How to make an ice block - ice sculpture

In my last post, I shared a small ice sculpture I made for an arts festival in Casel, Ireland. It wasn't one of my best sculptures (I hope!) due to the sweltering heat of the day but it was done and deserved its own little post.

I did have a question from @artist-freepae regarding where I got the ice from. It was a good question as Ireland is not known for its freezing climate. The truth of the matter is that I make my own.

Anyone with any experience with ice sculpting will know that this is a thing and interestingly it seems like a closely guarded secret as to how it is actually made. Well, dear readers, I am here today to lift the veil and expose the cold hard truth about how sculpting ice is actually produced and it will probably bore the pants off you.

Of course, you can work in natural ice if you can get it. But more and more this seems to only happen in countries that are guaranteed a nice cold winter. A bit of a rarity these days. Working with ice cut from a lake is really nice, as the material has a lot of input into what can and can't be made. Lake ice is usually not so clear due to snow build-up and variations in temperature, which can fracture the crystals. You will also probably find other matter in the ice, from silt to leaves or even fish.

Here is a little clip of guys in Siberia getting some ice from a lake (the clip starts around 2 Mins in)

When it comes to man-made ice you would probably think that it is made in large ice trays, the same way that drinking ice cubes are made but this is mostly wrong, The freezing of course is there but if you ever looked closely at an ice cube you will see that it is not clear. This is because just putting water in a freezer means it freezes from the outside in and because ice expands as it freezes and is actually less dense than in liquid form it will cause cracks and fissures to appear. These elements refract and bounce the light around so it will not be clear.

Lake, and river ice are different as the underlying water is able to flow as it gradually freezes and so, you get clearer ice except for bubbles and the layers of snow that from on the surface. Usually if you cut this off there will be more clarity.

So, how are man-made ice blocks made?

I am not sure who invented the process but the most common ice block makers come from a company called Clinebell in the Americas. It is a simple enough machine really and the main trick is to keep the water moving as it freezes and unlike in nature, it freezes from the bottom up. Giving room for the ice to expand and allowing all the bubbles and sediment to float to the surface..

Underneath a large Aluminium or Alluminumimum as the Americans pronounce it plate is a copper element with glycol running through and back to the compressor and condenser much like would be in your freezer.

On top of this are spring-loaded steel sheet walls that form the mold for your block. It is all sealed inside an insulated box with a lid.

The spring-loaded walls are quite ridged but give a little to the expanding ice and can be prised apart to release the block when it is frozen. Inside this, you place a sealed plastic liner which keeps the water in position.

It is hooked around the edges and held it in place by a little lip.

Once installed it can still look a bit loose but the water will smooth it out into the corners.

It can be filled with water from a normal tap but the better the quality of water the better the ice will be. Any impurities like high lime content or dirt will affect the ice clarity. Luckily most of it will come to the top while freezing. Water with high lime can produce a layer of white ice on top when done. This can be cut away.

The machine makes two blocks at a time each 1 meter by 50cm by 25cm. That is a lot of water and a lot of weight.

Then comes the real hero of the show, a simple aquarium pump. This is clipped to the side of the bath of water and is slightly submerged below the surface. This pumps the water around and stops it from freezing at the top

Because the water is constantly moving it can only freeze at the bottom and over the course of about three days all the water will do so to a clear solid mass.

Note to self

The last piece of the process before turning on the machine is to add lifting plates to the ends of the baths. These stainless steel plates have a hooked edge which will freeze into the ice and allow you to lift the block out when done.

These are very important as to forget them means you are screwed. Of course, I speak from experience and even though I worked out a way to get the blocks out it wasn't pretty.

All you do then is switch on the machine and pumps and walk away for a few days till they are ready. The machine will just do its thing. The refrigeration unit is quite small and sits below the machine.

Bonus info

If you want to freeze something into the ice you can come back half way through and add the element into the machine on top of the already frozen ice. This could be a flower of anything else you could dream of. The ice would then continue to freeze around it and it will appear suspended inside.

Harvest time

The day has arrived and your block is ready. It is good to catch it early before all the water is frozen and the little pump is not frozen in place. The freezing time depends on the ambient temperature but in my experience, it is around 3 days.

You turn off the machine and syphon away the extra water hopefully there will only be around 1 inch 2.5cm left on the surface remove the pump and you are ready to lift the block. I use a block and tackle connected to a crane structure. There is a lifting bar that slides into those plates Which I didn't forget and all is ready to go.

You pull the spring-loaded sides of the box away from the ice to lossen it, take the plastic liner off the sides and begin to pull the chain. If all goes well the block will raise up out of the bath.

This is a scary part as to have the block drop on you would not be fun. The whole crane pulls out away from the machine bag and all.

In this image you can see the stain steel plates frozen in the ice. Quickly, you lower the block onto a waiting dolly and breathe a sigh of relief. You survived another lift.

The dolly is on wheels also and with curves at each end it allows you to stand the block up straight ready for carving. Before you do that it is best to chisel out the plates and the water pump if it got stuck.

Here's one I prepared earlier

If all went well you should have a crystal clear block of ice. I include this one made into a sculpture mainly so this post can have a nicer thumbnail than just some boring gray machine but you can see the possibilities clear ice can open up. These faces were carved in negative inside the block. You can read all about it in This post You really get to play with light and space.

Well, I think that is all there is to say on the subject. I really wrote this post so I will have somewhere to point people to if they ask me about how ice is made and maybe it is a good bit of knowledge to know for a quiz question. Hope you weren't too bored in the end.

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Ps

Thanks for reading. I use PeakD to document my work as an ephemeral Sculptor of sand, snow and ice, amongst other things. This will hopefully give it a new life on the Hive Blockchain.

I hope you'll join me again soon
@ammonite

I am also starting to create NFTs of my sculptures and welcome you to my gallery where you can own a bit of ephemeral sculpture history.