Snow and Ice Sculpting

As kids we remember making snowmen and the challenge of making bigger and better ones than the neighbors. No matter what age, everyone seems to love the adventure of creating a jolly, rotund man with stick arms, a carrot nose, Dad's old hat and last year's muffler. Well, why not get a little more serious about your endeavor? Snow and ice can become creative art materials that are free, plentiful in most areas and loads of fun to work with. Take one step past snowmen and make something on a grander scale, something unique.

Snow sculptures can be created in a number of ways. You might want to build a form that is made up of "blocks" of snow tightly jammed together to form a solid, packed mound. A design sketched out on paper and a grid pattern drawn over the drawing will allow you to transfer your ideas with more precise proportions. You can carve with items such as a garden hoe, a gardening trowel, a hand ax or a shovel. If the snow is compressed and frozen, it may be necessary to carefully use a chain saw for removal of large areas.

One of the fastest ways to get started is to create a bank of well-packed snow. Use shovels of snow heavily beaten to form a tight mound in whatever sizes you desire. Your "carving" should begin by roughly removing the negative space around your design without entering the portion of snow that will become the finished, detailed sculpture. This is often done with a hand ax or a small pick ax. Once the larger unneeded portions are removed, use smaller hand tools to do the detail work. Gardening tools make great snow carvers. Hand trowels, weed extractors and bulb planting scoops do a great job of removal and texturing. Remember to stand back and survey your progress. It is much harder to reapply accidental zealous chomps than to avoid making them to start with.

Voids within a shape must be supported by enough volume to hold what is above. Be cautious when doing animals that are upright on slender legs. Collapses mean you'll have to start again.

Snow sculptures will last for days if the temperature stays below freezing, but only a day or so if it gets warmer. As impractical as it sounds, a gentle mist of water over the finished snow sculpture can help coat and hold it for a bit longer, again if it is below freezing. There is little that can be done when the temperature rises above 32 degrees.

Ice sculpting is as much an art form as any other sculpting. The tools and techniques that are used by these artisans differ very little from sculpting wood. One exception might include the use of a chain saw to remove excess ice and begin to make the block take shape. Some ice artisans use the chain saw exclusively to create the entire sculpture if the scale allows. Smaller sculptures can be made by using regular chisels exactly like those used in woodwork. But you might experiment with any sharp implement that you have. Nails, handsaws and wire brushes all come in handy for finish work or surface texturing.

It is possible to repair unexpected or accidental breaks in an ice work by lightly wetting both surfaces and quickly strapping the mishap together with long strips of fabric or bungee cords. Clamps can sometimes be used on small works. But, ideally, care is taken to avoid the need for repair.

The ice you choose to use can be any block available through icehouses. You might practice on smaller chunks and then request a single large size for a more serious endeavor. But any size is fun to create and every time you make a sculpture, you learn a lot about how to handle the brittleness, the melting and other aspects of working with ice.

The quality of ice will be determined by the way in which it was frozen. Those blocks that are molded in one process and frozen as poured will solidify with cloudy sections in the center. When ice is frozen with a circulation process during the temperature drop, the ice will be very clear. Sculptors of fine quality works will consider using only clear, professionally created ice.

One of the real advantages to working in a very cold area is less worry about melting. Ice needs a constant temperature below freezing. Once it is brought indoors, it will begin to melt. Even so, sculptures will last several hours.

One easy and fun ice project doesn't require actual sculpting but looks dramatic--an ice luminary. You can make one (or dozens) for a special look outdoors this winter. Select a plastic container that is tapered with a wide top opening and a smaller sized bottom. Fill the container with water and let it freeze until there is a shell about two inches thick. Pour out excess water and remove the shell. Store outdoors if it is well below 32 degrees or in a chest freezer if the weather is not cooperative. When you have several luminaries, set them along a walk and set a votive candleholder and candle in each. Light the candles and dazzle your friends and neighbors.

Whether you try your hand with snow or ice sculpting or create a few luminaries, be sure to take photos so that you can enjoy the experience again when summer heat is blazing.

Make-a-Flake

Visit snowflakes.lookandfeel.com where you can create your own virtual snowflake. The paper is folded, you maneuver the scissors to make your personal creation and then add it to the online gallery with thousands of others. Your snowflake can be downloaded and emailed to you or to a friend.

Winter Sculpting Competitions

The Wyoming Snow Sculpting Competition will be held Feb. 18-21 at the Wyoming Territorial Park in Laramie. For details: 800-788-4626; www.wyomingcompanion.com/snow/.

The World Ice Art Championships presented by Ice Alaska will be held at Ice Park, Fairbanks, AK, from March 3-13. All sculptures will be finished and lighted on March 14 and may be viewed until March 31. Admission. 907-451-8250; www.icealaska.com.

Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 14 No. 4 -- February 2004