Extreme Sand Sculpting!

The Sultans of Sand

You saw that perfect sandcastle in your dream - it was reaching to heavens, rising from the surf's mist. It was magnificent and yet so eminently perishable. Welcome the Sultans (and wizards) of sand art to make all that a reality - and more, with incredible detail, creativity and imagination.

There are many fantastic sand art showcases / competitions around the world: held in China, Spain, Brazil, Canada (the ultimate "Tournament of Champions" in Harrison Hot Springs, British Colombia), Florida, Oregon, Texas, Virginia... featuring such undisputed masters like Amazin Walter, Rich Varano (The Sultan of Sand), William Lloyd, Carl Jarra and Suzzane Altamare compete alongside artists from all over the world.

Perhaps the most sophisticated fairy tale sculpture in recent memory

Too bad they are made out of sand, and so will be impossible to preserve, other than in pictures। The traditional fantasy themes - sand castles, dragons, maidens and other fairy tale details - are brought to life so lovingly and with such abundance of detail that it simply transcends the genre:






William Lloyd works on the baby dragon

"The Princess Power" by Rich Varano:

This is how it's done... slowly and with feeling (imagine sculpting every single scale on that dragon) -


A perfect family to inhabit all this sand real estate -

Get yourself a couch to sleep on in the worst case -
A life of the mundane, rendered in sand

Bedroom Scene (a little abrasive relationship... ok, I will stop my puns here)

Time Mirror: on the left is "looking into the past", on the right - "looking into the future"-

The weirdness never ends... -
This is perhaps a commentary on the urban sprawl:

"The Church, The Steeple and all the People" by John Gowdy and Michael Velling:

Nostalgia for winter... Blasphemy! -
Sand people need to go to the sand outhouses to do their sand business... "Occupied!" -

Horror is a common theme (work of Dan Doubleday and Meredith Corson) -
"The End of the Knight" tells an equally sad story:
Something gruesome happened here:
Sand sculptures in Lommel, Belgium:
The images above & below are from the sand art shows in Japan, and in Durham, NC, USA.

The Squids! The Squids! Give us the squids

"Goaaaal!" by Gianni Schimarini - via:

"The Arms Race" -

Well, of course, the problem with even the mightiest of sand sculptures... there are going to be blown in the wind... smothered by waves... no trace will be left of them...

"The dust you are, to dust you will return!" -

Who's worshiping what? -

Even if you don't possess sculpting skills you can still impress the beach crowd. There is definitely "more than meets the eye" here

But this one is much better:

Trust Chinese to make creepy sand sculptures for the sake of propaganda (more info) -