2021-2022. Season 10
Most recent first. Only sculptures are numbered.
12. Three Moai
Friday, February 18, 2022.
What a snowfall! I started by flowing out our place and a neighbour and then put up three towers of snow. Later I would carve. Also got a great XC ski in at a nearby golf course. I slept well!
What a snowfall! I started by flowing out our place and a neighbour and then put up three towers of snow. Later I would carve. Also got a great XC ski in at a nearby golf course. I slept well!
11. Tower of Dumbbells
Monday, February 14, 2022.
It was great fun having over 40 Outdoor Education students from my old high school (KWC&VS) walk down to our front lawn to learn about snow sculpting. They have a snow project coming up so it was time to share what I knew. I gave them an intense 20 minute presentation covering forms, sintering, maquettes, design and tools. To finish the presentation I had 3 willing volunteers help me stack 21 x 7 gallon pails of snow (I had sintered all night) into a tower. Thanks to Tyler for helping to top it all off!
The next day, knowing that a big melt/rain was coming, I decided to have some fun carving it into 'something'. I started off and the tower looked like a pile of I's. The after a comment from an IG follower, I turned them into Dumbbells!
It was great fun having over 40 Outdoor Education students from my old high school (KWC&VS) walk down to our front lawn to learn about snow sculpting. They have a snow project coming up so it was time to share what I knew. I gave them an intense 20 minute presentation covering forms, sintering, maquettes, design and tools. To finish the presentation I had 3 willing volunteers help me stack 21 x 7 gallon pails of snow (I had sintered all night) into a tower. Thanks to Tyler for helping to top it all off!
The next day, knowing that a big melt/rain was coming, I decided to have some fun carving it into 'something'. I started off and the tower looked like a pile of I's. The after a comment from an IG follower, I turned them into Dumbbells!
10. LOVE
February 10, 2022.
We were up north visiting with friends and the snow on the lake was packing snow. So I made a big pile and then placed 3 x 7 gallon pails of snow on top. Then I put another set on top of that. Then I hand packed snow into all the joints to make it one smoothish surface. Then I carved it right away as a sinter was not needed. Great fun, especially adding the lights at night. Oh, and I had time for a quick gnome too.
We were up north visiting with friends and the snow on the lake was packing snow. So I made a big pile and then placed 3 x 7 gallon pails of snow on top. Then I put another set on top of that. Then I hand packed snow into all the joints to make it one smoothish surface. Then I carved it right away as a sinter was not needed. Great fun, especially adding the lights at night. Oh, and I had time for a quick gnome too.
9. Lion to cubist change
Sunday, February 6, 2022.
Change is the only constant. My lion was tired. So I changed him into this. Had a great talk (at a distance) with some neighbourhood kids coming home from sledding. One recommended I call it “Cheese!” And so I present you with—cheese! They all wanted a chunk of snow from my work. So they all left with their favourite piece. And at night I lit up the cheese!
Change is the only constant. My lion was tired. So I changed him into this. Had a great talk (at a distance) with some neighbourhood kids coming home from sledding. One recommended I call it “Cheese!” And so I present you with—cheese! They all wanted a chunk of snow from my work. So they all left with their favourite piece. And at night I lit up the cheese!
8. Five tower project: 3 gnomes, 1 cubist, 1 moai
Thursday, Feb 3 and Friday, Feb 4, 2022.
It was a busy couple of days. Thanks to my son Ben and daughter-in-law Amandah for all the snow and amazing backdrops! Great fun and lessons learned. On the first three 9’ towers (gnomes) I included the crusty layer of snow underneath the fluffy stuff. For the last two I skimmed only the fluffy snow that sat above the crusty layer. You may know that I prefer fluffy snow and this experience confirmed that fluffy is the best. The gnomes were filled with icy chunks. Hard work. The sintered fluffy snow was a joy to carve. On the cubist sculpture I spent considerable time using a long level to get it true. Otherwise the eye does not like the result. But then I used a large metal square to also allow me to make the sculpture square. Sound simple but it worked. Then I realised that the square itself was a great carving tool that gave me a nice edge. I also used a new large circle ‘cookie cutter’ and was quite pleased with how it worked. Near the end the sun came out. Day one was all hard work filling and compacting snow into forms. Day two was a cardving day! A glorious finale to the project.
