Snow Hand

Built in London during a rare bout of heavy snow, this snow sculpture was a one-man effort that took roughly six hours to complete. It was built entirely out of snow, without any internal supports. No tools were used except for a small chair a passerby lent me so that I could reach the fingernails more easily.

Here are a few pieces of advice on snow sculpture in general and a guide to how I made this giant snow hand.

Disclaimer: Some of these photos are from my previous snow sculpture projects. One of them has been digitally edited. Hopefully it's fairly obvious which one.

Step 1 Health and safety

Warning! Snow is cold. Places with lots of snow are often cold. By standing in a place with lots of snow and playing with snow, you may also become cold. Wrap yourself up thoroughly (with waterproof trousers if possible) and be aware of signs of hypothermia.

Keep an eye out for:

• Shivering
• Numbness or tingling of your extremities and face
• An increased sense of clumsiness, confusion or difficulty concentrating
• Drowsiness or fatigue

If you notice any of these symptoms in yourself, go inside and warm up for a bit before carrying on with your sculpture. If you notice them in anyone else, consider slitting open their belly like a tauntaun's and climbing inside for warmth until help arrives.

Avoid building your snow sculptures on large frozen bodies of water or in places prone to avalanches.

Comments

[WickedSpindle]

Wow, that thing is sick. I love it! Never tried to sculpt snow but if we ever move out of So. Cal I will definitely try it now. Thanks for the instructable!

[airsoftbeast40]

hahaha the guys face in the bucket is sooooo funny!!!!!!

[bajablue]

AWESOME!

In a project like this, a backhoe with a bucket loader would come in really "HANDY"! ;-D

[poofrabbit]

Those poor moles! LOL

[ilpug]

this is amazing. suffice to say you have too much time on your hands.

[noah279878582]

agreed!

[PenfoldPlant]

Nonsense! If I'd had too much time to spare, I'd have made another hand. And arms. And probably a torso with a head.

Alas, we don't get much snow in London.

[ilpug]

London huh? thats cool, when did you do this? i thought it never snowed there, just rained. but thats my uninformed American opinion :P

[PenfoldPlant]

Yeah, usually we just build rain sculptures but they tend not to hold together very long :)

I made this about a month ago when London was hit by unexpected early snowfall.

[Arbitror]

I've seen some pretty crazy ice sculptures, but I've never seen a snow sculpture as crazy as this one!

[Z.Backas]

Thanks for the instructable!
It is part of this inspiration for this one:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-snow-couch/

[eriq9]

Beautiful bro!! I especially love that you made the 'pickin' fingernail prominent on the pointer finger! Awesome work!! We had some serious snow here just recently and I was entirely clueless about how I could use it!! Here in Georgia (USA), it doesn't happen very often...DAMN! Where has my imagination gone??

[bballtrack34]

Haha everybody give him a hand! (Pun intended) :)

[farzadbayan]

For the winner , sure !

[PenfoldPlant]

A guy can hope!
Thanks :)

[farzadbayan]

That's winner ! Good work man !

[Tom Buckey]

'This photograph has been digitally altered for comic effect.'
Possibly my favorite quote in my whole life.

Also great instructable, wish i had enough snow for this!

[PenfoldPlant]

Cheers Tom, thanks for reading!

[Tom Buckey]

How did you know my name? O.o
hehe.. But yeah I will try and make a smaller one of these next year... If it snows that is.

[splazem]

I've got to hand it to you, that is one cool snow structure. Check out How To Make A Calvin And Hobbes Snowman, and tell me if you like it.

[killersquirel11]

(link)

[Scruffymuffin]

You need a giant snow skull and a few snow lines of shakespeare and a snow Globe.

[Purple Guy]

Yours is most definitely the best. I decided to put in an "entry" after I saw yours. Its not very good but i have not been in a competition before so...

[GreatAssGoblin]

Awesome!

[PenfoldPlant]

Thanks! I'm delighted by all the positive comments!

[Lindie]

Wow! Fun!

[PenfoldPlant]

Thanks, it was a lot of fun!

[bilham]

well done

[PenfoldPlant]

Thanks, bilham!

[Owenmon]

reminds me of that hand thing in super smash bros.
none the less a great view!

[PenfoldPlant]

Haha, I wish I'd thought of that earlier! I would have posed for some photos doing classic Captain Falcon moves!

[theal8r]

You should get extra points for having so little raw material at hand! In 2007-08 we had 179 inches here in North Idaho and I never came up with anything as DaVinci as your hand. Bravo!

[PenfoldPlant]

Thanks! I built this in a park where the snow wasn't very deep (only a few inches) but it did cover a very large area, so I still had more than enough. Having said that, I'm glad that it kept snowing throughout the day to replenish my supply. This is the only time I've built a snow sculpture that accumulated its own snowdrifts while I was building it!

[BrianJone5]

Maybe plowed snow in a parking lot (car park) would give you already compacted snow to avoid rolling and avoid the soil (both agricultural and canine)?

Nice 'able. We built an igloo on out front lawn last Christmas, and had Xmas Dinner desert out there, for four adults. This would be even more fun to do. Thanks. Brian

[PenfoldPlant]

Good idea with the pre-ploughed snow; I'm not sure I can think of anywhere suitable nearby, though. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever even seen a snow plough being used in London... Maybe this is why the city plunges into travel chaos (as the newspapers would put it) every time there's an inch of snow?

A four-person dining igloo sounds incredible - how big was it? I'd love to see pictures!

[PaHalloweenFreak]

WOW!! That is too cool! You are very talented!! Thanks for sharing this with us!

[PenfoldPlant]

Cool? It was bloomin' freezing!
Thanks, I'm glad you like it.

[aramanthe]

This is pretty amazing! :)

[PenfoldPlant]

Thanks, I'm amazed (and pleased) by all these positive responses! :)

[Just-Static]

truely amazing i attempted a normal snowman and still ended up with a mound of icey doom :P i am in awe! well done! you'll be gettin my vote