Art of Ice Sculptures

Conca D'Oro Bridal Expo a big success

2010-07-04T18:12:00.000+10:00

A big thank you to Lenny, Francesca, Orsi, and the whole team at the Conca D'Oro Event Centre. Not only for organising a very successful Bridal Expo which helped us showcase our new romantic perfume bottle ice sculptures, but also for the Sumptuous Banquet we attended afterwards. It was a rare treat to get to mingle with other suppliers in the wedding industry on a more casual setting. Normally we're all so busy bringing the elements together for a wedding that we don't really get to meet each other.

Champagne Luge helps make Complete Wedding Sydney relaunch a success

2010-06-30T11:57:00.006+10:00

It isn't often that we get invited to stay for the whole function so we were very pleased to attend the Complete Wedding Sydney magazine relaunch last month. We arrived early and set up the Champagne Luge ready for the guests to enjoy a glass of bubbly on arrival. Bessie Bardot graciously posed for photos with the luge and we understand some footage was shot that may be used in an upcoming episode of The Wedding Show.
Anthony Del Col (event coordinator from Staging Connections), and Brianna Regel (magazine editor) both stepped up to say a few words, and guests toasted the new look magazine with icy cold champagne fresh from the luge. We had the chance to mingle with the guests and even try out the Napoleon Perdis makeup bars. What fun!

Blue Mountains Yulefest

2010-06-19T09:46:00.004+10:00

This colder weather is reminding me, we just recently designed, made and delivered a piece for the Mountain Heritage Hotel's Yulefest in the Blue Mountains. It was a very simple outline shape block, with sprigs of holly inserted behind the Yulefest design engraved on the front.

Ice Tiger for Georges River Junior Soccer Club

2010-06-18T09:15:00.003+10:00

So many sculptures these days are made either with a mould or with a CNC router (I wish we had one). We're still making our custom carvings by hand so it's great when we get a request for something fun like this tiger. He took a little over 3 hours to carve, but the time just flew by. I did the main ice removal with the chainsaw, touched him up with the chisels, and then used the die grinder to add his stripes and the detail in his face and paws. Once he was put on display the venue staff threw an orange spotlight on him which really brought him to life.

Expo stand with a difference

2010-06-17T12:57:00.003+10:00

I was at an expo recently and had the chance to wander around and check out the other stands. It struck me how despite all the signage and logos everywhere, most stalls looked pretty much the same as each other. The most interesting ones had something special to really engage the people walking past. Some had samples (chocolate often works well with me!) and some had tasting glasses of bubbly (also a hit).
It reminded me of the stand we did a while back for the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation, where they had us freeze two large colourful real fish into a large block of ice. They put the ice fish on display and it really caught the attention of the expo attendees. Afterwards they sent us a thank-you to let us know that the fish display worked a treat and really was a draw-card to their stand.

New look website launch

2010-06-13T16:05:00.003+10:00

We just launched our new look website. I hope you like it! Check it out at www.icesculpture.com.au and let me know what you think.

Seventh Wonderland at RAFW

2010-05-04T10:39:00.005+10:00

Yesterday we had the pleasure of seeing our work being appreciated by crowds of incredibly stylish onlookers - in the fashion industry no less. We carved two giant Art Deco fans with diamond cut bases. These were placed on the floor of the Seventh Wonderland catwalk for their swim-wear collection show.

We met Bonnie, the amazingly talented designer of the collection, and Carlos the director of Seventh Wonderland, before the show when we arrived to set up. I was amazed how down to earth and relaxed they both were when so much was riding for them on this show.
Rob and I carted in the pieces and set up the bases, which had to have a last minute adjustment with the chisel before they were declared perfect. Then we had to take a break while the models had a quick run-through of their parts - so we got to see the models in pre-show attire with all their hair and make up done. The wet look hair was unique, I've never seen anything like it.
Then we brought in the top pieces and Rob had to lift them into place by hand. That was pretty scary as we only had a contact area of 25cm x 12cm to place the fans on. It was a case of making sure they didn't get touched while they "welded" into place. Luckily with all the heat from the lights they went very clear very quickly and joined solidly.
Once they were in position it was a matter of waiting nervously for the show to start. I got to sit in and watch the whole thing. I've never seen so many cameras in once place, from hand-held phones right through to TV crew.
The swim-wear by Seventh Wonderland was everything you would expect, nothing short of sensational. The models strutted on heels studded with oversize Swarovksi crystals, their wet look hair and makeup giving a whole new look.
At the end Bonnie took a bow to well-deserved applause, and I even managed to snap a couple of pics of her with Carlos a couple of models and of course our gorgeous Art Deco Ice Fans.