During this project I heard from a gentleman in El Paso Texas named Carlos. He had made a gnome out of snow. Yes, a rare snow event in Texas! He gave me a shout out for teaching him how to approach the project and I convinced him to be the founding member of our snow sculpting club--for all of Texas! What fun!
I decided to load the moai picture into Reddit where it became the top post for the day in the /art section with over 25,000 upvotes!
It was a busy couple of days. Thanks to my son Ben and daughter-in-law Amandah for all the snow and amazing backdrops! Great fun and lessons learned. On the first three 9’ towers (gnomes) I included the crusty layer of snow underneath the fluffy stuff. For the last two I skimmed only the fluffy snow that sat above the crusty layer. You may know that I prefer fluffy snow and this experience confirmed that fluffy is the best. The gnomes were filled with icy chunks. Hard work. The sintered fluffy snow was a joy to carve. On the cubist sculpture I spent considerable time using a long level to get it true. Otherwise the eye does not like the result. But then I used a large metal square to also allow me to make the sculpture square. Sound simple but it worked. Then I realised that the square itself was a great carving tool that gave me a nice edge. I also used a new large circle ‘cookie cutter’ and was quite pleased with how it worked. Near the end the sun came out. Day one was all hard work filling and compacting snow into forms. Day two was a cardving day! A glorious finale to the project.
During this project I heard from a gentleman in El Paso Texas named Carlos. He had made a gnome out of snow. Yes, a rare snow event in Texas! He gave me a shout out for teaching him how to approach the project and I convinced him to be the founding member of our snow sculpting club--for all of Texas! What fun!
I decided to load the moai picture into Reddit where it became the top post for the day in the /art section with over 25,000 upvotes!
7. Mick Jagger in snow
Saturday, January 22, 2022.
I had pounded up a medium sized tower of snow on our back deck and began to video myself carving a rough likeness of Mick Jagger. I had created a maquette of Mick and thought it would be fun to post the entire carving process. Although it was a great location to film, it did have the negative effect of making the carving more difficult. I always recommend the importance of "standing back ten feet" to gain perspective of the carving in process. Because I placed the tower near the window for a good camera angle, I lost the ability to have this ten foot perspective. I also realised that I could have place the tower on my large rotator which would have made the demonstration more meaningful to viewers. I'll include a link to the YouTube video below. The entire carve time was 84 minutes, but for the video I changed it to double time or 40 minutes with edits. The camera was inside behind glass which meant it would not battle the freezing temperatures. I unfortunately ended up with a bit of glare on the glass. Another idea for future improvements. And I decided not to use a microphone for such a long carve. This would both avoid the battery freezing (ruining the recording) and it also allowed me to focus on the carve vs narrating as well. Later I recorded a voice over to explain what I was doing. I'm always trying to improve my skills. By watching my own video I'm already starting to consider improvements to my future practice.
Later I decided to move Mick to the front yard. I wanted to share my creation and in some small way support the Rolling Stones UNZIPPED experience currently showing at THEMUSEUM in Kitchener. I'll include a link to the short little video of me somehow sliding Mick to the front yard from the backyard. Once the Rolling Stones themselves retweeted my creation, I realized I better get out there and fine tune the carving. Being able to stand back 10 feet allowed me to see where it could be improved. I may have gotten closer to the energetic look Mick has when he is belting out a song. Some of the serious Rolling Stones fans did not agree and reading some of the negative comments (one questioning my mental health) was a new experience. Overall, people in the neighbourhood seemed to enjoy it which is what really counts.
