Sculptures that use ice as their primary raw material are called ice sculptures. These can be abstract or realistic and can be used for functional or purely decorative means. Ice sculpting is usually associated with specific events due to their limited lifespan.
Ice sculptures emerge from a single block of ice or numerous blocks of ice melted together. Sculptors usually prefer ice frozen with pure, clean water, so the final piece can appear to be smooth. Regardless of how big or small the ice is, sculptures are heavy objects that are difficult to move around.
One of the easiest ways to make ice sculptures is to pour water into a mold, freeze it and then peel the mold. Such pieces usually don’t feature sharp edges and aren’t as clear as other ice sculptures.
Expert sculptors use hand-powered tools to carve a large block of ice. Some examples include chisels, hand saws, heat guns, nail boards, sanders and grinders fitted with special bits. Often times, ice sculptures break a part of their design during the sculpting process. In such a case, they retrieve broken pieces by wetting their ends and pressing them against the main body so they freeze together. This is called welding.
There are numerous ice sculpting events that take place around the world. The largest events are held in high altitude, cold countries in the Northern Hemisphere. Some countries that have adopted traditions of ice sculpting include Belgium, Canada, Sweden, China, the United States, etc.
Sculpting competitions are associated with creativity, expression, difficulty and final appearance. Each competition operates differently. For instance, at the Ice Magic Festival in Canada, each team of sculptures gets fifteen 300 pound blocks of ice and only a day and a half to complete their masterpiece. Some single artists also receive one block of ice and have an hour to complete their work.
In addition to the refinement of their work, ice sculptors adopt high levels of patience as the sculpting process is fragile from start to finish. Ice sculpting remains a unique form of art and a testament to the creativity the human mind can produce.
Author: Amita Vadlamudi