New Logo coming soon

2010-02-18T15:45:00.002+11:00

I'm very excited, we've been working with Cazmic Design to get a new logo designed and I think we've got a winner. Watch this space!

Inappropriate comments

2010-01-10T11:37:00.002+11:00

Just letting you know out there in spam-land, I monitor the comments that are left and remove any I don't like. I figure it's my blog and I can do that. So far the comments I have had to remove have been shameless self-promotion of non-ice carving related sites, or ads for pharmaceuticals.
Comments on the actual content of the posts are always welcome.

Guinness World Record for Tallest Ice Sculpture

2009-11-07T10:44:00.002+11:00

Congratulations to those carvers from Ice Bulb in California who last month created an astonishing ice carving of the Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs character Scrat. It took 4 days to carve and stood over 16m tall (48' 8").

Ice on Film

2009-08-02T17:05:00.003+10:00

July has been the month for Ice on film.

Saturday Disney

First we were approached by Saturday Disney (Saturdays on Nine from 6:30am, http://au.tv.yahoo.com/saturday-disney/) to film an ice carving.

Jack Yabsley and the team fronted up at our Seven Hills studio with cameras and lights while we carved a wedding piece – the bride and grooms initials. Jack kept coming up with weird ideas so we made him keep the floor squeegeed to keep him out of the way!

Wow, what an exhilarating experience this was for us with Jack, his producer, cameraman and lighting man all doing their thing while we did ours.

The finished sculpture was put back into our deep freeze to harden up for the wedding the next weekend .

The episode can be seen soon on Nine – we will publish the date when we know.

Promotional Video

Next we were contacted to carve the word “Fresh” from a full block of ice again all on film. The crew was a bit smaller this time but still loads of fun as we tried to carve without spraying the camera with snow from the chainsaw.

Again the finished carving was put back into the freezer to harden up for delivery – but not to a wedding venue. This time, we had to deliver the carving to a Surry Hills rooftop before dawn, so up at 4:15am to load up and drive in by 5:30.

The building had a lift, thankfully, but once on the top floor we discovered we then had to manouver the piece (around 100kg!) up a set of fire-stairs to the roof, then over a railing and down a ledge to the final location where the crew could spray the ice with UV paint and light it with blue-light and finally film it time-lapse melting away with the dawn.

The finished video will be used in-house by Lion-Nathan to help promote their new low-carb beer and we will publish it on the blog when we get it.

An Ice Drumkit

2009-04-03T11:25:00.000+11:00

This is utterly awesome...

Ice Mousetrap on TV

2009-04-02T13:44:00.002+11:00

This should be the you-tube embedded ice mousetrap. Thanks Randy!

March Newsletter out now

2009-03-27T14:51:00.005+11:00

I have just sent out our March Newsletter - The Frozen Moment. It's also uploaded so you can read it online. Would love to get some feedback from you. Please post a comment or send me an email.

Ice Mouse Trap

2009-03-26T15:31:00.003+11:00

Randy Finch from Ice Ltd in Detroit has done it again. He and his team have created a working model ... out of ice... of the game "the mouse trap". Totally cool. It's been on tv and there are videos of it on you-tube as well. Here's one:

Ice aquarium

2009-03-04T09:30:00.006+11:00

As an ice carver I'm always on the lookout for interesting and fun (yes, and cool!) designs that other carvers have come up with. One that caught my eye just recently is this Ice Aquarium. How amazing does that look? I particularly like the idea of incorporating an aquascape into an ice seafood bar. Awesome!

February Newsletter available

2009-03-04T09:23:00.001+11:00

For anyone who didn't get an email copy, here is a link to our February newsletter. Any feedback or comments please feel free to let me know.