I had pounded up a medium sized tower of snow on our back deck and began to video myself carving a rough likeness of Mick Jagger. I had created a maquette of Mick and thought it would be fun to post the entire carving process. Although it was a great location to film, it did have the negative effect of making the carving more difficult. I always recommend the importance of "standing back ten feet" to gain perspective of the carving in process. Because I placed the tower near the window for a good camera angle, I lost the ability to have this ten foot perspective. I also realised that I could have place the tower on my large rotator which would have made the demonstration more meaningful to viewers. I'll include a link to the YouTube video below. The entire carve time was 84 minutes, but for the video I changed it to double time or 40 minutes with edits. The camera was inside behind glass which meant it would not battle the freezing temperatures. I unfortunately ended up with a bit of glare on the glass. Another idea for future improvements. And I decided not to use a microphone for such a long carve. This would both avoid the battery freezing (ruining the recording) and it also allowed me to focus on the carve vs narrating as well. Later I recorded a voice over to explain what I was doing. I'm always trying to improve my skills. By watching my own video I'm already starting to consider improvements to my future practice.
Later I decided to move Mick to the front yard. I wanted to share my creation and in some small way support the Rolling Stones UNZIPPED experience currently showing at THEMUSEUM in Kitchener. I'll include a link to the short little video of me somehow sliding Mick to the front yard from the backyard. Once the Rolling Stones themselves retweeted my creation, I realized I better get out there and fine tune the carving. Being able to stand back 10 feet allowed me to see where it could be improved. I may have gotten closer to the energetic look Mick has when he is belting out a song. Some of the serious Rolling Stones fans did not agree and reading some of the negative comments (one questioning my mental health) was a new experience. Overall, people in the neighbourhood seemed to enjoy it which is what really counts.
6. Lion
Wednesday, January 19, 2022.
Out I went after battling a ‘cold’ for over a week. My first day of activity. Nothing like going from 0-100! There was lots of snow and it was packing. After loading 3 1/2 wall form sections I let it sinter for a couple of hours and the began the carve. As I carved the temp started to plummet. But I got it done in the light and was very pleased. A highlight was a visit I had with a group of young students walking home from school. They had lots of questions and ideas!
Out I went after battling a ‘cold’ for over a week. My first day of activity. Nothing like going from 0-100! There was lots of snow and it was packing. After loading 3 1/2 wall form sections I let it sinter for a couple of hours and the began the carve. As I carved the temp started to plummet. But I got it done in the light and was very pleased. A highlight was a visit I had with a group of young students walking home from school. They had lots of questions and ideas!
5. Gnome and Old Man
Sunday, January 2, 2022.
Happy New Year! We received a bit of snow so I 'stole' snow from the sidwalks of two of my neighbours. We always have a good laugh about that activity. I also took snow from tarps on our driveway and backyard . Then Up I went with five plastic ring forms and a 7 gallon pail of snow to top it off. I had placed the rotator to begin and I think I might have been just off the level mark as the resulting sculpture quickly started to lean. The idea was to carve one more gnome to perhaps enspire others to try snow sculpting. It ended up 10' tall and I had to be very careful using a step ladder to both pound the snow, and later, carve the sculpture. The little detail at the top was carved with a very long, thin saw along with a grapefruit knife. I added a second little gnome at the bottom to keep him company. And the rotator worked! The next day, seeing the lean, I took some weight off the hat. This reduced the likelyhood of it toppling over and also gave it a more interesting look. I then finished carving an 'old man' on the backside and then spun it around for all to see. The eyes were turned on my lathe from wood, painted and glossed for a bit of shine. Great distanced conversations ensued. |
Rogers TV Mindful Makers
It was fun to be interviewed by a puppet on the Rogers TV show Mindful Makers, hosted by the incredible Agnes Niewiadomski.
It's about 14 minutes and the resulting video is a great introduction to snow sculpting--with non-packing snow! |
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4. Gnome!
Monday, December 20, 2021.
I had packed some snow into my gnome form system and it sintered well.
So I carved it in our backyard! I later very carefully carried it out front for all to enjoy. He enjoyed his time on the front porch.
Once the honeycomb was finished, I trimmed up the stump and placed him front and center on the snowbank!
I had packed some snow into my gnome form system and it sintered well.
So I carved it in our backyard! I later very carefully carried it out front for all to enjoy. He enjoyed his time on the front porch.
Once the honeycomb was finished, I trimmed up the stump and placed him front and center on the snowbank!
