Multi-block Day Two

Today was another great day! It's cold, but not too cold. Had to use the "Hoties" in my gloves and boots because my finger tips and toes got so cold they hurt. Those things work better than a hot potato. The wall is starting to look like a wall and the totum spires are getting put up. You will see a picture of a block in the slide show, notice the cracks. Those cracks weren't there when we chose the block. I don't know the dynamics of why the ice is so brittle, but I know that it is! I finished my first of 5 dog sculptures and started the second. JQ blocked this one for me to save time. We are a good team, working together well with just enough humor to keep it fun and to destress. RQ slipped on an extension cord today and had a small package of oranage juice in his pocket. The only thing that got hurt was the OJ package. The OJ ran down the outside of his snow suit onto the snow and it looked like you know what when you were rather dehydrated. We had such a good laugh. The Remarkable Kindness of a Volunteer Award for today goes to a gentleman that gave us pink hockey tape to put on the ends of the grinders. He and I had talked about my painting my tools pink so the guys wouldn't steel them. When JQ asked him for some tape, he smiled and gave him pink, just for me.




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Multi-Block Day One

We are off to a great start. Not quite as far along as we hoped, but the ice is fracturing. We had to scrap a block, but can request one replacement. The second block we set-up in the same place fractured on a diagonal. This piece is the bottom 6 feet of a 12 foot totum. If we stacked the second block on top of it, it could all slide off down the slope of the fracture line. We salvaged enough ice from one of the blocks to make two dogs. I'm on that! JQ was going to block for me, but he is needed on the longhouse wall, so I did it myself. I need to go to sleep now, I am really beat! Good night. Donna



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Multi-Block Eve

Well, tomorrow is the big day; the day the Multi-block begins. In preparation, Donna did the laundry, JQ put up the tool tent, ran errands, and did some sculpture site preparation. Jake helped a bit at the carving site then went for a walk around Fairbanks. Raul's flight from Seattle to Anchorage was cancelled so he sat around the airport waiting for a later flight. Too bad that he didn't find out it was cancelled until he got to the airport at 4 in the morning! I didn't thing you would really want a slide show or pics of the clothes spinning in the dryer, so no photos for today, but remember that you can click on the slide shows to go to the albums and see the pictures in a larger format.

You can also go to this site, http://www.icealaska.com/09/09sb/09sbdaily/09sb22.html and see the official daily update photos taken by the Ice Alaska Volunteer photographers.

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Waiting Day

Today is "Waiting Day." We wait for the judging results. We wait for team members to arrive. We wait for the Multi-block site numbers so we can start setting up. But while we wait, we play. I had a very relaxing and interesting time at the Chena Hot Springs. I found the snow crystals around the pool very beautiful and fascinating. Some of them were growing like fronds on algae. Others were many flakes formed together to make a larger flake with all its crystalline beauty on display. I wanted a photo, but the camera lens would just fog over.

JQ got all his errands run so we will be able to get our tools home after this is all over. He did a lot to prep our site for a quicker start on the big carving. We will need every minute. After I returned from the springs, I helped put the chains and blades on the saws then we ate dinner and went to the awards ceremony. Jacob Lucas, our fourth team member, also arrived this afternoon, so we chatted with him a bit.

Most of the awards went as we expected. We will get our results tomorrow since we did not place in the top 3 realistic or the 4-7th places which are a combination of realistic and abstract. There are also 3 top places in abstract, but we were not in that division. One of my favorite sculptures is the one with the bug eating the leaves. It was so well finished. The attention to detail and quality of seams was amazing. I loved the flow of the first place winner but felt the piece was not this teams best work. However, we are judged against each other and not against ourselves. The overall of this piece is astounding.

Now, let's see if we can apply what we have learned to the multi-block sculpture and come out in the top 7, or better in the top 3.
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End of Day Three

Well, it is finished. We were able to complete our "Ancient Discovery!" I am really proud of the two of us. We worked together as a team, we did our best, we pushed ourselves, we learned, and we had exhausting, body building fun! I also ate fewer donuts than last year! We had to change where the upper bear was positioned, he was just too heavy to hang on the wing. The changes worked for the sculpture, but not for the judging. We hung the bear in a wood carving manner by placing his hind foot on a ledge and his extended arm in a depression cut into the eagles shoulder. This is not the ice way. Still I am so happy with our efforts.
Special Note: Today is the first Friday of Lent. Robert and Phylis, Kitchen Volunteers (cooks-you know-the ones that feed us) remembered to fix fish for us. They are wonderful!



