 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!
