Ice Sculptor

What are you listing to in your headphones?

Asked by Kaylee almost 5 years ago

Hi Kaylee, thanks for the question :) Honestly, I couldn't tell you for sure, but I can narrow it down. When I'm sculpting, I might be tired and a little cold, so I'd be listening to some sort of music that will energize me. That could be lot of things too; I like rock, hard rock, alternative, country...not too much hip hop or rap, but even some of that sometimes. The main thing I'm looking for is to get my blood pumping and keep me going. I always know that I'm too tired to sculpt when I can't stay warm.

If I'm not particularly tired, but I'm also not working on something terribly difficult, I might be listening to an audiobook or a podcast. Because sculpting some things is largely automatic, like driving a car, I can pay enough attention to both. But it could be a novel, Stephen King is a favorite, or it might be something non-fiction. Weirdly, and I suppose left over from my education in biology, I'm interested in stuff about pandemics and infectious disease. Well before the Covid-19 outbreak, I'd listen to books about the 1918 flu, Ebola, and other diseases. But I also listen to self-help books, like how to get better sleep and mundane stuff like that. I haven't yet run into anything on how to survive getting locked in a freezer, but if I do, that'll be my next listen ;) Thanks for your question!

Many speak of a science behind carving ice. What temperatures do you store the ice (to temper) (i) before carving and (ii) during carving? What band-saws and blades are used and temperature in which these are stored before making contact with ice?

Asked by Sam almost 8 years ago

Hey Sam! Very good question! I am particularly interested in the science of ice since my education is in biology and chemistry. Physics might have been the ideal background, but I didn't really plan to become an ice sculptor, so...

There is kind of an ideal temperature range to sculpt ice at: 15?F to 25?F. I sculpt at about 19?F, right in the middle. Too cold, and your ice will crack if you apply much heat to it, and too warm and you have trouble freezing pieces together. Plus you don't have much margin for error if your freezer goes down or much of a core temperature for your sculpture if a delivery is a long ways away.

As for the blades, it's really the normal blades that people use for wood. I've used a bandsaw a lot, but the one I've used isn't mine, so I don't know much about the blade itself, except that I've never broken it. But it's pretty standard as far as I know. As for chainsaw chains, ice sculptors tend to make them more "dangerous" by removing some of the safety features that those cutting wood would need. That's because ice doesn't create much kickback when you cut into it, so it's significantly safer. Unless you count the whole electricity + water thing! (Mostly kidding, not a problem in a freezer!)

Thanks Sam for your patience! Sorry about my extended break from answering. I'll try not to do that again!

In Vegas at Gordon Ramsey restaurant . The sea food platter was amazing! 4 tier how do they or do they,reuse,clean because I can't see one use out it but we did sit and pick off it 4 2hrs .What about next use? Is there one?

Asked by Chris T. almost 10 years ago

Hi there Chris! If they had a seafood platter made of ice out at a restaurant, they won't reuse it or try to clean it as long as it's out for more than 3 or 4 hours. Especially when an ice display has food in it for any length of time, it tends to melt a little funny where the food is sitting. If it was used for only a short time, say the 2 hours you refer to, they could theoretically use it once more. But if it had 4 tiers, it would likely be difficult to disassemble and reassemble, so I would assume that it was a one time use. It's far simpler to use a new ice display each time. This might seem wasteful, but it's almost certainly the safest thing to do, and of course, the ice gets 100% recycled, one way or another :)

My apologies for taking so long to answer your question. I stopped working on my website a while back and wasn't sure that I'd keep sculpting. And I'll add one additional wrinkle, as we're now in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. The sort of sculpture you saw probably won't be seen again for a while, since it will probably take us some time to get back to the point where we can have large food displays where guests are free to visit as they wish. The era of the seafood brunch or buffet has gone on hiatus for a bit, unfortunately :/

Excuse me if somebody wanted you to sculpt a giant penis what you do it?

Asked by Peyton over 4 years ago

Another thank you ever add coloring to the ice

Asked by Peyton over 4 years ago