Ice Sculpturist

Imagine a medieval castle. There’s a drawbridge. There’s a curtain wall around the exterior. There are towers and turrets and spires. And inside, there are weapons, furniture, and dinnerware fit for a king.

Now, imagine that everything is made of ice! It’s no fantasy. In places like Canada and Switzerland, it’s reality thanks to talented Ice Sculpturists that turn ice into winter castles, hotels, and other elaborate structures.

If you’re an Ice Sculpturist, or Ice Sculptor, you’re an Artist who carves blocks of ice into sculptures in the same way that traditional Sculptors carve blocks of stone. Like your contemporaries in wintry nations, you might specialize in architectural ice sculpting, in which case you create utilitarian ice sculptures and structures, such as buildings, furniture, and serving vessels, like plates and glasses. Or, you might specialize in showpieces designed for form instead of function, such as the ice sculptures common at parties, banquets, and weddings.

Either way, your medium, talent, tools, and processes as an Ice Sculpturist are the same. Starting with blocks of “sculpting ice” — ice that’s made from pure, clean water and frozen using a special process that creates transparent rather than cloudy ice — you use chainsaws, chisels, grinders, torches, and lasers to shape the ice into its final form.

Because your material can break and melt, you’ve got to work carefully, quickly, and in the cold, taking extra care to not only carve your sculptures, but also design them so they remain structurally sound and stable, despite their melting. And melt they will, so you’ve also got to be good at goodbyes!