a manta ray ice sculpture at the 2011 OC Fair Ice Museum in Costa Mesa, CA



This manta ray piece was part of the 2011 Orange County Fair Ice Museum in Costa Mesa, CA (put together by Carving Ice). The manta ray was one of two window pieces for the museum that I did; the other was a sea turtle (The museum has a nice feature this year: nine windows to the outside that let you see some of the ice without having to venture into the cold. Last year, they had windows, but not as many.)



Manta rays are related to sharks, but they’re not generally dangerous to people; their teeth are vestigial and their tails have no stingers. They are filter feeders, feeding on fish larvae and plankton. They can, however, get very large, as large as 25 feet across. This is not all that surprising when you consider that the largest shark, the whale shark, and the largest whale, the blue whale, are also filter feeders.

The sculpture design features a manta moving upward with waves below. This is not an implausible design; manta rays will breach the surface, leaping into the air like dolphins and whales. Two views of the design are provided; the main design is the topside of the manta, while the other view is the underside. The underside shows the gill slits.



For the tips of the manta’s “wings,” two aluminum welds are required. You could do asymmetrical welds, but in this design the weld lines are parallel to match the overall symmetry of the manta and also to simplify the part creation: to make the basic part, you make it once and split it.






If you have any questions about this piece, email me or comment below. If you would like to use this ice sculpture design or any other design on this site, please check the design usage guidelines. The design collection page lists designs on the site.

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: fish, animals, sealife, aluminum welding method, OC Fair Ice Museum