The next step in the Santa supply chain was the workshop. It is a little known fact that Mrs. Claus or Maria as her husband calls her runs this part of the operation. Behind every great man, there has to be a great woman. When Christmas was a much smaller operation around 35 AD Maria lovingly made all of the toys by hand. She was a renaissance woman be it in textile or electronic circuitry. As time went on and more countries became Christian she just couldn't keep up and so learned the greatest skill of all, delegation. Elves from Elvenstonia were seasonal workers that were happy to accept the work due to the record unemployment in their own country.
The workshop
My fourth scene for the ice sculpture exhibition was my largest. I had lots of fun putting it together from all the parts I made off-site. It was like a large lego set which I had no plans for. I just made elements that I thought would be interesting and then assembled them into a composition when I got to the exhibition freezer.
I wanted to play with the idea that even Santas workshop needed to keep up with industrialisation. I had Elves of course but in this modern-day and age, I had a CNC machine, a robot arm and a Conveyor belt.
I also had Maria Claus giving the plans from the previous sculpture to one of the elves.
The Making of (montage 4)
Making each of the elements was fun for me. I don't know why I thought a CNC machine was a good idea but set about making one which was quite accurate if I do say so myself. I probably spent too much time on it too, more time than translated to joy from the audience. Funnily enough, when I was installing it, as I lifted it into position it broke into several pieces. I was upset because of the amount of time it took me. Sometimes when things like this happen you curse at the sky and stamp your feet like a child. I held it together and tried to think if this could be an opportunity for creativity.
I positioned the Robot arm beside it and had an elf trying to wrestle one of the broken parts from the claw. This gave me the added story that the machines were fighting and like in this present world, introducing machines into the production line can be more trouble than it is worth.
I made a conveyor belt for carrying the toy away to the packaging department, every factory needs a conveyor belt. On top, I made what I figured little boys and girls (and me) wanted for Christmas. A toy car, a dolly and a drone (hint hint!)
At the other end, I placed maria handing a scroll to an Elf. This was the design for the toy which my story was following. Once the machines stopped fighting he would quickly get to work.
Maria herself was made in a few parts which I stuck together into the pose. She was much young than Santa. This kind of work keeps you young.
40 days later
Things had changed a good bit when I finally got back to the exhibition after 40 days and nights. This was because the sculpture was very close to the airflow from the freezer unit. Most details was gone from the surfaces.
I had used an ever-changing colour led strip on this sculpture, placing it inside the conveyor belt. I liked the way it changed the mood of the whole scene.
The rotor blades from the drone were gone. Melted away, like my dreams of getting one for Christmas. Overall the scene still looked OK. In some places, the melting had made some elements look more delicate.
There are still a few sculptures in this series to go. Thanks to those who are still with me and I'll be back with the next one as soon as I can.
Ps
Thanks for reading. I use PeakD to document my work as an ephemeral Sculptor of sand, snow and ice, amongst other things. This will hopefully give it a new life on the Hive Blockchain. Below you will find some of my recent posts.
Santa's supply chain (Part 3) - ice sculpture
Santa's supply chain (Part 2) - ice sculpture
Santa's supply chain (Part 1) - ice sculpture
I hope you'll join me again soon
If you would like to support me
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I am also starting to create NFTs of my sculptures and welcome you to my gallery where you can own a bit of ephemeral sculpture history.
[//]:# (!pinmapple 53.705511 lat -6.364124 long Santa's supply chain (Part 4) - ice sculpture 2015 d3scr)