On air again

2009-02-17T17:47:00.005+11:00

We're a bit fuzzy-headed today as a result of last night's job. We were invited to provide the ice sculptures for a television show that will air later this year. I can't mention the name of the show or give any more details other than to say it was great fun watching the filming take place.
That's one of the things I love about being in this business is the opportunity to "go backstage" for some major events and get a glimpse into how these things are done from behind the scenes.
My experience so far is that TV film crews are fantastic to work with, they are all so dedicated and energetic, they know their jobs and they get on and do it. They focus so intently on what needs to be done it seems no obstacle will get in the way, it's amazing.
After the show in question goes on air we will be allowed to put up more info so watch this space :)

Expo Season

2009-02-16T10:15:00.002+11:00

February is a big month for expos and this year is no exception. Last week we were at the Australia's National Wedding Expo which is part of Sydney Bridal Fashion Week. The weather was about as hot and humid as it gets in Sydney - over 40 degrees both days. Which made me quite glad to be inside in an air-conditioned room standing next to an ice sculpture! It was really great to get away from our studio and meet people for a couple of days, expos are a wonderful way of finding out what the latest trends are in the bridal industry as well.
We're also going to be at Bless the Bride in Castle Hill this weekend so if you see us come past and say hello! If it's hot you can always cool off next to our ice sculpture :)

A380

2009-02-11T15:08:00.011+11:00

There's been a lot of publicity in the press about the A380. We were asked to create a replica in ice for the Qantas Business Lounge for the inaugural flight from Sydney to London earlier this year.
It's always a challenge carving a replica of something that you know lots of avid fans of the object will be scrutinising carefully. Of course you can't make an exact replica because ice isn't metal so you have to be careful what you put in and what you leave out, to make it look like what it is meant to be.

I think we managed to strike the right balance with this one... what do you think?

Making History - Chanukah 2008

2009-01-27T14:25:00.004+11:00

Every year for the past 40 years, the Jewish community in Sydney has gathered in Martin Place for the lighting of a Menorah as part of the Chanukah celebrations. This year the lighting took place on Monday 22nd December, and a crowd of several hundred were in attendance, including the NSW Premier Nathan Rees, Tanya Pliebersek, MP for Sydney, and Lord Mayor Clover Moore.
We were extremely honoured to be asked to perform a live carving of an ice menorah as part of the celebration. Rabbi Eli Levy, who organised the festivities, informed us that this was the first time they had ever had a live carving at Chanukah in Martin Place.
It was one of the windiest evenings I have ever experienced, so set-up and carving were a challenge. We had the interest of every child in the audience from the moment we unwrapped the ice blocks for carving. They crowded around wanting to touch it and were amazed it was so cold. When it was our turn to perform (after the fire dancer) we had a crowd several feet deep whom we obliged by spraying with snow and water as we shaped the Menorah. Once it was done we placed the top piece on the bottom and stepped back to allow the kids at it. They seemed to really enjoy it.

Wedding Cake with a difference

2008-12-17T16:00:00.005+11:00

Last month we had the pleasure of creating a wedding cake with a difference. Instead of the usual edible wedding cake, we made a gorgeous four-tier ice cake. And instead of putting flowers on or around it, of course with ice, you can put them IN it.
The bride and groom had their reception in the National Museum, so they were already looking for something different to the normal wedding feel. And when the bride asked if we could create a "point of elegance" for a focal point at the end of the room, we got excited. She sent us some lovely faux orchids to use. I love being given creative rein with a clear brief.
It took quite a bit of fuss to get the flowers positioned correctly inside the blocks. Odd shaped objects that can't be crushed in clamps are always a challenge to arrange in the freezing water. We managed not to get frostbite but it felt like a near thing! Then it was a matter of waiting for the ice to form, and then carefully carving the layers out of the block without cutting the flowers.
At the venue they used a pink light behind it which lit the "cake" up to stunning effect. Our bride was thrilled with the results, pictured.

Crowne Plaza Norwest Bridal Fair

2008-10-31T10:02:00.004+11:00

We attended the Crowne Plaza Norwest bridal expo last week. There was an excellent turn-out of brides and their family and friends interested in finding out what the venue had to offer. And we were there with a pair of medium blue stylised swans on display, as well as a lovely gift hamper of skincare products from NeoStrata worth over $400.

We answered all the usual questions about how long do they last (5 – 8 hours or more on display, after that there is still ice but it doesn’t look so much like a swan), what colours can I have (any waterbased colour, not black, gold or silver), what happens to the water when it melts (it collects in the tray we provide). And we asked a couple of questions of our own on our hamper entry forms:
1. If you were having an ice sculpture at your wedding what would it be?
2. If you were to design an original ice sculpture what would it be?

I was surprised at the answers. For the first question it was mainly hearts, doves, swans, and cupids – all fairly standard answers, probably prompted by the romantic brochures we had on the table. The original designs ranged from a soccer ball, an elephant, a lotus flower, a dragon, a couple hugging, and a globe of the earth. Even more interesting is that the only two of these that we don’t already make is the elephant and the lotus flower. I’ll have to look into those!

