Thinking Snow to Support the ISSW 2012

 My friend Heather invited me to create a sculpture to auction off for the International Snow Science Workshop's Whiteout Gallery! She's an incredible photographer -check out her work on her blog. I realize it's not very original to design a snowflake for a snow science show but I really wanted to see what my design would look like in 1/4" aluminum. I also wanted to embellishment it with glass beads the color of glacial ice and by using two snowflakes create a bit of dimension. 

The International Snow Science Workshop (ISSW) is a biennial meeting of theprofessionals who work in the field of snow science and winter recreation. This is the only such conference which takes place and has been ongoing since 1976. It is truly international with participants from countries world wide where winter sports are popular. Professionals from Europe, Russia, Asia, Australia, New Zealand and North and South America are in attendance. The workshop is designed to bring together practitioners such as ski patrollers and mountain guides, forecasters who may work for ski companies, Departments of Transportation or the US Forest Service, engineers from mining companies, architecture firms or government, scientists who teach and research snow science and others who participate in the world of snow. In addition, it provides an opportunity for local mountain user groups to participate in a higher level learning environment. The conference is designed to promote the exchange of ideas and research and introduce the latest forecasting tools and winter products.

I had the designs cut out using a water jet cutter with the eps files below. The larger of the two snowflakes is 18" wide. To create a more artful finish I took the grinder to both pieces. I wanted the grinder marks reflect the light.

I placed and attached 4 metal spacers, that I bought at the hardware store, between the flakes.

 Originally I wanted to place film graphics of snow, ice or glaciers in the snowflake centers but the film looked much better on the paper than it did placed in the snowflake centers, so I scrapped that idea.

I did end up using E6000 adhesive and attach glass beads around the outer edges of the sculpture and will also attach the hanging hardware the same way.

OK! Time to get my mind back onto what little summer is left and bask in all things GREEN!

 The garden is thriving. The funnest veggie I have growing is my Romanesco Broccoli! It's texture  looks almost pre-historic and I don't want to harvest it because it looks so cool growing in the garden. I also threw some runner beans and other seeds in my little sheep topiary and he's fattening up quite nicely. The birds have been enjoying the strawberries I intentionally planted for them and can't believe the MOOSE have  left my leafy greens alone!