A portion of the logo in this ice sculpture was replicated by freezing a printed transparency into the sculpture.



After we left New Orleans in the fall of 2005, I sculpted ice in a number of different places. For a little while during this period, I worked with David Van Camp at Ice Visions in St. Louis. Not surprisingly, I learned some new things about ice sculpting while I was there.

One of the most useful techniques that I picked up from David was his use of transparencies for color logo ice sculptures. At the time, David had just gotten an I-Sculpt CNC machine and it hadn’t become part of his production routine. So for color logo pieces, they would print out transparencies and freeze them into blocks. This works pretty well when you use the big 11”x17” transparencies that you can sometimes find at print shops. (We used to get them at FedEx Office shops, but that’s become more difficult lately.) The maximum width of a printed logo is thus about 16 inches, which is just about perfect when you’re working with a 20 inch wide ice block.

Here are a few ice sculptures by Ice Visions that illustrate the potential of freezing transparencies into the ice prior to carving.









David also has a useful tip for holding the transparencies in place while they freeze into the block: try the lead weights used for fishing. These come in a variety of shapes and sizes and are widely available at stores like Wal-Mart. David recommended using weights at least as large as a marble. Flatten a side with a hammer if you choose round weights; that will limit their tendency to roll. Once the edges of the transparency have frozen in place, remove the weights; David mentioned that the weights are slow to freeze into the ice. (Regardless, don’t leave them in for long!)

Lead is toxic and can get into water, so if the finished sculpture is to be used for food display or as a luge, perhaps you should err on the side of caution and use another method to hold the transparency in place. That said, clear block freezing is somewhat of a purification process and cold water dissolves lead poorly, so it’s unlikely that much or any lead would get into the ice, especially with such short exposure. Any lead that did dissolve would also likely stay in the water. However, according to the EPA, there is no safe exposure level to lead in water and concentration levels above 15 parts per billion in a municipal water system require action to lessen the contamination. Long term lead buildup in the body causes lead poisoning, resulting in kidney damage and high blood pressure in adults and impaired physical and mental development in children. So freeze accordingly.

If you don’t have the time or an available ice block maker, you can freeze transparencies within welds. The transparencies are thin enough that you can carefully place one in the center of a larger aluminum weld and the weld will form around it, locking the transparency in place.

As much I liked the look of the printed transparencies frozen into clear ice, I eventually decided that I liked another method just as much. In this method, the transparencies are backed with white snow. The white snow catches and diffuses light behind the logo, brightening it and making it more visible and eye-catching. In addition, as with the welding method above, you have more control over the position of the logo in the sculpture and you don’t have to go to the trouble of freezing it into the block or even have access to an ice block maker.





To back a transparency with snow, the transparency is either placed at the front of a backfill, or it’s sandwiched between two pieces of ice, with one of the pieces having a snowfilled portion to back and surround the logo. The diagrams below show the two methods. In both diagrams the sculpture would be lying down; in the first the front of the sculpture would be facing down, while in the second, the front faces upward. In both cases, the ice in front of the transparency should be as clear and as flat as possible, so as to offer the best visibility.





To print out color transparencies, it’s generally best to first print the image on paper and then use a color copier to transfer it to the transparency. The color toner from copiers is much more water resistant than ink from inkjet printers usually are. FedEx Office locations used to have Xerox color copiers that could handle 11”x17” transparencies in their bypass trays. However, David told me that that is no longer the case; they recently started switching to Canon copiers. He did find an OfficeMax location that had a Xerox model that would work, so it’s likely you could do the same if necessary. Besides, you don’t have to use the oversized transparencies. Many times, I’ve used normal 8.5”x11” transparencies; if I needed a larger logo, I would Scotch tape them together. Taping on the unprinted side works better and it’s very difficult to see the taped joints if you’re careful. When making your copies, it helps to use the copier’s settings to boost the print’s saturation and density on the transparencies. Otherwise, you might find that the transparency within the ice has a washed out look.

If you do want to use 11”x17” transparencies and would like to find them online, David gets his from 11x17.com and I recently ordered some from coastalbusiness.com. Currently, you can usually get them for somewhat less than a dollar per transparency, even with shipping.



The use of color transparencies is often an effective and eye-catching way of adding a bit of color to your ice sculptures. The technique can serve as a reasonable substitute for color backfill techniques that can require an expensive CNC machine in the case of complex multicolor pieces. In addition, with transparencies, smooth gradients and other color effects are possible, which are otherwise often not possible even when using a CNC. Beginner-level carvers can use the technique to enhance their ice work and even high end ice sculpture studios will make use of the technique. For example, you might have noticed in the Ice Visions pieces above that the snowfilled lettering in the sculptures was done by a CNC. David Van Camp has an I-Sculpt CNC machine with which he can do color backfill pieces, but he still uses the transparency technique where it’s appropriate. If you’ve never tried it, hopefully you can use this technique to enhance your ice work. If you’re already using the technique, then maybe you found a tip to make the process easier.

You might also find photos and info from this entry on the ice carving secrets facebook page and you can comment there as well as below. Thanks!

Tags: logos, color, Ice Visions, transparencies, snowfill engraving, David Van Camp, water safety, aluminum welding method