I love chatting to brides and their families because it’s such an exciting time for them and their enthusiasm can be infectious. And we get to meet some of the other suppliers in the industry – cake makers, florists, photographers, djs and so on. And at the end of the night the bridal coordinator from Crowne Plaza was kind enough to draw our winner for the hamper. Congratulations Leigh-Ann!

Luges and venues in Sydney

2008-10-17T16:06:00.004+11:00

We’ve been invited to a 21st birthday party! Now, aside from making me feel old, I feel excited because I can bring an ice sculpture to a party I will be attending. I’ve been having fun designing different luges for the birthday boy.., it’s always fun to design something for someone you know quite well.
Sadly today though I got told that the venue has indicated they are not willing to have us bring a luge. I’m devastated. They reckon they have issues with responsible service of alcohol. But they will be serving the drinks, it’s just that they pour them through a large block of ice instead of putting small blocks of ice in the glass first. And we’ve delivered luges to such illustrious venues as the Hilton, various Dockside venues like the Star Room at the Imax Theatre, even to the Crystal Palace at Luna Park.
So I’ve loaded our luges and responsible service of alcohol fact sheet up on our website, as well as a page of luge friendly venues. I guess I’ll have to see whether the venue can be a bit more accommodating if I give them the info. Wish me luck!

Oh, and I've just created a group on Facebook for all you Facebook fans out there... search groups for "To Sydney Pub Owners: Ice Luges are COOL and we want them!"

Has anyone else had this reaction from a venue? If so, what happened? Love to hear your comments.

Gift Certificates

2008-10-03T15:29:00.009+10:00

We launched a campaign earlier this year where private order customers are each sent a gift certificate after their order is delivered, for a discount of 10% on their next order. The idea is to increase our customer loyalty – we aim to:
a) delight the customer
b) get referrals from that customer
c) get the next order from that customer

I mailed off certificate number 130 this week. So far, not a single customer has used their gift certificate from this campaign. We have had one redemption - the customer who won the auction for a certificate we donated to our charity. So he paid for his certificate, which makes it a bit different I think.

I love printing off my certificates. I had nice certificates made up, and I always send them with a personalised letter that I sign by hand. I put nice stamps on the envelope (not the TV show ones I got last time I went to the post office – I can’t possibly put a stamp that says “homicide” on a gift certificate!). And I try to do it when I’m in a grateful frame of mind, because I send the certificates to express gratitude to my customers for their order.

So, I’m wondering, what do people think when they get a gift certificate like this? I hope they feel delighted, but maybe they feel like we’re trying to be pushy? Have you ever received a certificate by surprise in the mail from a company after you made a purchase? How did it make you feel? Does 10% sound about right as a discount? I would love to hear other experiences with this, please leave a comment.

September newsletter now online

2008-09-29T21:40:00.002+10:00

Yes, we issued our September Frozen Moment on the weekend. If you weren't on the mailing list but would like to be, feel free to drop us a line and I'll make sure you get the next one. Or you can take a look online at this one.

Facebook group - Ice Carving

2008-09-25T22:00:00.001+10:00

Found this group on facebook. Ice Carvers of the world, unite!

Melting people

2008-09-17T14:47:00.004+10:00

And here are some photos from an interesting exhibition that was done a couple of years ago by Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo.

Calvin and Hobbes snowman cartoons

2008-09-17T14:43:00.005+10:00

I just saw this analysis by MadSilence of the Calvin and Hobbes comic strips about snowmen. Speaks to all of us interested in ice I think.

Van Signage

2008-09-03T10:39:00.002+10:00

We finally got signage for our van!!! I’m very excited. We got our first van for deliveries late last year and I immediately went about trying to find a way to get signage for it that both looked excellent and didn’t cost the earth. Do you think I could find a company that would respond? They kept promising to get back to me and I would never hear from them again.

Then there was the hailstorm late November and our van got badly damaged, so I figured we would need to wait until the dents got removed before we could get signage put on. Then in April, still a couple of months before the van was to be repaired (that storm did a LOT of damage around Sydney!), Rob got hit by a tourist driver who failed to stop at a stop sign and you guessed it, the van was a write-off. Again, glad we didn’t have signage on it yet.

So we bought another van, this one is white which makes signage easier to coordinate too. And a sign company happened to drop by the studio looking for work, quoted a reasonable price, and got the job done. Yay!

