how do I make my ice sculptures into ice art?
How do you make ice sculptures and ice art?
As an ice sculptor, I get a lot of questions about how I make my ice sculptures. So I thought I’d briefly describe how I made one of the ice art designs featured on the site, the organic fleur de lis. One major aspect that makes this design different from the typical ice sculpture is that it’s not for an event, it’s only being created as ice art. For example, I don’t have to worry about it ever leaving the freezer, so it can be far more delicate than one that has to survive a delivery. It can also be as detailed and intricate as any competition ice sculpture, but I don’t have to worry about a time limit. And last, but certainly not least, it has to work well as a photo. Looking right in the final photo is half the equation when it comes to making my ice art.
From my mind's eye...
If I recall correctly, for this icework, I saw a fleur-de-lis tattoo design that had an “organic” look to it. (NOT like organic food that you eat, without pesticides, etc., but more like organic = from nature) The version I saw inspired me to sketch out my own version. I’d sculpted a similar design before, but not quite the same, so this design was probably a mix of the tattoo and my earlier design. Sometimes, my designs start in Adobe Illustrator. Other times, they start on the back of an envelope with the closest pen or pencil I can find. This was more like the latter.
I suppose that since I’ve done so many fleur-de-lis ice sculptures since Hurricane Katrina, that I pretty much have the rough dimensions down. (Post-Katrina New Orleans was the beginning of a renaissance for the fleur-de-lis, as we took pride in the city’s recovery. I talk a little bit more about this on my page about ice sculptures in New Orleans.) But I didn’t have to change the design much from the initial version for the following steps.
...to a solid block of ice! 🧊
Once I’m happy enough with a design, I make sure I know how it’s going to fit on the ice. Next, I transfer the 2D design to a large ice block with a fitted template. This particular ice block that you see here is an oversized block from Ice Pro, not the usual ice sculpting block. But it allows me to avoid attaching pieces of ice to make the sculpture wide enough. The places where I attach pieces of ice are often visible straight lines, and can detract from the look of the finished ice art. That’s a problem with a design like this one, where there are no straight lines, except for the base. (Which I’m going to hide later!)
For this design, I didn’t have to do much to the base, since I hid it for the finished photo. That doesn’t mean Photoshop or anything sneaky. Here, it just means a piece of black paper or fabric, fitted to the base.
I'm skipping a LOT of sculpting here
The largest jump between steps is between the last step and the snowy ice sculpture you see here. There was a lot of sculpting done and a lot of decisions made between those two pics. And there was a lot of snow sprayed around the freezer by my arsenal of power tools. Thus the snow 
you see all over the sculpture. After I cleared the snow off, I thinned the sculpture down quite a bit, largely to eliminate the extruded look of the sculpture. I also cleaned up the lines some. That can take a long time and is practically an endless process, if you want to make it one.
Lighting can be tricky. And takes hours 🙁
Once the sculpture is about 95% done, I like to set it up, light it, and start taking photos to see what I’ve got. Then I look at the pics and figure out what I like and what I don’t. There’s a big difference between how a sculpture looks in front of you and how it looks in a photo. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been very happy with a sculpture and then less than happy with the photos that resulted. A big reason for that is that, obviously, photography is an art in itself. And ice sculptures are particularly finicky subjects.
Sometimes, the sculpture isn’t catching enough light in a certain area. Often, in that case, it’s better to alter the sculpture instead of the lighting. You can change the surface of the ice so that it diffuses the light a bit, much like a lampshade does. Doing that makes the light softer and can make it more visible throughout the sculpture. Lighting is the only color added with this piece. For later ice art, I might include colored ice, but none so far.
ephemeral to...forever?
, you might get some ice art that’s actually worth the effort to print out. For this one, I can’t remember exactly how many lights I pointed at the sculpture, but it was more than a couple. Nine perhaps? (Later, I built a specific lighting set up that gives me far more control of the lighting color and intensity. But that was later.)some final thoughts
Although this hand sculpted process has been essentially my standard approach for the fine ice art sculptures that I’ve tried so far, future pieces may include a bit of CNC engraving or even some ice molding. I’m open to whatever method helps the finished icework match the vision in my mind’s eye. If you have any questions (since I’ve cut out a LOT of steps), feel free to ask them below.
If you’re curious, you can visit my other site, ice sculpting secrets, that goes much more into depth on ice sculpting technique. Also, keep an eye out for future entries on how I make my ice sculptures into ice art. As I add more artworks to my portfolio, I’ll be adding more process pics too. Finally (and perhaps most importantly! 
), the print above is available for purchase here.