Being competitive, we would both like to carve a piece worthy of first place, but this one will only be first in our hearts. I am glad that I am not one of the judges - 46 sculptures to judge - many of such magnificent quality that it will be difficult to distinguish between them. The details on some of them are awesome. The curve and intricacy of the wings makes your eyes widen. The woman on the swing seems to be held up by the swing, but really she is holding up the ice ropes. Some of the pieces have moving parts that sway in the wind and interact with each other. (OOH! I know what I want to do next year. I wonder if it can be done? Can be done with our experience level? I sense a mental and physical challenge. Ooh yea!) We worked all the way to the whistle then did the site clean-up. It was great! Tomorrow, I will go to the Chiena Hot Springs and JQ will stay behind and take care of business. Don't think, "Aw, poor JQ. He has to work while Donna goes and plays." It's what he wanted to do. One benefit - he will take pics of all the sculptures and I will post an album and slide show at the end of the day. Today was a good day - NO! a Gr-r-r-r-r-eat day! Donna
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Start of Day Three

This had been a day! We are up early to eat a quick breakfast and catch the first shuttle over to the ice park. So many of the pieces are coming together beautifully. We are in doubt of even finishing and all hope of really being contenders seems lost. We are just too far behind our schedule. There won't be time for all the finish work that is needed to properly clean the sculpture. Today, we have to hang the upper bear (you know, put him up on the eagle totum, not hang him from the gallows!) and weld on the wing. Without lifting equipment it will be a challenge. We also have a lot of texturing to do. Got to run.

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End of Day Two

Another day finished and boy are we tired. Had a little trouble today learning how to to 90 degree welds. We had to make the sculpture taller and can not use the heavy lifting equipment; it all has to be done by hand or chain hoist, which we don't have. It took longer than we planned and put us a little behind schedule. To help make-up, we worked until 9:00 p.m. Uftah! We're tired.







When doing the welds, you use water squirted into the seem using a big syringe. The water freezes both in the seems and in the syringe very quickly. I had to get down off the scaffolding everytime we made a weld-all 11 or 12 of them. I sure am gald I bought that WII and used it before comeing up here! My thighs got tired but not shakey or sore ...YEA!!! Well, I need to sleep so good night, and God Bless, Donna
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Ice Alaska Day 2/Kids Park

We took a moment to walk through part of the park today and take some photos of the Kids' Park. They make these great slides and tunnels out of the ice - burr - cold bottoms. There are also these bowls that you have to have help to get out of and tops that you sit in and people spin you around. They are hard to get out of too! I climbed in one last year and could have won the "Funniest Home Videos" award trying to get out. Oh! for a video! I just had to take a photo today of one of the faces in the Kids' Park because it look like JQ had posed for the carving. He also posed in the photo-op Eskimo parka. We are having fun! Oh, Yes! In the slide show, notice the other works in process and how they freeze drawings to the ice to aid in the sculptures creation. We will use this method for parts of our multiblock.

End of Day One Ice Alaska

Wow! What a day. We came a long way with JQ doing most of the work. I am helping make the wings, being the gofer (go fer this, go fer that), and helping with clean-up and set-up. JQ is plotting, planning, and carving. What a great job he is doing! It is fun to watch the other carvers' works coming along too. There are going to be a lot of great carvings.



The temperature is perfect. It was close to Zero when we got to the Ice Park at 7:00 this morning and got up to about 10-15 degrees F later in the day. It is warm enough to work and cold enough to keep the ice looking good. Last year it was just too warm and the ice clouded and became weak. Many of the sculptures were damage and one fell before the judging.

We started carving this morning at 9:00, took a break for lunch and a nap from 12-1, then worked until 4. We took another short break then kept at it until 6, which is when dinner is served. After dinner we were too tired to go back and carve any more so we put the tools away and caught the 7:00 shuttle.

Mike, the driver is a really nice. He, Fred and Phil take good care of all the carvers transport needs. Most of the people that work at the Ice Park are volunteers. All of them are wonderful. One of the personally rewarding parts of being here again is seeing the friends we made last year. Many of them remember JQ from when he was here in 1998. One of the things I love about JQ is that people do remember him and all like and respect him. Although a few people remembered me, they remember more when I say I am Joaquin's wife. It makes me smile!

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Day One

Good morning! It's day one and we are raring to go. All the tools are assembled and waiting. The electrical is hooked up for the grinders, heater in the tent, hot pot for the glue (warm water), and of course the electrical chan saw. We mostly use the Stihl gas saws, but it is so cold that sometimes gas saws freeze. Duct tape over the cooling vents helps prevent this. The saws are starting --- so more later. Donna
Contact us at creativewoodsculptures@gmail.com