So now when you see us around town, you’ll know who we are. I’ve told Rob he has to drive even more carefully now he’ll be so recognisable, I just hope it doesn’t make any more drivers make a beeline for Rob in the van, I couldn’t take any more accidents!

Winter Wonderland at the Mall

2008-08-30T14:56:00.002+10:00

It was very cold and windy on Wednesday in Hornsby Mall when we started up the chainsaw and added some fresh snow to the atmosphere. Yes, that’s what you get when you put a chainsaw through a block of ice – snow. So we had loads of fun doing a live performance carving of… of course… a snowman.

I was glad to be facing into the wind as it kept my hair out of my eyes, but not so happy as it also meant I got drenched with the chainsaw snow-spray and drips from the melting ice. Strong wind strips detail from ice too so the carving kept changing under my hands. You just have to account for that as you go along and work quickly to get a detailed carving done.

We were set up next to the fabulous Hornsby Mall water clock, and the cameraman who was filming told me a bit of its history. I always enjoy the chance to see other sculptures in any medium.

I love the chance to carve in public, you can chat with the on-lookers (not while actually carving with the chainsaw of course) and get an instant reaction to your work. One lady I spoke with said she had never seen ice carving in Sydney before. The kids always love to touch so we had a couple of pre-made sculptures set up out of harm’s way for them.

And not being particularly shy, I can’t help jumping in front of a camera, so I was also rather pleased to be asked by Peter from the Advocate local newspaper to pose with the half-finished sculpture. I hope we get a copy if there’s an article about us - if so I’ll post a link here.

All-in-all we drew quite a crowd, and then they also listened to the free music around the corner as well as watching the draw for a trip to the snow. In that weather it really felt like we were already at the snow, I wanted to put on my skis and glide away at the end.

New Champagne Luge - perfect for weddings

2008-08-24T12:47:00.006+10:00

Speaking of luges, which I was a few posts ago, we have just made a totally new design. I had a call from a bride who had seen a luge on television (she couldn’t remember what program unfortunately) that had champagne pouring through it.

Normally luges are used with spirits (mainly vodka but any spirit goes, really) because they have a high alcohol content so they won’t freeze in the luge and block the track. This is especially important with tubed luges, not so much with tracked ones.

The bride wanted to pour her wedding toast through a luge and she had a fairly good idea how she wanted it to look. We worked out a design that was practical in ice, matched the look she was after, and would work for a champagne luge.

The result is in the picture. We carved out the bridal couple’s initials, either side of a heart. Then we used the base of the “L” as a pouring hole platform, and drilled through the heart and out the bottom of the “M”. The letter M formed a natural catching recess but we could adapt the design for other letters of course.

We made the hole a bit larger than usual to be sure that the champagne would flow through it without freezing and blocking it. It was great fun to make, I love doing a new design. I hope the bride and her groom had as much fun drinking their wedding toast!

Sailfish hunting sardines - amazing photos

2008-08-22T11:12:00.006+10:00

One of our most popular seafood buffet pieces is our Marlin or Sailfish. I came across this site with amazing photos of real sailfish hunting sardines. The camera operators were apparently terrified being so close to the deadly weapons that these fish have for noses. The photos they got are phenomenal, check it out!

European Buildings

2008-08-20T19:01:00.004+10:00

We had a call last month from Evie at PEPR Publicity wanting some replica buildings for table centrepieces for an upcoming function for Eurail. Seems the top Eurail execs were coming to Sydney for a meeting and Evie was looking for the best wow-factor she could add to the function.

Evie had already started with an impressive location, no less than Level 41 the iconic restaurant in Chifley Square. She had everything except ice sculptures, so of course she called us :)

Rob got busy with the chainsaw and made three iconic buildings to suit the occasion: replicas of Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

I suppose the thing about iconic buildings is that you get asked to do them over and over because they are so famous. This wasn’t the first time for us making these, but Rob managed to stay focused and certainly produced sculptures that wow’ed the Eurail bunch.

I thought it was a shame that we didn’t do the Sydney Opera House or the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Then again maybe it was more about making the Europeans feel at home.

An awesome ice carving site

2008-08-20T18:59:00.003+10:00

Today I was researching ice carving items for our newsletter when I stumbled across this absolutely awesome site dedicated to ice carving.

Four Seasons

2008-08-11T18:36:00.004+10:00

We were given the opportunity last week to provide a large (1m x 1m) feature sculpture for the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney. Alissa, the functions coordinator there, rang us about a week before the function and commissioned the showpiece for their showcase evening.

