AAAAaand they're OFF!

We registered yesterday, and will be at site #7. Tim's got gloves, Jill *finally* got her chainsaw, and Katie will be joining us Tuesday night.

Somehow, after lots of planning (and continuing through this writing), we've finally survived to our first day. The blocks look thick, and the site is smaller than anticipated (20'x25'). NOW it starts, and you can expect this blog to get terser and somewhat less coherent as the week wears on.

Yesterday was mostly a break, with a trip to Chena Hot springs with other sculptors before we returned to the ice park for final registration and a safety briefing.

Today, if the camera is up and working, expect to see us clearing the area, scraping orange marker off the ice, and then cutting the large blocks of ice for the saguaro and backdrop. Catch all the action HERE: http://icealaska.com/videocam/10Cam/mb10/CAM10mb07.html
The camera will take a new picture every minute or so, so if we've been stationary for a while, refresh the browser.

Deep breath...

Single Block in progress

But the ice-alaska webcam pages are messed up. Here's my own page that has the correct images for a few webcams.
http://kiska.giseis.alaska.edu/Input/celso/iceSB2010.html

Back to the desert

OK. So, I suppose it has been a little while since I reported upon our own ice preparations. Over the last couple weeks, Jill and I haven't touched much ice, but have been doing plenty of background work. We've been modeling in clay, modeling on the computer, sketching this & that, and working more on templates.

Of note, the puma/cougar/mountain lion will be hanging out in a cave near the waterfall. Instead of being completely exposed and open (where we'd have to carve the entire thing) he/she'll be chilling, paws crossed, taking in the action from halfway within a cave. The waterfall itself is changing (not present in this diagram), to be a smaller, split waterfall coming in on either side of a perched boulder. I'll add the sketches as soon as I find them.

Another positive thing: Some while ago, I'd discovered that the cholla will be best created as a table, with the various appendages glued on to that. It'll provide some more stability and allow it to be fluffier. An inital attempt at carving the cholla base was promising.

I'm ALSO contemplating the addition of an Agave plant. maybe multiples. I think they'll be good groundcover and will help to use up those inevitable diagonal ice fragments that get scattered everywhere.

- -
By now, a small amount of panic has set in: We start in just under 120 hours. Tim left Africa Yesterday, and will be arriving tomorrow evening. Meanwhile, Katie is coming in either next Tuesday evening or Wednesday to help with our final push.

Quixote's Nightmare, a study in Ice

The single block competition has started about 20 minutes ago and will continue through Thursday. Lars Hansen and Mike Ossmann (Site #40) are working on "Quixote's Nightmare", an evil windmill straight from the bowels of hell. I've checked out their clay models, and am excited for them.
Webcams should be accessible soon from: http://icealaska.com/10/10sbindex.html, but as of this post they're not quite there yet.

Of interest: Look for Lars's cool homemade tools, including the ice-lathe, "Bob" the boiler, and a slab cutter that is made from bicycle wheels, a car jack, and a washing-machine engine.... Then, there are always the hockey-stick chisels.

The story of their creation is told on Mike's Blog. PS, don't tell them I added Quixote. -- though I'm not responsible for the other alteration...

What's safe about ice carving?

Nothing, really. This comes to mind as I ponder all the tools we'll be using to create our "masterpiece":1 - 14" electric chainsaw
3 - 18" electric chainsaws
1 - 42" gas chainsaw
6+ - long handled chisels (~3' long)
2 - angle grinders with uber-aggressive disks with guards removed
3 - die grinders with more uber-aggressive bits
2 - (1'x1') Scratch pads (with either hundreds of nails or other abrasive item)
2 - Mallets
1 - 5' breaker bar
? - misc small chisels
2 - small saws
1 - broken iron (stuck on)1 - weed burner
oh, and 54,568 pounds of ice!

Another clay session

Jill and I got together to work the clay some more and pay closer attention to the structural aspects of our creation. This time around, we concentrated on plants.

From 2010 World Ice Championships preparation: Sonoran Sunset

Prickly Pears: ~ 3+' tall (to ~ 5'?)
We decided that trying to attach individual pads would be infeasible for a bunch of reasons: The pads themselves are heavy, gluing the ice can be a finnicky process. Picture a bunch of misshapen dominoes crashing to the ground. Instead, we're opting to create a base (think "lips"), which will have several pads etched into it, with a few pads rising up out of it. Additional pads would be created in 2's, 3's, 4's, whatever, and attached to the base. The extra advantage here is that there will be more surface area available for attachment, and also multiple surfaces. This produces a stronger bond.



Cholla: ~4-5' tall
The cholla presents some challenges, too. In reality, the plant is a series of connected nodules (picture ovoid tubes) covered from one end to the other in nasty terrible spines. The real plant would (again) be a nightmare to try to recreate, with a noticable lack of support for the tubes. In our version, the plant would be supported by a stable pedistal topped by a multi-armed star and additional vertical support. Tubes will be cut with bob-the-boiler in long shapes, and then will be "segmented" by etching with powertools. Textures will also be added by drilling lots and lots of tiny holes into them.then, they'll be assembled like one of those geodesic hemispherical playground climbing bars.. Hopefully.



Barrel Cactus: ~3'tall
~2' diameter cylendar, tilted somewhat, deeply etched with many crenelations. I've played around with the idea of spines, but am still unconvinced if I'll even bother. We'll try to do flowers on top, and see where that leads.






Saguaro #1: 20' tall, arms start at 6'
In the photo, toothpicks represent places where block seams will go. A person, then will be as high as the skinny green toothpick. The saguaro has been made skinnier, giving it a more svelte outline, and taller feel. The arms will go to 10' to 12'. yipes. I'm both excited and apprehensive about this piece. Once fully erected, we're not going to want to be anywhere under it.

Into the future!

While 10 blocks of 6'x3'x4' ice may seem like a lot, it won't feel like it. Much ice will be lost to irregularly shaped scraps. Some will be lost to shatterage. Most of it, though, will be taken up by the sculpture. The saguaro alone, will be responsible for most of 3 blocks. I'm using the CAD program "Google Sketchup" to help me figure out block usage and create templates. All this pre-work is incredibly important... it's no fun to stand around in -30 weather, scratching your head, trying to figure out what to do next, while the clock continues to mercilessly tick down.


Here's the site, under construction


Here's the details for our Momma Javelina