Summer 2016 | Sea Island Life Magazine Spring/Summer 2016 | Page 54

SANDSCULPTING
101

1. USE WET SAND.
“Damp sand sticks together, so you can
shape and carve it,” Siebert says. Add
plenty of water to sand in the forming
stages, and mist the sand with water from
a spray bottle while you are carving.
2. COLLECT MANY DIFFERENT FORMS.
“It all begins with forms,” the expert
explains of the molds into which sand is
packed in to create shapes. “Kids can get
started using small pails. Teenagers and
adults can start with 5-gallon buckets.
After you master sculptures using
5-gallon buckets, try 16-gallon garbage
cans and larger forms.”
3. DON’T FORGET TO PACK.
“Pack the sand, then pack again,”
Siebert advises. A dependable technique
includes shoveling a little sand into a
form, adding water, swirling the mixture,
pounding the sand with your hands and
repeating the process until the form is
filled. Place the form upside down where
it should be added, then tap it with a
hammer or stick until it slides off.
4. SCULPT THE FINER DETAILS.
Start sculpting little by little from the
top and work downward so you don’t
sprinkle sand on your finished work.
Sculpting tools can be anything from
palette knives, spatulas, melon ballers
and ice cream scoops to chisels, trowels
and screwdrivers. Finally, use brushes to
texturize or smooth surfaces, then blow
excess sand away with a straw.

Justin Gordon’s award-winning piece from 2015’s Hampton Beach Master Sand Sculpting Competition.

a 19-person team of both professional sand
sculptors and experienced support persons,
special tools, a bucket truck—not to mention
patience and lots of man-hours. Plus, the team
had to abide by certain building requirements
in order to be a candidate for the Guinness
record: The design had to be a free-standing
structure with no internal supports that
resembled a traditional sand castle.
“We encountered a few challenges along
the way—we always do,” Siebert explains.
“You never know what the weather is going
to do. We had to deal with rain problems in
Miami and about [six] cracks on the fourth or
fifth day.”
Siebert and his team of sculptors made
the repairs and kept going. Then, on another
morning, they noticed some unexplained damage to their work.
“We finally figured [out the cause of the
damage]: a three-foot iguana,” he recalls. “He
was crawling all over our work at night. I’ve
been doing this for a long time, and let me t [