when I reworked this abstract mother and child ice sculpture design when I was preparing to run it on my CNC, I really felt like the heart element added something that was missing from the earlier version that I’d used. I became so much happier with the design! Sometimes ideas take you by surprise!
my abstract Mother and child ice sculpture design
I first made a version of this abstract mother and child ice sculpture years ago, I think for a Harrah’s Mother’s Day brunch. (Mimosas and slots, what more could Mom ask for? 🤣) My original design was mostly based on a clip art design that I found online. There wasn’t much difference between my design’s artwork and the clip art.
More recently though, I revisited this design. And while there’s a strong similarity still with the clip art, I’ve made the design my own by incorporating the heart element that wasn’t at all present in the original artwork. In hindsight, it seems so obvious and simple that the heart could be a part of this design, but I didn’t see it initially for sure.
The heart intensifies and accentuates this mother and child ice sculpture, so now I’m comfortable posting this design as my own. Had I left the design unchanged, I never would have posted it as I would have regarded it as simply a copy of someone else’s art.
I like the font for my abstract mother and child ice sculpture since I feel like it’s a good match. The font is Brush Script Medium.
what is it?
But going back to the first time I did the original version of this abstract mother and child ice sculpture, I was walking away from the sculpture when someone asked me a question:Â
“What is it?”
If you’ve ever sculpted ice, this is THE dreaded question. I doubt there’s an ice sculptor on the planet that hasn’t heard it, no matter how good they are. It’s usually a result of two different factors: 1) the ice sculptor didn’t create an effective ice sculpture 2) the observer was either too lazy to try to understand what they’re looking at before they opened their mouth or they simply couldn’t understand what they were seeing, for a variety of factors.
There are other potential factors, but those are definitely the main two. As the ice sculptor, when you hear those words, you usually immediately assume that you made a crappy sculpture, which is why it’s so devastating!
In this case though, I was more amused than upset. I don’t think the gentleman knew that I was the sculptor and I think the abstract design simply threw him off. But I definitely remembered it. To this day, that’s the last time I heard that question and that was years ago. (Now I jinxed myself; I’m sure I’ll hear that question tomorrow 😱😫)
Btw, if you’re ever tempted to ask an ice sculptor this question, DON’T. Cuz you’re a jerk unless you’re obviously joking 🤬
for the 16 billionth time, the template doesn’t show the needed stabilizing base piece, because that would be boring and unnecessary
CNC design approach
I’ve attached a reverse version of the design below, and that’s because that would work great on your CNC machine. Other than that, I don’t really have any variations of this design, since it’s already so perfect as is 🤪
I run designs like this on 4″ thick slabs cut from a standard Clinebell-style ice block and I set the rectangle in the design at 19″x 38″ to give myself and my CNC a little room for error.
for more info and some guidelines
If you have any questions about my abstract mother and child ice sculpture design, email me or comment below. (It might not let you though.) 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.
You might also find photos and info from this entry on the ice sculpting secrets Instagram account and you can comment there as well as below. Thanks!
