Below, you’ll see my “Stars” design. I recently added this design to the site, but I indicated that I’d use it to illustrate a technique. I’ll show you what’s necessary to make this sculpture into a luge piece that you can pour liquids through.

    Luges have become VERY popular in the last few years. In fact, the other day, a friend asked me somewhat sarcastically: “Do you make every sculpture into a luge?!” Sometimes it seems this way.

    Somewhat on purpose, this design is a very appropriate piece to convert into a luge. In most cases, however, some small design changes, a little bit of cutting, and some tubing and a funnel are all that it takes to covert a standard sculpture into a luge. I have to say that Maurie Pearson was the one who first suggested this technique to me and it’s been a very useful one over the last few years.

    The first things you need for a luge are entry and exit points for the liquid. The entry point must be above the exit point. Usually, I keep a little extra ice at the entry point so I can cut a little larger hole for the funnel to sit in (please see the drawing below, which shows the back side of the luge sculpture.) Usually it’s best to have the exit point be a spot where the liquid has no place to go but off of the sculpture. This helps the liquid to flow more efficiently into the glass and saves a lot of wasted product. If the bartender is supposed to stand behind the sculpture and the guest in front, then I try to put the entry point on the upper left side and the exit point on the lower right. This way, both the bartender and the guest can use their right hands for the drink pour and catch. I also try not to put the entry point up very high, because if you do, that will be the d

ay that the very short bartender works, and he or she will have to use a ladder to pour the drinks.

    When you cut the track for the tubing, drill your entry point down, your exit point up, and cut your track from the back of the sculpture. Make sure that you carefully connect the cuts so that it results in a smooth, continuous track to feed the tubing into (again, see the drawing to the left.) Make sure your tubing is CLEAN and warm (it bends easier and doesn’t kink as easily if it’s warm) and feed it into the track. I use Watts clear vinyl tubing with in outside diameter of 5/8” and an inside diameter of 1/2”. It usually has a blue line on the label (see the photo at the bottom.) This type of tubing is designed for food and water uses and can be found at Home Depot or Lowe’s in the plumbing department. It’s a little larger tubing, but I find that it fits onto the “funnel” more easily. Leave at least six inches of excess tubing hanging out of both the entry and exit. After it’s in the track, cover the backside cut with wet slush (it’s not as white and noticeable as dry snow) that you pack in tightly. Then allow the slush to freeze in the freezer. If there’s not much excess slush on your sculpture, then you can leave the sculpture like this until set-up. Otherwise, clear off any excess after it’s frozen into the track.

    At set-up, make a clean, straight cut, close to the ice, on the entry side of the tubing and attach the funnel.

Then, grab the excess exit side tubing and pull the tubing through until the funnel is seated properly. Take care that you don’t crack the funnel or disconnect it from the tube. In the photo at the bottom, I show two types of “funnels” that you can use. They’re actually disposable plastic glassware from a party supply store and you cut off the bottom of the stem to make a funnel. I have another article entry about this here. The drawing to the left shows the back of the sculpture and shows how the tubing and funnel are positioned inside. Cut off any excess exit side tubing and pour liquid through the luge to make sure that it’s not blocked. If your carving is very cold, keep the rest of it covered and make sure not to spill anything on it while you’re testing the luge, or you may fracture your piece.

    Do not test your luge with water before you put it in the freezer unless you’re sure that you got all of the liquid out (no, you can’t blow through it to make sure!) or the extra water will freeze and block your tubing. You CAN test your luge before or while it’s in the freezer if you use vodka, which won’t freeze unless it’s VERY cold. I used to keep a bottle of vodka in my studio freezer for this purpose, although many would assume that it was for other purposes.

    There’s a lot more to say about luges and I’ll expand on this topic in several upcoming entries.

    If you would like to use this design or any other design on this site, please check the design usage guidelines. The design collection page lists designs on the site.

The following comment was on the original blog entry. After some technical difficulties, the blog had to be reconstructed, and this was the only way to keep the original comments.

1 Comment

nick

great idea. so many times customers would ask me to produce a louge with a hose in the ice three days before the event, and i simply thought it was impossible. however, i did come up with an idea. for example, with your star design, after cutting out the sculpture i would turn it sideways and cut with my saw 3/4 of the way through sculpture, as i pushed down with the bar i would drag it out creating a slide. never the less, the backingfilling idea is great and i'm sure i'll use it in the future.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007 - 01:43 PM