RIX+project+journals

Journal 1 (Dec 9, 2010) Raphael, Ismael, Xin

For our ice sculpture project our group has decided to construct a Christmas Tree. We choose this idea because it is simple to do, the architecture is not complex and the materials needed are easy to obtain. The idea of a frozen lake surrounded by mountains was entertained, but rejected due to the difficulty in applying sound.

In the construction of our tree, we will be using seven bowls. Each bigger than the other. Freeze some water in them, layer up and we will have the skeleton of the tree. A star shaped cookie mold will be used to construct the star for tree top. We are likely going to use melted sugar water as material for the star due to its yellow colour in nature. As for the trunk of the tree a large block of ice will be used.

Currently our group is working out an idea to apply lighting and sound. Solutions might vary based on the transparence of the ice skeleton.

 Activities to be completed this week and next week:
 * 1. Complete tree skeleton.
 * 2. Come up with lighting ideas.
 * 3. Journal number two write up.

Rix Team Journal 2

sun. november 12, 2010 Raphael Mercier Dear journal, Now that all the plans for the ice christmas tree had been roughly laid out, it was time to get to work. To enhance the tapering effect, I added an 8th bowl to our collection of 7. I then filled them with water and added some green dye. After about 20 hours of freezing, the water seemed sufficiently frozen, and so I tried to get the ice out of the bowls. I found that the plastic bowls did not stick to the ice, and so were easier to empty than the glass ones or the lone metal one. I broke a glass bowl trying to get the ice out. Not only did the glass and metal bowls make the ice harder to remove, but they also restricted the expansion of the ice. This resulted in some minor, but noticeable, fractures in the ice. Another minor problem was that the ice did not completely take on the shape of the bowl, but during the expansion process, became slightly deformed. This would mean that some cutting would have to be made to flatten certain warped edges.

THINGS TO DO:
 * 1. Perhaps buy new bowls, preferably plastic.
 * 2. Make a test tree
 * 3. Take some Prozac

RIX team jourmal 3 dec 14. 10 Ismael Besharah Today we made the test/practice tree and discovered a number of things: Stacking the ice blocks isn't as hard as we had originally thought. All it takes is a little snow that has been wetted down with some water and the blocks of ice stick very well. The light we have to light the base of the tree is quite large but if we build the tree on a base it won't be a problem. We may however have a problem with the height restriction. With the base and the eight tiers, the tree might pass the one meter mark. I'm not too worried though. When we will assemble the good tree on the sixteenth it should turn out quite well. THINGS TO DO:
 * 1) freeze the components for the good tree
 * 2) get a star for the top
 * 3) assemble the tree

Update: After experimenting with the bowls it is unlikely we will be applying all seven bowls, in order to stabilize the project. We have discovered a method to add needle-like effect by sprinkling snow and spraying water on the ice. Small boxes of presents made of ice cubes are considered by our group to be included in the project.