One of the sculptures that I carved for New Year’s was a chinese dragon and I thought it would be a good opportunity to share the design, especially since the Chinese New Year comes up in January (the 26th).

    The first Chinese-style dragon that I carved was based on a design by Japanese master sculptor Mitsuo Shimizu from his book “The New World of Ice Sculpture, Vol. II.” I learned a lot from this book and it was the first book I owned about ice carving. My design borrows somewhat from Shimizu’s design, although the dragon’s pose is quite different. In addition, Shimizu’s dragon is carved from two major pieces of ice and a few little ones, while mine is designed to come from a single block, with little or no welding required.

    There is a lot of detail on this design. Don’t feel like you always have to get it all on there. In fact, when I carved this the other day, I wasn’t able to get all the detail that I wanted because I just didn’t have enough time available. I only had about an hour and a half to carve it start to finish. The most important aspects of the design are the overall silhouette and the dragon’s head, so I concentrated on those. Certainly, if you have plenty of time, then take the extra time to add fine details. All of the detail on a sculpture like this is very possible (see another dragon below), but you have to decide whether or not it’s worth it for that particular carving.

    If you would like to use this design or any other design on this site, please check the design usage guidelines. The design collection page lists designs on the site.