FeaturesFebruary 14, 2016
Making snow: Mark Dirnberger carves ice into art
It starts with 300 pounds of ice and a clean block, 3 and a half feet high, about a foot and a half broad and half a dozen inches thick. A giant, cold domino back in the kitchen of Bella Italia Ristorante. "All I'm going to do right now is make some snow," says Cape Girardeau restaurateur Mark Dirnberger, who moonlights as one of the area's only ice sculptors...
It starts with 300 pounds of ice and a clean block, 3 and a half feet high, about a foot and a half broad and half a dozen inches thick. A giant, cold domino back in the kitchen of Bella Italia Ristorante.
"All I'm going to do right now is make some snow," says Cape Girardeau restaurateur Mark Dirnberger, who moonlights as one of the area's only ice sculptors.
What he means by "make snow" is shearing off about an inch from the rear face over a dish tub to collect the shavings. Those go in the freezer for later use in the finishing touches.
He does most of his carving early in the morning, when the kitchen's empty, because the carving process is a one-take race against the clock.
"It's not like woodcarving, where you can leave it out and work on it all day. The reason I can't wait long (after taking the block out) is because it's ice," he says. "I've only got about half an hour to 45 minutes to really knock it out."
He uses a regular 16-inch electric chain saw, which he says surprises most people, but serves his purposes fine.
"Some people use a gas one for carving outside, but I couldn't have all those fumes in here," he explains. "And, well, I've never been shocked. Knock on metal."
After "making snow," Dirnberger takes the inch-thick plane from the back and goes to pitch it out the kitchen's back door, but before he can reach the door, the ice cracks, falls and shatters, making a mess and serving as a reminder of just how fragile the medium is. There's little room for error, since the nearest place to get a block of ice to carve is St. Louis.
"[They cost] $80, so if I break one, I'm already into it $160 before I even can charge anybody," he says. "So there are a lot of costs to it."
But Dirnberger's been carving ice sculptures for more than 25 years, so he rarely experiences catastrophic breakage.
"I was working at the Drury Lodge and I had an uncle who [carved ice sculptures]," Dirnberger says. "I just sort of picked it up from him."
He starts with a waxpaper outline tacked on the front of the block, this time, a Valentine's Day heart for Bella Italia's celebration, and carves out the basic outline. As the chain saw burrows through the block, the edges slough off and get pitched to keep the puddling to a minimum.
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Dirnberger then goes at the outline's edges with a pronged ice pick, scraping and shaping, pausing to squat and measure, and then scoring some more. By this time, the ice has begun to bleed consistently, water dripping along the edges of the piece.
Dirnberger says he does about two of these sculptures a month, depending on the season. Weddings make up some of his best business.
"Corporate businesses, too, they do a lot of (sculptures of) logos or things like that," he says, picking up the chain saw again.
After carving out the Stonehenge-ish base, he uses the ice pick again to texturize the pillar supporting the heart. For the final details, he uses a rotary tool. It forces him to be right up close to the icy chaff flying off the sculpture. "Bella 'hearts' you," he carves.
By now, the ice has gone glassy; so clear that Dirnberger's reflection can be seen mirrored off the inner faces of the piece.
"Here's where the snow comes in," he says, dusting the ice out of his hair and brow.
He fetches the basin of shavings and begins packing them into the inlay.
"As it melts, everything just glazes and smooths," he explains. "It always gets better as it sits."
The whole process, from the first cuts to wheeling it back to the freezer with a dolly, has taken less than 45 minutes.
"It'll stay in the freezer until Sunday and that's it," Dirnberger says, looking at the finished piece as he closes the freezer. "Home, sweet home."
tgraef@semissourian.com
(573) 388-3627
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