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Down in San Diego, California, when the weather gets cold, we San Diegans don't just curl up by the fire and sip hot chocolate, we brave the elements and seek adventure! We bundle up fight the bone-chilling 70 degree weather just for an opportunity to partake in a glorious family tradition: the making of San Diego "Snow" Castles.
These monstrous "snow" sculptures aren't very difficult to make, and prove to be worth the effort when your castle becomes the envy of the bea- I mean "snow drift", and people ask you if they can take pictures with it. That's the payoff- knowing that you're better than everyone else! Muahahahahahahah!
*Ahem* well, anyway, for those with access to any type of San Diego "snow" or even actual snow, this project is easy and fun for the whole family (and random people that want to help you, just to take partial credit)!
~Note~ There are several castles that were involved in the making of this Instructable and some steps will involve pictures of one castle or the other. For my purposes, just imagine that they are one castle in order for it all to make sense.
~Also!~ I'm not totally done with this Instructable, I'm still adding lots of things (including pictures, and lots of them!) Please comment and tell me what I could do better!
These monstrous "snow" sculptures aren't very difficult to make, and prove to be worth the effort when your castle becomes the envy of the bea- I mean "snow drift", and people ask you if they can take pictures with it. That's the payoff- knowing that you're better than everyone else! Muahahahahahahah!
*Ahem* well, anyway, for those with access to any type of San Diego "snow" or even actual snow, this project is easy and fun for the whole family (and random people that want to help you, just to take partial credit)!
~Note~ There are several castles that were involved in the making of this Instructable and some steps will involve pictures of one castle or the other. For my purposes, just imagine that they are one castle in order for it all to make sense.
~Also!~ I'm not totally done with this Instructable, I'm still adding lots of things (including pictures, and lots of them!) Please comment and tell me what I could do better!
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Signing UpStep 1Tools Needed
For these "Snow" Castles to work, you only really need a few necessities, most of which aren't very hard to acquire.
They are:
-The bottom forms
-We use tar paper sheets, which are strong and long enough for the bottom two forms
-A good tar paper form should fully overlap itself circumference-wise about two times around for
proper strength
-The top form
-We use a five-gallon bucket with the bottom cut out, but anything round that is open topped and
open bottomed and slightly flared will do
-Clamps to hold the forms together
-Three to four per tier you intend on doing
-Any clamps will work: bar clamps, c-clamps, locking clamps
-Shovels (flat and round)
-Bring at least one shovel per two people for MAXIMUM POWER!!
-Flat shovels work great for removing large chunks of "snow" from the sculpture
-Buckets
-Just for hauling water to your forms
-Sculpting tools
-Personally, I bought a pottery tools kit to use, the potter's rib is especially great for awesome
effects
-Forks, knives, and spoons make nice patterns and work fairly well for general shaping (as well as
keeping the little ones busy making "windows")
-If available, sand toys work fantastically for mild sculptage
-Some sort of small inner diameter hose, roughly 1.5' long
-Very helpful for blowing off little bits of "snow" that end up in all the little corners that they don't
belong in
They are:
-The bottom forms
-We use tar paper sheets, which are strong and long enough for the bottom two forms
-A good tar paper form should fully overlap itself circumference-wise about two times around for
proper strength
-The top form
-We use a five-gallon bucket with the bottom cut out, but anything round that is open topped and
open bottomed and slightly flared will do
-Clamps to hold the forms together
-Three to four per tier you intend on doing
-Any clamps will work: bar clamps, c-clamps, locking clamps
-Shovels (flat and round)
-Bring at least one shovel per two people for MAXIMUM POWER!!
-Flat shovels work great for removing large chunks of "snow" from the sculpture
-Buckets
-Just for hauling water to your forms
-Sculpting tools
-Personally, I bought a pottery tools kit to use, the potter's rib is especially great for awesome
effects
-Forks, knives, and spoons make nice patterns and work fairly well for general shaping (as well as
keeping the little ones busy making "windows")
-If available, sand toys work fantastically for mild sculptage
-Some sort of small inner diameter hose, roughly 1.5' long
-Very helpful for blowing off little bits of "snow" that end up in all the little corners that they don't
belong in
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