Ice Sculpture Goes High Tech

If you're willing to make an investment in your ice catering career, you don't need to be Michelangelo to create spectacular ice sculptures. Today, machine-cut sculptures can be crafted in a fraction of the time it takes a sculptor to turn out an original figure. Follow in the footsteps of these ice catering pioneers, and you just might turn an ice cold catering career into hot, hot, hot profits.

If you’re willing to make an investment in your ice catering career, you don’t need to be Michelangelo to create spectacular ice sculptures. Today, machine-cut sculptures can be crafted in a fraction of the time it takes a sculptor to turn out an original figure. Follow in the footsteps of these ice catering pioneers, and you just might turn an ice cold catering career into hot, hot, hot profits.

Hobby to Career: Julian Bayley’s “Ice Culture”

Since 1999 when Julian Bayley modified a $45,000 computer-guided router with subzero wiring and added a $5,000 ice lathe, he’s steadily grown an ice catering career based on CAD-carved beauty. Now, Bayley caters celebrity events like Elton John’s annual White Tie and Tiara charity gala and supplies 125 8-foot-long ice bars to Nolet Spirits of California to promote its Ketel One vodka brand. He also sells his routers and lathes.

Catering Ice: Basic Training

If you want a job in catering gorgeous icy creations, you’ll need the right ice to do it. Clear block ice is machine made, frozen from the bottom up to rid the water of impurities. One side of a sculpture is cut to half depth; then the ice block’s turned over and the router carves the opposite side. The piece then gets a hand-polishing with—what else?—a warm water bag. When displayed, even a small clear block ice sculpture can last six to eight hours.

Icy Fantasies Cater to Individuals and Corporations Alike

The dolphin centerpiece popular at weddings and buffets that takes an experienced sculptor an hour to create can be machine-made in 12 minutes. An intricate corporate logo taking three to six hours to hand carve can be router-cut in 20 minutes. Other icy catering creations range from huge free-standing bars with ice luges down which drinks can be poured to small shot glasses—popular for ice-breakers, of course.

If you have creative vision and you’re ready to make an investment in your tools, your job in catering could mean turning water into profit.

References:

• Nadeau’s Ice Sculptures, Inc.
• “NC router shapes ice art.” Machine Design.
• “The Small Chill,” by Chana R. Schoenberger. Forbes 172.8 (Oct 13, 2003).

Posted on July 7, 2006 at 11:52 AM

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