Wow, this may be the biggest solo sand pile I've ever had to work on... more then 80 feet wide and at least 15 feet tall, I'm supposed to plough through this monstrosity in only 10 days. Wish me luck!
This is the original design submitted to the organization for the proposed sculpture. I was told my theme was Travel and came up with this happy family traveling the world.
Since I am carving "Soft Pack"- that is sand that is loose and hasn't been compacted into wooden forms- I use a method of packing that involves creating tiers of compacted sand with my feet, shovel and hose. I walk along, soaking and foot packing the entire pile of sand to make sure I don't have any collapses from dry spots.
Early on, I realized I didn't have time to make a family, so I took some inspiration from the people around me....Now I'm carving a traveling couple taking a selfie!
I also started a "treasure pile" in front of my sculpture with all of the junk i'm finding in the sand. This pile is just beach sand so all sorts of things pop up. Rocks and wood chunks aren't so bad, but I found sone rusted metal and cables too. Just in case, I'm keeping my shoes on for most of this job.
On no! Vandals during the night!
Smiles are harder then they look. When working on heads this big, changing the angle of the photo can really warp the image. Every time I would go down to check my work, it looked wrong...I had to redo her mouth a few times before I finally gave up.
In the end, I decided her smile would show no teeth.
Unfortunately, I had to rush through the last few items in the sculpture. To save time, and to make the piece more personal, I added a giant post card to my family.
Final detail of the sculpture. I just barely finished the cell phone "selfie" before it got too dark to see.
The final sculpture. Too big to take a picture when standing right in font of it so I had to panorama it.
The sculpture is a hit! My favorite thing is listening to the little children read (and translate) the post card to their parents.
