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Ice Carvers At Work

Winterlude, Ottawa’s annual winter festival, started last weekend. It’s very cold and sunny right now in the nation capital and for once, no one complains about it. Cold weather means that the Rideau Canal Skateway is open and that Winterlude’s ice and snow sculptures won’t melt.

On Friday, I went to watch ice carvers at work in Confederation Park. Huge chunks of ice were being delivered and given to 35 carvers from 10 different countries. The teams quickly drew a sketch of their idea on a sheet of paper and started to work. The tools? Chainsaws, chisels and grinding tools—carving ice isn’t easy. The ballet of gloved hands cutting, carving, sculpting and polishing was fascinating as masterpieces were coming to life right in front of my eyes.

Curious to see the final results? In a couple of days!

Making a Tiger
Fine Details
Caterpillar
Ice Delivery
So, What’s The Plan?
Ice Looks Heavy
Chainsaw?
Cutting Ice
Canadian Chainsaw Massacre?
Cutting Ice
Sculpting
Cutting
The Tools
One of the Artists
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Zhu

French woman in English Canada.

Exploring the world with my camera since 1999, translating sentences for a living, writing stories that may or may not get attention.

Firm believer that nobody is normal... and it’s better this way.

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