Early last year, I wrote an entry titled: “trying to turn bronze into gold, part 1.” Naming something “part 1” means that there almost certainly has to be at least a “part 2,” so here we are. It was about trying to improve a lionfish ice sculpture design that I’d tried out at the Titanic Museum ice sculpting competition in Branson, MO. I’d carved the piece without much preparation, and not surprisingly, I was a little disappointed with the result, earning only sixth place and a bronze medal for my efforts. (This sort of medal is related to the sculpture’s score, not your overall placement.)

    A casual listing of the problems with the Branson piece included execution problems:

1. 1)wasted a lot of time
   

2. 2)freehanded a lot of things that should have been templated
   

3. 3)left a lot of slush on the piece
   

4. 4)didn’t cut the struts on the pectoral fins/spines
   

5. 5)dorsal spine breakage problems (and resulting lack of detailing)
   

6. 6)minor issue with welding the fish to the “reef”
   

7. 7)welding problems with the pectoral fins/spines
   

8. 8)pectoral fins/spines ended up too close to the body
   

And design problems:

1. 1)few extra “details” on the reef
   

2. 2)fish position could have been more dynamic
   

    When I was trying to decide on a sculpture design for the Ice Pro Invitational Ice Carving Competition last month, I remembered the lionfish and my earlier resolve to improve its design and execution. Here’s the new design:

    The sketch that I actually used for the competition and template was a little rougher than the one pictured above, but it was still a vast improvement over what I had in Branson, which was not much. In fact, of the ten items that I listed as problems with the previous attempt, I addressed nine of them, missing only #8 as I again failed to get the pectoral fins to stick out a ways from the sides of the fish. But they did stick out some, and helped out with adding some dimension to the piece.

    Looking back at the original lionfish, it appears that I was allowed four hours to carve it, whereas this time, I sculpted the entire piece in two and a half hours. (Both events were two block competitions.) I apparently did a MUCH better job at carving efficiently as I still had things to do when time ran out the first time, even with the additional hour and a half. Also, the second fish was more detailed and the base was more elaborate. These gains in efficiency were largely due to the template and to the practice that I got the first time around.

    The judging at the Ice Pro Invitational was a combination of People’s Choice and Carver’s Choice and my lionfish won both. There were only six contestants at the event, but all were experienced carvers, and one of them, current Olympic champ Ben Rand, has beaten me at every previous opportunity. But with People’s Choice events especially, it’s really hard to tell who will win, and it has just about as much to do with the sculpture’s position relative to the audience and the final height of the sculpture as it does with anything else. People won’t vote for something that they can’t really get a good look at. I had intentionally chosen a tall, accessible design and my sculpting site was fortunately positioned close to the front of the carving area. Carver’s Choice is often regarded as the tougher of the two and from what I understood, it was very close.

    In an effort to see how else I could improve my lionfish, I asked two experienced competition judges what they thought about it. One thought that I could have done a better job with the negative space on the piece and I agreed, mentioning the that original concept had a bit better negative space than the final sculpture. The other judge thought that I could have added more variation to the base and that my detailing had left it looking a bit cluttered. When I asked for an opinion as to whether I’d still have won in a sanctioned event, I was not surprised to find out that I might not have. Fortunately for me, it wasn’t one.

    Sometimes it’s hard to be objective when judging your own work. Because you’ve usually spent so much time with an idea that you’d never have chosen in the first place if you didn’t really like it, you’re often blind to deficiencies in the design. Other times, carvers can be their own worst critics. For me, it was a little of both this time. I found a number of things that I would change the next time, but I also was obviously happy with the overall results and a little surprised that I’d managed to finish what I’d consider an ambitious piece in the allotted time with little practice. So I guess I’d consider myself “reluctantly satisfied.” No gold this time as there was none to be had, but a very good result all the same.

    By the way, there will be more about the Ice Pro Invitational and ice at the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Show last month, so look for it soon.

  

P.S. There probably will not be a “part 3” for this story. That’s because, earlier this year, Steve and Heather Brice’s multi-block team created “Saltwater Safari” at the World Ice Art Championships. This piece placed first, showed up on TLC’s “Chainsaw Ice Sculptors: Challenge Alaska,” and of course, featured a fantastic lionfish as its showcase element.

    Carving a variation of my lionfish at the Ice Pro Invitational shortly after the TLC show aired was risky enough. Should I try to earn a gold medal at a sanctioned competition with my lionfish, the judges would likely regard it as a pale imitation of the Brice fish, which was huge, delicate, and took Steve Brice days to complete. (see below) So I’ll likely retire this design idea and cast about for a new subject for my icy endeavors. Such is the nature of ideas; they lose much of their zing when somebody has previously presented something similar, especially when it’s well done. I’d think that I could be satisfied with a nice competition win. At any rate, that’s not a bad way for a design to go out...

Heather Brice sits for a photo beneath the huge lionfish in “Saltwater Safari” at the 2010 WIAC