We usually prefer a bit more than a week of notice but we managed to squeeze in the production in time. Rob had the brainwave to have the top piece smaller than the bottom piece for stability, which worked really well. We were certainly glad it was a little less heavy when we got to the venue and discovered that not only did we need to wheel the sculpture down a very steep driveway, but it was going on a table that was almost as tall as I am. OK so I’m not much more than 5’4” but still it was rather worrying. Luckily the help Alissa had promised us was very helpful and well over 6’ tall.

We wheeled the sculpture into position and then cranked the handle on the lifting platform (even 2 6’ tall blokes would never have lifted the thing into place without a lifting platform – did I mention Rob reckoned it weighed well over 200kg?). Into place it went with a fair bit of heaving, and the exec sous-chef took over with the rest of the coordinating. There was a lot of activity going on in that room, with the doors due to open in just on half an hour.

There was a delicious looking seafood buffet being installed so I had to grab Rob and make ourselves scarce before he got distracted and started consuming it. We went off for a much quieter yet still delicious dinner with family at a great little Italian place in Enmore. And Alissa said the event was a great success, with the ice sculpture drawing plenty of attention. So if you’re planning an event at the Four Seasons Hotel, be sure to give us plenty of notice, and we’ll make a fantastic, memorable piece that can still be lifted into place.

2008 – year of the… Martini Glass… and Ice Shoe!

2008-08-04T17:17:00.005+10:00

Funny how themes for parties seem to come in waves. Last year of course there were dozens of “Bond Theme” parties, the year being 2…007. Everyone seemed to want a ‘007 gun and I think Rob was quite relieved when the year ended (with a bang of course, sorry) and guns took a step back in popularity.

Not that we mind making ice guns and of course the luged guns made plenty of room for dreadful jokes about cool shots. And believe me, when he gets tired, Rob has a knack for making bad jokes. But at least I can make Rob do the pistols because I figure if that’s not a bloke’s sculpture then what is? He has to know more about guns than I do!

So this year it seems to be martini glasses and … shoes. We did a fabulous new design (adapted from a picture I found on the web) of a martini luge just last week. This one had two tubes that led from the top into the middle, which was cut-out so you could put your glass in there. Very classy and elegant. I loved the stars, they were done with a v-chisel rather than using the usual router and it just gives an even classier look I think. (Feel free to comment!)

And the other frequent request has been shoes. We did four fabulous stilettos for Australian Fashion week which I have raved aboutelsewhere and won’t go into here in too much detail. Except to say that of course, being women’s fashion, there was no way I could get Rob to carve them. So I had to get past the drooling over the designs (did I mention iconic designer shoes by the likes of Versace?) and get on and carve the shoes myself. And then there was the 21st birthday party shoe. Not such a stiletto but still very elegant. Naturally I got to carve that one too. And lastly the miniature one, designed to hold a single bottle. At least that was small.

I guess the only design for shoes and glasses we haven’t done this year is the gigantic shoe luge – you know that tradition where they drink out of the girl’s slipper? At least if it was an ice shoe it would be more hygienic I suppose. I guess if we get an order for that we'll have to argue the toss on who gets to carve it.

I’m just wondering what it will be next year, does anyone know?

We're on Telly!

2008-07-23T10:11:00.001+10:00

Well, we carved an “ice lake” that went into an ad for Foxtel. Close enough for me.

Actually it was quite fascinating being behind the scenes of a TV studio watching the crew do their thing. Did you know that the walls don’t meet the floor at right-angles? Rather they curve to meet the floor smothly. I guess that’s so that you don’t get a sharp corner from shadows and it makes the background easier to fake. More on backgrounds later.

It started with a phone call from David, the Artistic Director for the piece. “I need to create an ice slab that’s 2m wide and 2m long or thereabouts”.

“Sure thing” says Rob, “when do you need it?”. That’s quite a lot of ice… it takes 4 days to make each block 1m x 50cm in our special clear block making machine.

“Two days”.

So we got carving. Luckily we have a block splitting jig that Ron, our consultant research and development scientist, put together for us earlier this year. It guarantees we can make slabs of ice that are of uniform thickness and with square ends, which makes joining them together much easier and more accurate.

7:30am on the day, we fronted up to the studio with our van full of ice slabs and a few bags of off-cuts and a spare slab to make shavings with as well. We were introduced to Andrew the Director and Naomi the producer. They, along with Dave, were warm, friendly people who were clearly looking forward to what the day would bring with this inside ice lake we would make for them.

