sea turtle
08/04/2011 01:37 Filed in: ice sculpture designs
a sea turtle ice sculpture at the 2011 OC Fair Ice Museum in Costa Mesa, CA
This sea turtle design, like the earlier manta ray piece, was part of the 2011 Orange County Fair Ice Museum in Costa Mesa, CA (put together by Carving Ice). There will also be a reef shark design as a result of that event.
This turtle design is based on the green sea turtle (named as such not because they’re green on the outside; they have a layer of green fat under their shell), but it’s not a completely faithful adaptation. It is close, however. You’ll notice that the design has more support than the pictured version. The pictured version was more delicate than I would like for a melting sculpture; the Ice Museum generally remains below freezing through the duration of the fair, so less structural support is required.
Male sea turtles typically have larger tails than the females. For this design, the tail is kind of medium sized. Scale details are present in the design, but you may decide that’s more detail than necessary. (I did only a small amount scale detail on the piece for the museum.) The silhouette is the most important aspect; the shell/head/front flippers combination is what counts. The shell pattern is also vital. One aluminum weld is required for the right flipper.
Sea turtles have prominent and distinctive eyes, so the photo of a hawksbill sea turtle is provided below for reference. This photo is courtesy of Tom Doeppner and Wikipedia.
The turtle’s shell pattern was taken from the illustration below (which is in the public domain). The drawing also shows the ventral (underside) shell pattern, which you might find helpful.
The pattern on the turtle’s shell is quite geometric
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!
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