As we approach our favourite time of year, the Hamilton Ice Sculptors team is gearing up for another exciting season of winter exhibitions in 2024.
The past few months have already been packed with incredible projects for the likes of Netflix, for whom we created a life-size glowing Avatar to its adaptation of ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’.
We’ve also carved some furry friends for Dogs Trust this summer to remind pet owners to keep their dogs cool in the heat.
The team even recently worked on a life-size portrait sculpture of Rylan for his new show on Paramount titled ‘Dating Naked UK’.
Now, as we move into winter, we’re ready to finish 2024 on a high with some of the team’s favourite annual icy creations.
Winter Exhibitions in 2024: What are we working on?
For many years, we’ve been commissioned to create The Magical Ice Kingdom at Hyde Park’s Winter Wonderland.
This annual event has become a hallmark of our winter exhibition season, and it’s a project that the whole team looks forward to.
We’ve been hard at work all year, collaborating with our friends at Winter Wonderland to prepare new themes and innovative sculptures to create a truly interactive ice experience for all.
We won’t spoil the surprise, but we reckon the latest magical ice kingdom will be the best yet, with original features that make it an even more immersive icy world.
The Timeline: How long does it take to prepare?
Although Winter Wonderland doesn’t open until the end of November, preparing for this large-scale ice exhibition is a year-long process.
By Spring 2024, we were already well underway with our initial designs and talking to our counterparts at Winter Wonderland to refine the concepts ready to bring the icy kingdom to life again by November.
The Creative Process: From initial sketches to reality
Every ice kingdom starts with a theme.
In previous years, we’ve focused on stories like ‘An Arctic Adventure’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’, and last time around featured a journey through the nine realms of Norse mythology.
For 2024, we’re excited to introduce a new, magical narrative that will be revealed soon!
The process begins by presenting our initial ideas to the team at Winter Wonderland, and from there we create more intricately detailed designs to scale for each sculpture.
Each sculpture is crafted from huge blocks of ice, and last year, we used a whopping 500 tonnes for the Ice Kingdom alone.
Not only that, to ensure we can carve the larger ice sculptures you’ll see as you walk around the kingdom, we order individual ice blocks that weigh up to two tonnes.
Afterwards, to ensure our sculptures are as accurate as possible, our team draws designs on pieces of paper, cuts them out, and carefully places them onto the side of one of the large blocks of ice.
The image is then used as a rough guide to cut out the shape of each sculpture.
From there, they are carefully carved and delicately detailed into the sculptures you’ll see as you walk around the icy landscape.
Throughout this process, our team is located in large walk-in freezers to ensure the ice doesn’t melt as we work with chainsaws, die grinders, and hand saws to carve each piece.
However, fear not, as we take plenty of tea and biscuit breaks!
The Reward: Bringing The Magic of the Kingdom to life
Creating the Magical Ice Kingdom is our biggest job of the season, and it requires us to call in extra help and increase our team to around 25 people.
It’s a tremendous assignment that requires a lot of time, dedication and, above all, ice!
However, to us, the magic of these winter exhibitions is more than just a visual marvel; it’s about creating something that truly captivates all visitors.
We’re proud at Hamilton Ice Sculptors to be part of creating these immersive wintery spectacles that will create memories that last a lifetime.
We hope everyone enjoys this year’s Magical Ice Kingdom.
Don’t forget to let us know on social media what you think of this year’s theme!