This design was a request from another carver. I’ve done this sculpture in the past, but I couldn’t get my hands on the design that I used, so I rebuilt it. Hopefully, I’ll have a photo of the result to add a bit later.

    Obviously, the problem areas in this sculpture are the giraffe’s long legs. They can look pretty thin from the silhouette view, but they should be left thicker front to back (of the block, not the giraffe) for strength. Also, ankles and knees are usually the weakest parts of any legs. I couldn’t do much about the knees, which in the giraffe’s case isn’t a big deal, but at the ankles, I added some “grass.” You can add rocks, bushes, a message, or whatever you want. Anything that helps strengthen the ankles will help here because during transport and set up, the lower part of the giraffe is particularly vulnerable to a nearly unrepairable break. Finally, there’s not much base here, but try to keep what’s there as substantial as possible and make sure that the sculpture is very stable, because it’s a little more top-heavy than most.

    One last note on the giraffe’s spots: I wouldn’t recommend adding them until the end of carving. They’re included in the template, but don’t worry about them until you’ve finished the sculpture surfaces. Giraffes have different spot patterns, so this pattern certainly isn’t the “right” spot pattern. Get a feel for the general look of the spots, then make your own pattern. Also, you can either just outline the spots, as is shown below, or you can make the spots into real spots by snowfilling them in, as is shown in the design graphic at the top. By the way, going with the full snowfill would pretty much hide the neck weld, but then the sculpture has to be transported as one piece, which could be a problem in some cases. If you decide to weld the head on at set-up, make sure your ice is cold enough.

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