TheStar.com - The iceman cometh
Tue. Aug. 22, 2006. | Updated at 01:36 PM
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TheStar.com - The iceman cometh
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The iceman cometh
Aug. 19, 2006. 01:00 AM
NANCY WHITE
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At a lavish wedding reception recently, a place of honour went to a hunk of ice. Carvers had spent 30 hours chiselling and chipping,
creating a 2.5-metre long glacial replica — with detailed windows, balcony and stairs — of the groom's childhood home.
"We wanted something unique," explains Ashok Shah, father of the groom. "The childhood home represents traditional values,
sentiments, spiritual uplifting."
Besides, it got a lot of "Wows." Guests talked about it — it was an icebreaker — and took pictures of it. For about eight hours, that
is, until it melted away.
"Good things never last a long time," says Shah philosophically. "That's what life is."
Ice sculptures aren't just classic swans, lovebirds and monogrammed hearts anymore. How about a shimmering curtain of ice
beads, a glistening Venus de Milo torso, a 5.5-metre icy Eiffel Tower? (The groom proposed in Paris and wanted a symbol of the
romantic city at the wedding.)
Tired of flowers, or perhaps intent on a symbolic statement, some people send a "Rest in Peace" cross of ice to funerals.
There are practical, if still whimsical, uses for frigid sculptures, such as a martini glass made from ice served from a 2-metre bar
carved from, what else, ice. For the perfectly chilled drink, consider a luge — a track inside an ice sculpture. The beverage is poured
in one end and comes out the other, cold.
"At a party, it helps get the buzz going," says Heidi Bayley, general manager of Iceculture.
The luge, some say, originated at fraternity parties with rough tracks chiselled in a block of ice leading to a waiting mouth. Today
luges come in any form, including a one-metre naked female or male body shape ($400 each from Iceculture) for stag and stagette
parties. Or, for the cost-conscious yet kinky, body parts: about $200 for a half-metre long penis luge. The iceman cometh, as it
were.
For more G-rated uses, crystal clear ice blocks are whittled into vases; chillers for wine or ice cream; seafood and fruit platters;
shot glasses; and perfect small globes, instead of cubes, for fine liqueurs. At one wedding, the sorbet dessert was served in glass
slippers of ice.
"It made such a dramatic impression," says Russell Day, vice-president of Daniel et Daniel Event Creation and Catering. "People are
blown away by ice sculpture."
So what's the big deal? It's just frozen water. Day thinks that's part of the appeal. "It's so familiar, yet morphed into something so
beyond what you'd expect it to be."
A traditional Japanese art, ice carving has been transformed by the use of power tools and, most recently, by computerized
machines. An object's design is in a computer, which guides a router in cutting the ice.
That saves on many blue-fingered man hours, especially for mass-produced items such as glasses or plates. At Iceculture, a shot
glass costs $1, a martini glass with stem, $10.
Some of the latest innovations — such as Iceculture's 4.8-metre tall, 1.5-metre wide curtain of ice beads —takes engineering knowhow to design and install. The company, based in Hensall, Ont., north of London, once built a 9-metre long, 4 metre high ice bridge
over Rockefeller Center's skating rink for a four-hour event, and worked with NASA to produce ice projectiles for tests for the space
shuttle.
But old-fashioned hand-crafted artistry is still de rigueur, particularly for custom works. At Golden Chefs in North York, a master
carver spent 20 hours painstakingly creating a 2.7-metre long Cinderella centrepiece — castle, carriage and horses — for a wedding
last month, says owner Gamini Hemalal. Also a carver, Hemalal learned the skill at a culinary institute. His firm did the replica of
the groom's house.
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TheStar.com - The iceman cometh
Sculptors use only flawless ice blocks, created through several filtration systems and reverse osmosis. It can take four days to
produce a slab.
A carver at The Iceman in downtown Toronto, Robert Amato learned the skill in the U.S. He's found that wood workers make good
ice carvers. "The same principles apply, but ice isn't as forgiving as wood," he says.
On the hottest day of the year, Amato is working inside a minus 12C freezer, drilling feathers into an ice swan's wings. A hunk of
ice with the rough outline of a fish stands nearby. "It's an art," says Amato, also vice president of sales and operations. "We can
change a 300-pound block of ice into something magical."
Magical and fleeting. Every ice sculpture has its witching hour. Depending on the surrounding temperature, most will last about six
to eight hours, although fine details will disappear sooner, says Amato. It all lands in a drip tray, where ice art goes to die.
Some people think, why pay money for, well, a puddle. But the ice pros see beauty in the melting, in watching the sculpture change
shape.
"To see the ice melting is very emotional, very touching," says Hemalal. "This was only for your event. It's very personal."
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