Does my chainsaw make me look fat?

Last week we spent two days carving ice.  That was...uh...interesting...and a LOT of fun!  Joyce was my partner the first day and we made a vase.  We had three choices that day--vase, chef hat from our school logo, or a swan.  The second day we could make what we wanted.  DaRon & I made a cross.  Crosses look very simple but they're not even a little bit.  It's very difficult to get everything even and straight so you keep trying to fix it and end up with a much smaller cross than you meant.  I told Chef it was an old rugged cross--emphasis on rugged.  He missed the first day so I let DaRon choose our project and have all of the the power tool fun.  They are addictive.  I just wanted to go home and cut down some trees.  I beveled the edges and made the scrolls on our cross.  Anyway, while DaRon worked I had plenty of time to stalk my classmates--I mean to take pictures. None of us did too horribly for our first try, did we?

Each new block of ice weighs 300 pounds and is 10"x20"x40":

 

Some instructions from Chef Calvert before we get turned loose:

Joyce:

Leo:

 Ben:

Do I scare you?

Starting to look vaguely vase-ish...sorta...if you squint (we drew a lot of spectators from the smoking area):

Mike:

Chef DeKoster--he's an awesome ice sculptor!

Greg:

I wanted to cut gems from the chunks we cut off:

Jazman & Nick: 

 John:

Randy:

Lauren:

My turn...hehehe (that was an evil laugh):

Edith & Leo:

See, you'd think that power tools and puddles would be a bad idea, right?

Can you see a vase?

You missed a spot.

Chef said to cross-hatch the sides...

...but now it looks like a pineapple!

He wouldn't let me make leaves out of the top.

Shivaun:

We wanted to hollow it out some like a real vase:

They did great!

I don't know this person!  (jk, jk)

OOPS!

Our masterpiece:

It's a swan.  Duh!

Looks like a cold little graveyard.

Jesse missed the first day, too, so Joyce let him have his fun.  This is his vision:

DaDoRonRonRon:

I toldja it wasn't easy!

He did great!

Really a pineapple!

They are making a mouse with cheese.

Spongebob!

I work on the details (stole Mike's sweatshirt--look like a big tangerine):

Don't laugh!

Cute!

My detail work:

Spongebob, pineapple, & Sandy (no, it wasn't planned!)