Before and After, take two

Filed in Before and After | 13 November, 2005

Note: The following blog entry was originally posted on "FROZEN! The Gaylord Palms ICE! blog" in 2005:

Somebody once asked the famous sculptor Michelangelo about carving a beautiful angel in stone. As legend has it, he replied: "The angel is caught inside the stone, I simply carve out everything that is not the angel."

But how do you "release" an angel from several blocks of ice?

As you can see above, the angel begins as a stack of massive blocks of ice.

A day later (above and below), the angel begins to take form.

The next day, the angel's upper body begins to appear (below).  Note that the details are all added using hand tools… not too different from the way Michelangelo carved his masterpieces.

The next day, the artisan adds definition to the angel's wings (below).

As work is completed (below), the true beauty of the angel shows through, even without the dramatic lighting that will be added later. 

Before and After, take one

Filed in Before and After | 12 November, 2005

Note: The following blog entry was originally posted on "FROZEN! The Gaylord Palms ICE! blog" in 2005:

Everything within the ICE! attraction begins as a 400-pound block of ice.  In order to create "life size" carvings, these huge blocks of ice are stacked on top of one another to create the appropriate size needed.  In the photo below, the "Victorian Fantasy" scene begins to take shape.  just the day before, the Christmas tree was a stack of green ice.  What could they be creating now?

As you can see in the picture below taken one day later, the pile of ice is being transformed into a rendition of a man and a woman, catching an innocent "smooch" under the mistletoe.

One day later, an artisan carves (below) the intricate details into the woman's dress.  Notice the designer's rendering, which is attached to the ice for easy reference.

Later that day, another artisan (below) touches up the details on the male figure.