Ice Carvings & Wood Sculptures
All ice carvings prior to late 2011 done without power tools. Later ice carvings done using a chainsaw, a drill, and some hand tools. More recently, he added a die grinder with a few bits to the toolkit. It helped. All the water was frozen in backyards or cut from Woods Lake in Governor Thompson State Park near Crivitz, Wisconsin for candlelight ski events in February. Wood carvings done with power tools using donated wood or trees cut down from the yard.
Carvings shown in chronological order from first attempts at the top of the page to the most recent at the bottom.
2009 Starting with homemade ice, frozen outside in an old metal drawer...
Heart in wicker basket
Candelabra, of sorts
Mini snowman
Swan
Swan in warming shelter with ice candles
2010 also frozen outside in an old metal drawer... There was a lot of experimentation and learning techniques.
Practice pine
Another pine
Hourglass
Hobby horse
Comic penguin
8" gnome
Mini Christmas tree
Pumpkin, about the size of a bowling ball
Locomotive
Eagle. First use of multiple blocks.
Wedding cake
Gnome
Gnome, close-up
For her birthday
Turtle looking to the side
Winnie the Pooh out of snow
And Piglet, too!
Raccoon
Donations benefit the Friends of the Park group
Skier with wooden poles
Skier on the trail
Wizard torso holding glowing globe
Some kid saw it and said, "It's Harry Potter!" Not really, but ok, if he said so.
Lighthouse with clear ice light.
Emperor penguin
Sculptures waiting to go out on trails
Xmas stocking for a work party
2011 Drawer ice & some packed snow sculptures.
The Abominable Snow Monster
Does it look like the banjo-playing snowman from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?
Both sitting outside the house
An ice candle
Snow seahorse
Mini Santa
Ice seahorse while still being carved
Seahorse, final version
Hand-cut snowflake
Another donation box
A family of hearts
Jumping fish, in progress
Fish, final version.
Dog
Chumley the Walrus from the Tennessee Tuxedo cartoon
Chumley, 1/4 view
Alligator head
Multi-block alligator body
Frog under toadstool
2012 - Extra warm temps kept carving to a minimum, and mostly had to be wooden.
2013 - Lake ice!
Ice harvest
More ice harvesting
Another alligator
Rabbit
Snowman
Another turtle
Turtle lit up on the trail.
6-block throne without ornamentation
Peacock in warming shelter
2014 - Lake ice!
4' eagle. Weighed about 250 lbs.
Chinese dragon
Dragon & eagle in carving shed
Annual donation box
Log
Owl #1
Owl #2
Owls on the log
Wolf climbing on rocks
2015 - Pond ice. Upper layer was cloudy & brown, lower more clear, but still rather opaque.
Rabbit
Squirrel
Tiki god
Daschund
Some guy who kept hanging out near the carvings
As my grandfather used to say, "I can row a boat - Canoe?"
Spongebob
2016 - Pond ice. Extra warm temps this year made it much harder.
Blocks waiting to be worked on
Hard to tell with the melt, but this is an octopus.
Friendly turtle
Mini mermaid
Also hard to tell with the temps that day, but this was a starfish riding a seahorse like a cowboy. Melted almost as fast as it could be made.
6-block snail. Had to be engineered so it could be completely taken apart and transported by snowmobile to where it was displayed.
The melt really hit the snail hard that year.
2017 - Lake ice! Very warm temperatures, and first attempts at ice flower carving.
Snowman outline
Annual donation box
Comic king outline
State of Wis. outline
2018 - Lake ice, but it was a bit cloudy.
Experimented a bit making colored ice for Christmas before the season started.
Was the first year we got help with the harvest, thanks to the Friends of Governor Thompson State Park group.
A candle
It's an ornament.
Before ice can be cut, the area has to be cleared and a grid scored into the surface.
An artic explorer
Everybody loves dogs.
Eager beaver
An angry owl
3-block peacock
Still life flowers
2-block spider web
Spider body
Sitting hawk
Hollow donation box is displayed in warming shelter to help the Friends of the Park.
6-block throne
2019 - Lake ice.
Pink flower
Blue flower side of ice globe
Red flower side of ice globe
Camel
Turtle sliding down a hill in his own shell. Carved in reverse in back side of block, and then hand painted. Did not photograph well.
Penguin outline
Kid with spyglass, carved in shallow relief. (From an old public domain comic book. White ice shavings not removed for picture clarity.)
Snow eyeball by request from co-workers.
Snow-draped pine carved from back of block.
Treasure chest donation box used in warming shelter.
Another pair of white flowers
Ice octopus at night
Flower in 12-sided display
Blue flower