Jim, whose enthusiasm pushed this project through typical school red tape. He says everyone enjoyed it.
Barb, who agreed to come out to Santa Monica, not knowing what would happen. She said she enjoyed it.
First, I showed the children how to make balls of sand using two hemispheric scoops.
They weren't as well packed as the classic South Texas Snowball, but still held up to some handling. The kids were fascinated. Everyone loves balls of sand.
Sand sculpture provides a very rare opportunity for people to watch art being made. Here they're watching some of the preparatory work: tamping sand in my short form.
Official Builder Image, shot by Barb when I was too distracted to protest. We had a good day; Jim told me the children were talking about it for the following week. Good enough. If I can't find fans of non-representational sand sculpture, I'll make them. Best to start early.
This is the invention of Kirk Rademacher, a San Francisco sand sculptor. Called a "Radeform," it's just tarpaper wrapped with string. Cheap, easy to find, and it works well. This one has been modified to form a frustum because coarse sand doesn't much care for being piled in cylinders.