The ultimate centrepiece.

 Commercial, Parties  No Responses »
Apr 192012
 

The Hamiltons have been busy working on various centrepieces for a variety of events – particularly corporate dinners, banquets, parties and awards ceremonies. There is a choice between carved sculptures and 3D items frozen in ice. You can pick almost anything to be frozen and virtually any design can be carved into an intricate and unusual conversation starter. Recent ideas/themes have included buildings, landmarks and James Bond.

On a table for 8-10 people a mirrored perspex plinth measuring 35cm x 35cm x 10cm acts as the support for the centrepiece. It has its own drainage tray which catches any potential stray drips so that unsightly pipes become unnecessary. The plinth is also lit by an attractive, soft, battery powered led light which means that there’s no need to deal with cables or  awkwardly positioned plugs.

As you can see, a good centrepiece should serve to brighten and add an interesting focal point to any table. If you were to think outside the box and look at alternatives to flower arrangements, then an ice sculpture would be an excellent choice. Prices begin at £75 for each item frozen in ice and £150 for each custom carved sculpture. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us for more information.

Fab-ulous day for it.

 Commercial, Press  No Responses »
Apr 032012
 

As spring has officially arrived and given us the kind of weather one would expect in the height of summer, the Hamiltons have been busy creating a 10ft replica of a Fab lolly on Brighton beach. The team were asked and thus attempted to use the actual ingredients used in the childhood favourites, but unfortunately found that they were far too soft and melty to withstand the pressures of being a durable sculpture.

The Hamiltons’ specially formed ice had to be artificially coloured to act as an adequate substitute, while crude chunks of wood were cut up and painted to represent the hundreds and thousands. Finally, a scaled up lolly stick had to be carefully frozen into a clear block of ice to make the stand which held the whole structure in place. As you can tell, resourcefulness is often a key requirement in fulfilling a client’s needs!

Sport Relief took place last week and yet again, various celebrities have been putting themselves forward for massive feats of physical endurance in the name of some fantastic charitable causes. Comedians John Bishop and David Walliams are just two who have taken on water based challenges and not so very long ago, Eddie Izzard ran an epic 43 marathons in 51 days.

To celebrate this Herculean achievement the Radio Times commissioned the team and photographer Laurence Haskell to carve and snap Eddie in an ice bath for an interview. Here are the results. Don’t worry, absolutely no ice burns were endured. Eddie got to sit on bubble wrap, which is obviously great fun in itself.

 

Tools of the Trade

 History  No Responses »
Mar 232012
 

Ice dogs are an integral tool to the ice carving trade. Made from steel, they are used to manoeuvre blocks of ice by “biting” in and creating a vice-like grip as the jaws are pulled closer together. The Hamiltons use them every day and despite their importance, they have actually changed extraordinarily little since they were first used in the 19th century.

Here you can see ice dogs being used to move a block of ice that was sawed out of a fjord in Norway. This block would then have been shipped to London and delivered to people’s homes. If you were under the misapprehension that buying ice in the supermarket is a new craze, then you’ll be interested to know that the affluent Victorians would purchase ice to store in a cupboard with a lead lined compartment which would act as an early fridge. One block of ice could last for several days.

The first records of imported ice to the UK came from Boston, Massachusetts. However, an eccentric Swiss entrepreneur called Carlo Gatti began importing ice from Norway for commercial purposes circa 1860 and is also credited with being the first person to make ice cream available to the general public. It would be fair to say that Gatti had fingers in many pies. He imported a chocolate-making machine from France for the Great Exhibition in 1851, as well as becoming a restauranteur and pioneer of music halls. In cockney rhyming slang Carlo Gatti means “batty” (crazy), but putting aside his idiosyncrasies, one can’t deny his influence.

 

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