London Ice Sculpting Festival

I visited the London Ice Sculpting Festival info here, today at Canary Wharf, where there were a number of international teams carving their sculptures from blocks of ice.

They were having problems this year as the weather has turned much milder and with all the recent rain, sculptures that had been made yesterday had already melted. Today they were dripping and shiny with slick ice as fast as they were being carved.

There is something quite magical about ice, the way the light shines through it and the contrast of smooth and sharp edges. Though the ice sculptures always seem strange to me surrounded by all the office tower blocks of Canary Wharf.

I liked the London landmarks the Dutch team were sculpting, including Big Ben and Tower Bridge and the lion the African team were carving. Chainsaws were being wielded and sprays of ice shooting out everywhere.

People were queuing to take part in a masterclass and have a go at ice carving themselves, and plenty of children were around enjoying the sights and having a go at the carving.