Dancing in the ice Hive - ice sculpture

This was a strange project. It took place in Berlin but was organised by Chinese people from Harbin. They also organise a large project in that city which many people will know because it is literally an entire city made from ice and is one of those projects that people always talk about when they hear I am an ice sculptor.

My friend Ludo Roders from Holland asked me to team up with her and take part because we thought it would be a nice opportunity to meet the Chinese people and hopefully swing an invite to Harbin.

The photos used during this post are not mine because I ssem to have lost them. Instead these are from a photographer who kindly sent what he had so we could use them. Unfortunately they are not great pictures of the sculpture itself but of us at work looking like that 'American Gothic' painting. You know the one!

keeping it simple stupid

There was a big language barrier, as nobody seemed to speak English but when we were shown 10 blocks of ice sitting on a pallet we knew what we had to do. These blocks of ice weigh around 125kg each and having not help to stack we came up with an idea to cut them into manageable pieces that I could just about lift without killing myself.
We used the hexagon shape as it was easier to lift and also made each piece come in at around 40kg. Still very heavy when I had to lift them over your head but for me it was a good workout. This shape also lent itself to the idea of building a hive and also ice crystals. It also meant that the stacking lines, those lines you get when you fuse two ice blocks together were not so obvious.

There was a lot of precision cutting. We first made a template to make sure they were all exactly the same. Ludo would mark out and then I would cut. It was actually pretty fast and a good lesson in chainsawing.

Building the hive

Then, piece by piece we started building our wall. I really enjoyed this way of stacking the ice and must do it again some day but, will definitely make them lighter.
Once the wall was built we drew in our design of two figures in a dance, they were actually inside all the hexagons which lead to some very awkward carving. All the other pieces were hen made into ice crystals.
Looking at it now I really don't understand why we didn't carve them first and then stack as it would have made the lifting so much easier. You live and learn!

We were actually quite proud of our piece as it all came together very nicety and the smiles on the organisers faces said more than words could.

Smarty pants

Even though it was cold outside the whole thing was made in a big tented structure beside the Mercedes-Benz Arena. I was impressed by some of the solutions that the chinese tech team had for problems. The water hoses were getting frozen inside and out and what they did was run Christmas fairy lights along them and add a little insulation around that. These lights gave just enough heat to stop the freezing and all the hose pipes looked so festive and colourful. I thought it was very clever although I'm sure very dangerous.

Harbinger of doom

We were treated pretty well but at the last moment, just as we were finishing up our after work dinner we were informed that we had to check out of the hotel because the project was over so, it was time for us to go home. Our flight wasn't until the next day and so we had to plead with the hotel that we could have one more night at our expense and this was late in the evening. This definitely left a bad taste in the mouth.

I did get an invitation to go to Harbin to work on that project but when they said I would have to pay for my own flight I told them where to go.