Creating movement in ice sculpture

The team are often asked to carve static inanimate objects, but what happens when they’re asked to create a feeling of action in a sculpture?

When carving animals and people it’s relatively easy to create a statue figure, but it takes a bit more work to make it look as if someone or something has been captured mid-movement.

With animals, a twist of the head may be all that’s needed to give life to the sculpture. With people, it might be a certain stance or positioning of the limbs that gives the illusion of a snapshot in time.

The awkwardness of carving a sportsman, for example, lies in creating the correct angles for an authentic look. In order to do this, it often means that the sculpture can’t be made from one block of ice. If the team were carving a tennis player serving, they’d have to sculpt some bits separately and attach them later. But it’s all part of the fun!