We unloaded the van and stacked the ice slabs, still wrapped in their insulating material (ie old quilts!) near the studio wall. Meantime the road crew were busy building a water-proof area to catch the drips from the ice melting, and putting up a rig for the lights and camera. We still didn’t know why we were building a lake but we were watching all this come together. The finishing touch was a piece of Perspex 20mm thick, which we would put the ice slabs on. The Perspex was rather heavy and it took a couple of burly blokes to lift it into place.

Then Andrew asked if we would like to see what we were trying to achieve. He showed us a film clip of a gorgeous scene taken of a hockey skater crossing a frozen lake in Canada. Snowy mountains, sunrise, and a glistening lake totally captivated the eye. Our job today was to get close-ups of the ice skate hitting the ice lake, and the hockey stick sliding across the ice.

We set about assembling our lake. First up we put down gauze to prevent the ice pieces sliding straight off the Perspex. Cold frosty ice is a bit slippery at the best of times, and you are best off handling it with a cloth. Slightly melting ice (which it was very shortly after they turned the lighting on) will slide away from you. And it’s heavy and has a lot of momentum. Best to stop it sliding before it starts. So gauze down first, then our first block. The cameraman focused right up close on the ice.

“More ice!” Easy, we put up the second block. The join was very visible. The cameraman wasn’t happy. Andrew wasn’t happy, and nor was Naomi. We needed to eliminate that join.

I started ironing the ice. Yes, once the ice is slightly warm you can iron it on low setting, which melts it a little bit and makes it go smooth. Also the water runs into the crack between the slabs and freezes back together, reducing the visibility. I don’t think this technique is approved in cold countries like Canada or Japan, but it works a treat here in Sydney!

We checked the camera and it was working! The join more or less disappeared as it went under a little bit of water.

Add the rest of the ice sheets and we’re ready to go. The road crew then grabbed blocks of wood and straps, and anchored the whole ice lake to the scaffold. They added lights underneath the ice slab as well as a “mountain range” for a background, that they rigged up with a few spray-cans propping up our quilts behind the ice lake. Add a perfectly tuned spotlight shining on the wall behind the quilts and you get a soft sunrise. Add a misting machine and you get soft fog. Gorgeous.

Then they put up hand rails for the ice skater who was strapping his skates on. What we hadn’t been told when we took the job was that there would be an actual real live person getting up on our ice slab to do the skating moves. That was scary, what if he twisted his ankle in the joins between the ice? No join is perfect, and from my limited ice skating experience, when going over rough ice it is rather difficult to maintain balance.

I didn’t need to worry, the skater was a true professional. The producer got him to do jumping hockey-stop slides up and down our ice slabs and he managed to avoid the cracks and put up a very convincing performance. After about 2 hours of preparation, the actual skating part took all of about 10 minutes, closing to a round of applause.

We had a look at the laptop in the corner of the room and I couldn’t believe that the slab we created with all the joins, scaffolding and bits of quilt had magically turned into a skater on an ice lake. I can’t wait to see it air… guess I better sign up for Foxtel!

City to Surf

2008-07-21T16:08:00.003+10:00

The City to Surf is coming up again fast this year, I hope you’re all out training up for it! I actually ran it when I was 10 years old, you’re only young and foolish once. I tried long distance running in high school but eventually realised that I’m just not built for running. I like skiing and rock climbing but that’s a story for another day.

Last year we were excited to produce an Oyster Bar and a 3d carving of a Running Man for one of the pavilion tents at the end of the race on Bondi Beach. It was quite astonishing being at Bondi at 7am for the set-up, the place was crawling with pedestrians and we had to drive our delivery vehicle down the promenade past the barriers at a snails pace for fear of running someone over. I felt a bit embarrassed driving this pollution emitting vehicle through an area where people were trying to exercise and breathe. But ice sculptures are surprisingly heavy and you really don’t want to carry them any further than you have to. I say that although it’s invariably Rob who gets to do the carrying if it’s heavy… :)

So the crowd were impressed enough with our work that this year we have been invited back again. I can’t reveal what it will be yet but it will be bigger and better than last year! And heavier I guess, so we’ll be driving our new van along the promenade and hoping it doesn’t pollute too much.

What is an Ice Luge and why would I want one?

