Every year during the first winter snowfall I build a snowman. And each year I try to outdo myself. For example, last year I tried adding details to my snowman (hair, facial features, etc.) however the effect wasn’t particularly dramatic or even very noticeable. This year I opted for something with more grandeur. I decided to go with size over detail. A couple days ago the first snow fell. Thus Project: Snowman began in earnest.
Day 1: Though initially I was planning on completing Project: Snowman all by my lonesome, it didn’t take long for me to realize I needed help. Given the wet snow and occasional rainfall my snowman is really more of an iceman. And giant iceballs weigh a lot more than fluffy snowballs, believe you me. The ball had a diameter of about 3 and half feet before I had to call it quits (after hours of trying to budge it using levers and whatnot). Giving in for now, I settled for rolling the other two balls that would make up the snowman (measuring roughly three and two feet respectively). Fortunately after I had finished for the day I was able to convince my brother to join the project.
Day 2: Due to hectic schedules, we didn’t get started on Project: Snowman until the evening. Together, my brother and I, we managed to increase the size of the bottom ball to a healthy four feet tall (and weighing God knows how many hundreds pounds). We also managed to get the second ball to about the same size. But problems arose when we tried to get the second ball to stack on top of the first. We tried leaning several pieces of plywood as makeshift ramps and pushing the ball up them but it proved too heavy. We attached a comealong to the ball but one of the pieces of plywood snapped like a dry and brittle twig causing the ball to land on my foot (tis’ but a flesh wound). Subsequent attempts to use metal bars as makeshift ramps proved fruitless. Given the lateness of the hour we decided to call it quits for the day. But tomorrow is another day. I will complete you, Snowman. You can break my foot but not my spirit.
I’ll try to get some photos of Project: Snowman posted in a couple of days.
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Maybe you can put each of the 3 pieces together in pieces? Say like..you have the main ball already in place..and instead of picking up the midpiece why don't you slowly build a ball on top of the first one instead of putting the whole thing on at once? Might work.
Oh..and after it is all done..use a spray bottle to spray a mist of water on it so it becomes ice on the outside..then knock it over onto a kitten!
Use something like this: http://www.deminiatuurwinkel.nl/images/55071.jpg
Normally I would just tell you what I mean but as I'm Belgian, my English vocabulary doesn't extend further than that of Chewbacca.
"We are at a very serious moment dealing with very serious issues and we are not focusing on the name you give to potatoes" - Nathalie Loisau
You are one officially crazy son of a gun!
Good luck, though - and post the pictures! I had alot of luck cutting the giant balls in half and then sticking them together later (i.e. for the topmost one). Best of wishes in thy quest!
I sincerely wish we could re-consider this plan from a perspective that involved pants.
Dude.... hows the snowman coming??? post some phots man!
Mag:Don't remember much at all of last night do you? Me:put simply.... No Mag: From what I put together of your late night drunken ramblings? Vodka, 3 girls, and then we played tic-tac-toe and slapped each other around.
Day 3 - 5: Due to a heat spell, Project: Snowman has been put on hold until the weather cools down a bit. The massive balls have shown impressive resilience to the rise in temperature, but I will wait until optimum conditions to continue the project. In the meantime I will attempt to draft more friends and relatives to the project, allowing me to increase the size of the snowballs even further (five feet for the bottom ball would be ideal). Construction of a ramp is also under way.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
[QUOTE=Kayless] Construction of a ramp is also under way. [/QUOTE]
Great idea.
I spent sometime thinking on this and was going to put forth an idea for the next time (or year). Start the ball with a small rope ball in the center, letting the rope expand out with the increase of size (In out words letting it go thru out the ball). Then use the comealong with a tripod to lift the balls. Note bigger rope for bigger snowball.
In the extreme case, do as I did with my first car at age 15, use wedges from side to side till you get the motor (snowball in your case) even and then just push it over into the engine compartment (other snowball). (Hey it worked and the motor survived almost a year under my lead foot..then number one rod and parts of the piston went on a trip thru the front left fender. )
The creature called human can get anything done...
"Vile and evil, yes. But, That's Weasel" From BS's book, MD 20/20: Fine Wines of Rocky Flop.
what is this... snow? Even so what is this "cold weather"... All I see around me is hot sand and beautiful beaches... hmm Southern California... what creature is this man of ? snow?
Jackie Treehorn: People forget the brain is the biggest sex organ.
The Dude: On you maybe.
The temperature is thankfully cooling down but it has yet to snow again. Unfortunately the past weeks have reduced the initial snowballs to minuscule size, so when it finally does snow I'm going to have my work cut out for me getting them back to the proper size. But I fully intend to get the bottom ball at least six feet high this time around. I want my snowman to be 12 to 15 feet tall when he's completed.
"We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first Bionic Snowman. Frosty will be that man. Better than he was before. Better . . . stronger . . . faster."
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
Just make sure you fill him with some strong firecrackers for when the weather starts rising half a year from now. Rather have bits of frosty all over the place rather than have him be a puddle.
I demand Pictures. Oh yeah and I demand alot of them as well atleast an update would be nice
For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun? - Khalil Gibran
"We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields, and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender!" - Winston Churchill
Day 33: After much patient waiting the snow finally started to fall again! I immediately began resuming my work on Project Snowman. Though my original snowballs had melted to almost nothing, I quickly reconstituted them using the fresh snowfall. Those I had previously drafted had refused to work this time around, so I was on my own. However, the snow was much fluffier than last time so the snowballs weren’t nearly so heavy (originally they were giant ice balls).
Using my ramp and a ladder I managed to complete project snowman in just over 3 hours. The finished snowman stands at a healthy 10 feet 3 inches tall (which is a bit smaller than I originally wanted, but nessessary since I couldn't make a larger snowman all by myself). I have a number of pictures taken of the process and the finished result, but won’t get them developed for a while (I have to finish off the roll of film first). I’ll keep you guys apprised when the pictures are done.
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
This year I opted for something with more grandeur. I decided to go with size over detail. A couple days ago the first snow fell. Thus Project: Snowman began in earnest. 
