Here’s the second contribution from Joe and Lianne Rimer at Ice Pro. The article turned into a collaboration when we both happened to have diamond projects going on. Thanks Joe and Lianne!

 

    Everyone has heard that diamonds are a girl’s best friend. But do diamonds have other friends? As an ice sculptor, if you’ve ever tried to carve a diamond, you might not have been on the friendliest of terms with your creation by the time you finished. Diamonds are hard! And not in the “hardest substance in the world way,” but in an “extremely difficult to properly execute” way. This article looks at hand carving a diamond and creating a diamond on a CNC machine.

     The well known “four c’s” for rating diamonds are carat, color, clarity, and cut. In making an ice diamond a carver has our first “c,” carat, down, well…cold. Let’s say, from a 300 lb. block of ice, a carved diamond weighs, without the base or any other extraneous elements, about 75 lbs. If it were real, your diamond would be about a 170,000 carat stone! Next, “color” isn’t much of a problem, as pure ice doesn’t have any.* If your diamond needs some, then all you need is the right colored lighting. “Clarity” can be more troublesome, as not all ice is clear and free of fractures, but if you’re using a Clinebell or similar type of block, then you’re probably in good shape. (We’ll address another clarity issue, welding, below.)

     The last “c,” of course, is “cut.” And for ice carvers, it’s almost all about the cut: how it’s cut and how well it’s cut. In creating an ice diamond the two most important aspects are the design (the how) and accurate symmetry (the how well).

* thicker ice will often have a blue color, because yellow and red light are absorbed as light travels through the ice, leaving proportionately more blue light

 

Anatomy of a diamond

    According to AM-Diamonds, most diamonds are round brilliant cut diamonds, with 58 facets. Seen from the side, they look something like the drawing below.

The round part comes in when you look at the diamond from the table/crown vantage point.

    Now that we’ve seen what a typical diamond looks like, the difficulties in sculpting a diamond become much more apparent. The first problem is a rather common one in ice carving: the block is too thin for a fully rounded subject. A standard block of ice is only half as thick as it is wide while the top view of the diamond clearly demonstrates the need for a much thicker block. Certainly, you could cut a diamond that was only 10 inches in diameter in all directions, but generally, you want to make a diamond as large as you can so that the facet details last as long as possible. There are at least a couple of solutions to this problem. First, you could weld two pieces of ice together to make an ice block with sufficient thickness. This is the preferred solution from a realistic point of view, but it creates a lot of technical challenges as well as a clarity issue. (Welded ice is not as clear as unwelded Clinebell-type ice, which is a problem for a diamond sculpture, where the clarity is more important than usual.) A simpler solution, and the approach that we’ll take here, is to focus on the sculpture’s silhouette and detailing (rather than its proportional accuracy) to create a presentation that viewers immediate recognize as a brilliant faceted diamond.

Hand cutting a diamond sculpture

 

    First, you need a very clean line drawing of your design. From this design, you’ll create a template to apply to the ice to guide your cuts. In creating this design, you do not want to overdo the number of facets in the diamond. In fact, you may want to go with a rather simple facet pattern for your diamond, such as the drawing below. Fewer facets means larger angles on the surface of the sculpture. As your diamond melts, larger facet angles will last longer. Shallower angles (resulting from more facets) will fade quickly.

    So far, we’ve looked at drawings that have essentially “ideal” diamond proportions. These proportions are designed to control the passage of light through the diamond, maximizing the amount of light that exits through the crown of the diamond and therefore in the direction of the typical viewer. Diamonds with ideal proportions are more “brilliant.” From an ice carver point of view, however, maximization of the diamond’s size may take precedence as the crown isn’t the usual viewpoint for an ice diamond, so we’ll stretch our design vertically (220%).

    As we’ve discussed, for a standard one block diamond you want to create the effect of it being fully 3 dimensionally round when viewed from the front and back.  The side view will not be accurately to scale but if you create a great looking front and back viewed piece this probably won’t be much of an issue. The process is as follows:

1. Come up with a design for your diamond. (Use one of the designs below or create your own.)
   

2. Create two full-size templates based on your design. There are several methods to blow up your design to template size including going to a print shop, tracing from a projected image, or printing from a regular printer.
   

3. Apply the templates to both sides of your block. When applying the templates to the block it is imperative that the templates are sealed to the block accurately (straight up and down, centered, and with the templates properly oriented to one another).
   

4. Trace the design into the block with a chainsaw, dremel, or small end mill, and remove left over templates.
   

5. Straight cut away the sculpture’s outer edges (silhouette) with a chainsaw, and then cut your facet angles on both sides.
   

6. If you are not happy with your facet corners, you can carefully cut shallow straight lines along all the facet edges with a v-chisel, v-bit, or chainsaw. (You’ll have to clean up the chainsaw lines, however.) Remember, straight lines and symmetry are vital for a diamond!
   

7. For finishing this piece, a small aluminum plate or an iron is generally more effective than other tools.
   

 

    This design’s base can be used for messages as in the sculpture at the very top of this entry or you can give it some sort of pattern or apply a rough texture to contrast with the diamond’s clean lines.

    If you have any questions about the diamond designs above, just leave a comment at the bottom. If you would like to use these designs or any other design on this site, please check the design usage guidelines. The design collection page lists designs on the site.

Cutting a diamond sculpture on a CNC

    In creating a highly symmetrical sculpture with clean, straight lines such as a diamond, a CNC machine offers numerous advantages. The process isn’t without pitfalls, however, so here’s a list of design suggestions based on experience.

1. Base your design on clear, symmetrical line art or photos.
   

2. To create the facets, we’ve found it more effective to spiral pocket different depths and not attempt to create angle cuts on the design.
   

3. Deep cut lines into your design along the “facet edges” to help the illusion of detailed facets. The cuts should remain for the length of time that the sculpture is on display, ensure little loss of detail during the event. Use a 1/4” or 3/16” bit; a 1/2” bit is too big while an 1/8” doesn’t usually cut deep enough and leaves lines that are easily clogged with snow.
   

4. Slightly angle cut your exterior facets by hand when you’re finished machining. On a good design this should be the only detailing necessary after it comes off of the CNC.
   

 

    Using a CNC to cut a diamond sculpture is certainly worth the effort, but there are a number of technical issues in creating the design. Contact Joe Rimer at Ice Pro for more advice on the subject.

Additional notes

    Besides the single block diamond sculpture, Ice Pro has more than once been called upon to create a very large diamond sculpture (see the Sysco sculpture at the top of the page). These sculptures are created by welding together oversized CNC-ed components and then finishing the sculpture by hand. Heavy equipment is required to get these massive pieces into place.

     Also, Lianne Rimer of Ice Pro was formerly a manager for Columbian Emeralds International in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands and her previous work experience with diamonds came in handy when she created the CNC designs used for the single block and the Monster block diamond sculptures.

About Ice Pro

Ice Pro produces CNC ice work for the following quality ice sculptors

Ice Carvers Choice, serving Memphis and the Mid South

ice dragon, serving Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the Florida panhandle

Arctic Ice, serving Greater Tampa Bay

All Star Ice, serving Orlando and the Florida East Coast

Brentons, serving Naples and Ft. Myers, FL

And we directly produce sculptures for the Florida West Coast from Sarasota/Bradenton south

If you are a quality sculptor interested in affordable high quality CNC product shipped to your location please visit our web site at  www.iceprofl.com and/ or contact us at Iceprofl@hotmail.com

We also have Clinebell ice blocks and ice bowls available, as well as our specialty oversized Monster ice blocks.