'A cool job': How ice sculptures are made for the Jack Frost Children's Winterfest
Follow a block of sculpting ice — from the man who makes it to the man who carves it
Ice sculptors are out in full force this week preparing for the Jack Frost Children's Winterfest.
In previous years, the festival's ice supplier — The Ice Man in Long Creek, P.E.I., imported ice from the mainland. Last year, the company began making all the ice itself on the Island.
'A cool job'
To do that, the company set up a temporary pool of 16 by 37 feet in its gigantic walk-in freezer, with 13 inches of water.
"It takes about a week to freeze down five inches, and then we use the electric chain saw and a jig that we made and we cut out about 95 blocks per batch," said company co-owner Jeremy Stretch.
Once the ice is thick enough, it's cut into slabs with a chain saw and loaded onto a truck for delivery to the Jack Frost site.
Stretch said the company is supplying 450 slabs of ice for the slide, and 25 larger blocks for sculpting.
The water comes from the company's own well, which is inspected by federal and provincial health officials regularly.
"Everybody keeps commenting that I have a cool job," said Stretch.
Clear as glass
The ice used for sculpting has to be clear as glass.
"It changes the dynamic of the sculpture if you can see imperfections in it," said Stretch.
And when making the ice is all finished, the indoor ice pool gets another use.
"We'll drain out most of the water and leave about two inches in there and then we'll have a rink from the kids for the neighbourhood," said Stretch.
Now, the sculptor's turn
P.E.I.'s Abe Waterman has won international sand sculpting competitions, but is relatively new to ice sculpting.
"It's another beast entirely because it's transparent, and you're not dealing with shadows at all," he said.
"You're dealing with angles, the surface angles and how they reflect the light."
To make a sculpture, Waterman first sketched a design on paper, and then on the ice itself.
Within two hours, working with a chain saw and other tools, he created a sculpture commemorating the Canada's 150th birthday.
Waterman's not sure whether he prefers working with ice or with sand.
"They both have their advantages. I like sand because you can get nice shadows very easily in lines that way," he said.
"Ice, you've gotta work on a much large scale to get shadow and the same effect, but you can do a lot more because it's a much more durable material."
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