Let’s say you have a large sculpture to do; something that involves more than two 300 lb. blocks of ice. And let’s say that this sculpture needs to be put at table height instead of on the floor. So you have a display that likely weighs at least 500 lbs. Let’s also say that the sculpture is for a large, litigious law firm’s holiday party. Do you think that a beat up banquet table made from thin metal tubes and a piece of particle board is the best choice for keeping the guests safe and you out of court? I didn’t think so.

    In short, it’s best to overbuild the structure that supports a large sculpture. Not only will it have to support a lot of weight for several hours during the event, it likely will also have to support additional weight during set up when you and possibly others are climbing on and off it while the sculpture is being assembled.

    One solid solution is to build a structure out of cinderblocks and place the table on top of it. The legs of the table shouldn’t even be unfolded unless they’re in the way because they probably won’t quite reach the ground (most banquet tables are 30” high while four cinderblocks adds up to 32”.) Determine the proper layout of the cinderblocks by turning the table upsidedown and position one layer of cinderblocks with the long side horizontal so that they match up with the underside of the table (see illustration above.) Then use this layout and build a support four cinderblocks high. This gives you a structure that’s about 33 inches high. (Cinderblocks are about 8”x8”x16” and the table is probably an inch thick) With a 60” round table, we recently made a cinderblock structure that supported the center and all four sides of the table. When it was set, I was able to literally jump up and down on it without it shifting or flexing at all. Then we assembled a six block sculpture on it that was another seven and a half feet tall for a total height of over ten feet. The rigidity of the underlying structure also made welding much easier as it wasn’t flexing as I was trying to match up the ice surfaces. To control the water, we simply taped together three disposable ice trays and made sure that the underside of the sculpture had grooves or spaces in it to accommodate the tray junctures. The trays were then hidden by a floral garland. Incidentally, by using a regular table on the top of the structure, it’s easy to cover the structure with regular table linens and skirting.

    Another solution that I’ve seen is to build a custom table out of welded steel. One of the casinos on the Gulf Coast that I deal with has a sturdy metal table that they often use for large sculptures. I think it even has slots cut into it to accommodate a fork lift’s forks. It also has water control built in, eliminating another hassle. However, I know this solution was not the cheapest way to go. If money is an object, then the cinderblocks, at about $1.33 each, aren’t a bad way to go. We used 32 of them the other day for a total expenditure of around $45. It wasn’t much fun moving 32 cinderblocks around, but it sure beat several hours of worrying that the table wouldn’t hold for the whole event.

    One final note: Hotels and restaurants will be tempted to use glass racks and milk crates for table reinforcement because they’re plentiful. I’ve been much happier with cinderblocks because they add weight to the bottom of the display and the end result is less top heavy. Glass racks or milk crates are certainly better than nothing, but cinderblocks can give you a structure that’s less likely to tip and because they’re smaller, cinderblocks often fit better against the underside of the table.