2008-07-21T16:02:00.004+10:00

We get a lot of enquiries by people asking "what is an ice luge?" They’ve heard about it but they aren’t sure what it is or even how to pronounce it.

The word comes from the same term as in winter sports – the one where they get on a sled and slide down an incredibly steep ice track with all sorts of crazy twists and turns in it, and whoever does it the fastest wins. They have singles, doubles, quad teams. You might remember the movie “Cool Runnings” about the ice luge team from Jamaica. The sport is also known as bobsledding.

OK so how does all this relate to your party? Well, the mini version ice luge is carved from a block of ice. It has one or two tracks carved into the block, which has a slope on it, and you pour shots of your favourite spirit down it. Then catch it in either a glass or if your party gets a bit more excited… in an open mouth at the bottom.

There are new designs being made all the time with these ice luges, and they now come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Male and female torsos are quite popular for bucks, hens, and 21st nights. Hearts are ideal for engagements and weddings. Ski jumps are popular for the corporate market because you can get a logo engraved on the side..

A recent innovation was instead of tracks down the outside of the ice (which tend to lead to a bit of loss of drink at the bottom), freezing tubes inside the ice so you still get the chilling effect but you don’t lose any drink. And the tubes can look kind of cool themselves. I guess it’s a matter of taste as to which you might prefer.

Now, what sort of drinks to pour? Well, the ice luge is going to last the longest if you use pre-chilled drinks. And drinks with a high enough percentage of alcohol (ie spirits such as Vodka, Schnapps, Rum etc) can go in the freezer before the event to get them really cold before you even pour them. If you pour soft drink down a tubed luge you run a risk of the drink actually freezing in there before it comes out the end, and then your luge is blocked and won’t work. Of course you can get away with that on a tracked luge, all that will happen is that the track will get a lot deeper a lot faster and may not last as long.

What about responsible service of alcohol? Some pubs get a bit nervous about having a luge, in case some idiot goes and pours a whole bottle down their neck and does themselves a serious injury. Good reason to be worried – simple answer, don’t let the partygoers control pouring the drinks out of a bottle. If you are prepared to sell them a bottle of spirits there’s nothing stopping them going a lay-back themselves, ice luge or no ice luge. However, if you only pour one shot at a time then you don’t have a problem.

Oh, and it’s pronounced with a soft g. Sadly I can’t think of a word in English that it rhymes with, probably because the word is French…

Around the world with Ice Carving

2008-07-20T16:33:00.001+10:00

It seems a bit odd to start off a blog about ice carving in Sydney with a brief story about a trip to Melbourne, but I guess that just reflects the diversity of the business we are in.

Last month we had the opportunity to head down south to Melbourne to meet up with the ice carving professionals there. I lived in Melbourne for 9 months in the early nineties and I thought at the time that it had a more European feel than Sydney. I guess that extends to the ice carving scene down there, because there are at least 3 different full-time ice carving companies.

First up we met Paul from Ice Occasions. Paul has been in business for around 9 years and gave us some excellent tips and tricks, in particular about the sales and marketing side of the business. He also mentioned that his pyramid table centrepieces are very popular at the moment. Firstly because he can freeze into them a wide range of items (flowers, logos, you name it as long as it can stand being wet and frozen). And also the shape of them draws your eye in a special way. He says they work particularly well in rooms with high ceilings because they draw the eye down to the table. It’s a classic yet versatile shape.

Then we met Glenn from Down Under Ice Designs. Glenn has over 20 years of ice carving experience as well as being a former Chef with London’s famous Café Royale. Glenn has an amazing collection of fine Japanese tools, having been the first Westerner to study with Japanese Master Ice Carver Hideo Hasegawa, and he still travels to Japan on occasion to maintain his contacts there. Glenn has developed his own ice block making method using rainwater collected on his own property. He has made some rather large ice sculptures including the famous one a couple of years ago for Lindsay Fox’s birthday. Glenn was very generous with both his time and tips, and we have since bought ourselves a rather specialised ice carving chainsaw which I must say helps enormously with adding fiddly detail to sculptures.

Lastly it was off to meet with Jacqui from Creative Ice. Jacqui uses the same ice moulds that we do, made by internationally renowned Icecraft International, who are based in Queensland of all places. Catering mainly to the bridal market in Melbourne, Jacqui makes a lot of swans and other romantic style animals and items.

We wanted to stop by the Ice Bar in the city but we didn’t make it there unfortunately. Maybe next time. Who knows, maybe one day I will get to write here about a trip to Canada or even China?