Abu Simbel - sand sculpture

My God it was hot...and Humid...and sticky....and hard work on this project. but oh what wonderful time. This was my second visit to Singapore but this time to work on a large project based around Egyptian landmarks. My first time was to do a solo sculpture which you can find here Dragons Tale. This time I was to with Niall Magee and Anique Kuizenga to make a large Abu Simbel temple.

Like the previous time the sand was very soft and no risks could be taken. Coupled with this the sand was just piled up in a big mound and not compacted at all. We call this type of sculpture a Soft Pack and as the name suggests it was very softly packed. So, Using lots of water and creating layers like paddy fields we made the sand as hard as we could with our feet.

Crumbling ruins

Starting at the top we worked like a printer moving backwards and forwards as we moved down, revealing the sculpture as we went. The big incline was very necessary due to the weakness of the sand and even then we had to be so careful not to cause land slides.

Did I already say it was hot? well it sure as hell was. We got up at around 4am and were able to work a few hours before the temperature and humidity became unbearable at which time we went for a long siesta and a dip in the pool then returned late in the afternoon to get a few more hours in before darkness.

It was the rainy season and the sculpture didn't escape some of the heaviest downpours I have ever seen as well a scary lightening. At those times we just had to sit it out in a tent watching all our work be damaged which lead to several redos.( Is that a word? well it is now).

Even the Pyramid in the background had to be carved three or four times and the sphinx lost his face so much he got smaller and smaller like one of those shrunken head tribes.

The whole project was sponsored by Universal pictures and was to promote the launch of The mummy - Scorpion King movie so the opening ceremony was a big spectacle. The whole thing worked out quite well even with all the setbacks.

For Niall, Anique and my self we felt we deserved a holiday so headed to Thailand for a week of relaxation before returning to Europe.

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Ps

Thanks for visiting. I use Steemit to document my work as an ephemeral Sculptor and hopefully give it a new life on the blockchain. I am doing them in chronological order so there are many more to come. We are still in 2002.
With this post I decided to use the #slothicorn tag as I can see they have a great bunch of curators. I hope I am doing it properly.

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I hope you'll join me again soon.
@ammonite

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