I’m trying to think of all the times that sculptures have fallen. Fortunately, it hasn’t happened much to me. It’s always scared me to think about the possibility of my ice falling during an event and hitting a guest, especially a child. This has made me sometimes overly cautious, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing considering the stakes. The only two times that I’ve had major falls was after the event was over (not counting competitions). Once a vase fell after a bridal show and another time, a reindeer fell after Sunday brunch. I’ve been lucky, but I’ve also helped to make my own luck.

    I’ve been around other ice carvings where things haven’t gone as well. Probably the worst was when a large piano sculpture fell off a very high display during a holiday Sunday brunch when I lived in Albuquerque. I had nothing to do with the sculpture, but I happened to show up just after it happened because I was looking to see what the major hotels were doing for their brunches. Apparently, they had failed to put fabric or something down to keep the sculpture from sliding around on the plastic support it was sitting on. The sculpture wasn’t set up on a standard tray, so after a while, it just fell off of the display. Fortunately, it fell off the side that WASN’T the same as the kids’ buffet. That could have been a disaster; everyone was fortunate that it wasn’t.

    Recently, another carver in town had a carving fall during an event. I wasn’t there again, but you sure hear about it after the fact if an ice sculpture falls. The bartender at the event said that when he had his back turned he heard a big crash. He turned back around and the carving had slid off the table. As I said, I wasn’t there, but I’m pretty sure that the first mistake was again that the carving was placed directly on the plastic tray, without anything to keep it from sliding around. (It’s also likely that the tray was set up improperly or that the base of the carving was too small)When I set up sculptures, I make it a point to place a single layer of white fabric (like a single cloth dinner napkin) under at least part of my sculpture. This will keep the sculpture in place and is vital if you have to attach anything to the carving. If a cloth napkin isn’t available, then I’ll use bevnaps or a paper towel. If the sculpture isn’t underlit, then I’ll place the carving directly on a tablecloth and bunch the rest of the tablecloth around the base of the carving like a “cloud.” Make sure in this case that the tablecloth doesn’t go outside the tray or you’ll have water on the table or the floor as the tablecloth soaks up the water in the tray and lets it drip out. What’s important, though, is that you keep your sculpture in one place. You don’t need something that is already melting to be moving too.

P.S. There are other ways to keep your sculpture in place and I have a lot more to say about what happens when the ice falls.