Editors notes. I am going to show this project over 6 posts with each having a separate section for The Making Of and the sculpture itself as well as some other musings I may have along the way. I know Christmas is just gone. Please don't think my posts are late, just very very early.

Firstly, an apology! I am sorry about the quality of the photos in these posts. Most are from my camera phone and it was very challenging lighting to shoot by. They say that the best camera in the world is the one you have with you but in this case, I am not so sure. I really should have taken a better one with me knowing that I would not get to return to the site for a while.
However, The images are the ones I have to tell the story so we will have to work with them and let our imagination fill in the rest.

'Twas the night before Christmas...well, actually the 20th of November 2015 and I had to get this exhibition in place before I flew to another project in Holland the next morning. I was all anxious and in a hurry. I was returning to Funtasia in Drogheda to make an ice exhibition for the Christmas season. You may remember my post about working for these guys before and the fun times I had trying to salvage the project and then taking ages to get paid.

Well, they came back to me and wanted to do another project. I played hardball and reminded them of their past indiscretions. The cost had now gone up and I wanted half upfront and half immediately on delivery. I also wanted complete control of the theme and a bowl of M&Ms with all the purple ones taken out. Surprisingly They said yes to all my demands and I prepared a contract. (We agreed to waive the M&Ms).

The Making of (montage 1)

I set to work organising my materials. Sculpting Ice is not something that you can just buy down your local QuickyMart. Luckily I can make some myself with a machine I bought along with some colleagues and I have a close relationship with another supplier that also has a large freezer room which I could use as a studio for a few weeks. Unfortunately, that meant the transporting of ice from my studio which was over the other side of the Dublin mountains.

Don't try this at home kids

I converted my Toyota Yaris into a flatbed truck and two at a time, I ferried the blocks over the mountains. Although my little car complained a bit it got the job done. I was just lucky I wasn't stopped by the police or got into any accidents. It was like carrying two bath tubs full of water at a time and was all a bit scary.

Once I had a few blocks made and in the freezer, I started making each of the six scenes. I had chosen the story of following the 'Chain of custody' that happens from the point of where you send your letter to Santa to actually getting your gifts on Christmas morning.

There is that time when imaginations get overactive, wondering will Santa actually get the message and be able to source the required toy in time. I just remember from my own childhood that this period was a time of worried excitement, all coming to a head on Christmas morning.

I wanted to tell a story that children could relate to and give them hope that Santa and his helpers had everything under control.

Scene 1 (Dear Santa,)

Whatever part of the world you are in you may have variations on this chain of events but these are mine and I am sticking by them.

When I was young I remember we had to write our letters to Santa starting with 'Dear Santa, I hope you are well.'. before requesting just one toy; a ball, a truck or a dolly. Then there was a ceremony where we all gathered around the fire and let the hot flames suck the letters up the chimney beginning their journey to Santa. They were magical evenings with all the family involved.

Nowaday, these letters are more like Ransome demands with large lists of corporate branded
plastic. The promise is to be good and do what we used to do out of respect for our parents. I still try to keep the magic alive for my son and keep these old traditions alive.

40 days later

As I said at the beginning, I had lots of international work to do. Finally, I got to return with my camera to the exhibition and take these photos.
Lots of the details had worn away due to the audience and air movement. The letter was gone but the fire was still burning. I had bought lots of led Christmas tree lights and they worked great as lighting.

The flickering red under the logs gave this scene a nice focal point. I was annoyed that they had just placed black plastic as a backdrop to the sculptures instead of black cloth, as I had requested. It made it look like Dexter had done the interior design.

Join me next time to see what happens to the letter then.

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Ps

Thanks for reading. I use PeakD to document my work as an ephemeral Sculptor of sand, snow and ice, amongst other things. This will hopefully give it a new life on the Hive Blockchain. Below you will find some of my recent posts.

Corona Extra - sand sculpture

Corona Extra - ice sculpture

Angelus - sand sculpture

I hope you'll join me again soon
@ammonite

If you would like to support me

Bitcoin: bc1qp4lfg0ttz66nesgff8fd5unglg9y0l2jy53j36
Ethereum: 0x6abaE039b9BDFB67495A0588cb90F9EAF5f7556c
Eos: ammonitearts

I am also starting to create NFTs of my sculptures and welcome you to my gallery where you can own a bit of ephemeral sculpture history.

[//]:# (!pinmapple 53.705551 lat -6.364112 long Santa's supply Chain (Part 1) - ice sculpture 2015 d3scr)