3. Honeycomb tower.
Saturday, December 18, 2021.
It snowed!
I had shovelled our walkway and front of driveway late the night before creating a base for the rotating platform. I stomped it down to ensure a good solid base and it sintered all night. I had also put tarps on our driveway and backyard to collect snow overnight.
In the morning I dragged them out to the front for the first real build. Other than the snow base I had built the night before, it was the only snow I used in the form for this build.
I started the build with the very important step of using a 4' level to ensure the rotating platform would be level when placed. I used the level to push some of the stomped snow around until it was near perfect. I then place the rotator. Next I used 2 sections of my plastic form and filled them with the light non-packing snow that was available. I ensured the snow was pounded well every foot or so.
I then let it sinter for much of the day and later began the carve. It was the first use of the honeycomb snow cutter and it worked so well! I had to be careful about the distance between cavities because if the little wall got too thin it could break.
In the end it worked just as dusk was approaching. I put little lantern lights in most of the openings and then got a little video of it rotating. I still want to get the rotator motorised but that will come later. The last 'picture' is actually a video that includes a segment showing me using the new snow cutter.
It snowed!
I had shovelled our walkway and front of driveway late the night before creating a base for the rotating platform. I stomped it down to ensure a good solid base and it sintered all night. I had also put tarps on our driveway and backyard to collect snow overnight.
In the morning I dragged them out to the front for the first real build. Other than the snow base I had built the night before, it was the only snow I used in the form for this build.
I started the build with the very important step of using a 4' level to ensure the rotating platform would be level when placed. I used the level to push some of the stomped snow around until it was near perfect. I then place the rotator. Next I used 2 sections of my plastic form and filled them with the light non-packing snow that was available. I ensured the snow was pounded well every foot or so.
I then let it sinter for much of the day and later began the carve. It was the first use of the honeycomb snow cutter and it worked so well! I had to be careful about the distance between cavities because if the little wall got too thin it could break.
In the end it worked just as dusk was approaching. I put little lantern lights in most of the openings and then got a little video of it rotating. I still want to get the rotator motorised but that will come later. The last 'picture' is actually a video that includes a segment showing me using the new snow cutter.
Waterloo District Catholic School Board launches snow sculpting program
Tuesday, December 14, 2021.
Today the local Catholic School Board launched a snow sculpting program. The picture tells the story of how they made 200 of my snow pounders. Michael Leonard had reached out in the fall to learn all he could about snow sculpting and we had some fun playing with ideas that might help him with his initiative. I think he was brilliant to involve the high schools in creating the kits for the elementary schools. They are going to have a blast this winter! |
New snow sculpting tool
December 11-13, 2021.
I had a brainstorm for a new idea using my wall form. But I would need a new snow 'cookie cutter'. Can you guess what I'm going to make? You may have to check back here later in the season to see, but I'm really excited about the possibilities. For now, I'll just tease you with the new tool I just made. Metal from Swanson Home Hardware in Kitchener. |
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2. Warm up in Quebec
1. Warm up
Saturday, November 28, 2021.
We received a dusting of snow so I put out a couple of tarps and collected enough for a gnome! He quickly fell over because I had not stabilized the base enough before stacking three pails.
So I made a second (shorter) gnome!
Which highlights a core principle of the club--if something falls over or goes wrong, start again!
We received a dusting of snow so I put out a couple of tarps and collected enough for a gnome! He quickly fell over because I had not stabilized the base enough before stacking three pails.
So I made a second (shorter) gnome!
Which highlights a core principle of the club--if something falls over or goes wrong, start again!
Winter is coming!!
Preparations for the year including carrying all the snow sculpting forms up from underneath our front porch. I also rmet with a local school board who was interested in having their high schools create QP7000 (snow pounder) kits for their elementary schools to put together and use. This could be an exciting project. More later! And on November 9, 2021, the plan is to shoot a segment for Rogers TV. More on this opportunity soon! |
I've also been working on some new maquettes for possible use this winter.
You can read elsewhere on the site how I prefer Plastalina to create my maquettes.
You can read elsewhere on the site how I prefer Plastalina to create my maquettes.