Plymouth Ice Festival
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ing. Costic has competed at the world
champion level since 1997.
“One of the things is how quickly
you can create a figure,” he said. “It
has a transparent quality.” He's done a
little wood carving, but really likes the
artistry of ice and lights that can shine
on it.
He travels theU.S. towork and com-
pete, as well as China, Japan and
Europe.
He's working with Plymouth Ice
Festival organizer James Gietzen on
details for the Plymouth event and
anticipates traveling with a team of
five or six carvers.
“It has nostalgia forme,” saidCostic,
who started to carve in Plymouth as an
amateur and advanced professionally.
“I've got those fondmemories.”
The owner of the formerWildWings
store in Plymouth opened another
store in Medina, Ohio, where Costic
grew up. “We've been putting on an ice
festival there for 24 years in our central
park,” Costic said ofMedina.
When he started carving, chisels
and chainsaws were the mainstays.
Costic cites the “tool revolution. That
really changed the ability to do things.
It changed things a lot here in theU.S.”
Ice carving is also something he
teaches with a twice-yearly boot camp
inCharleston,W.Va.
Large creations done with a team in
Alaska rank high among his creations,
although he said it is challenging to
pick a favorite. Work with a spring sea-
sonal theme is aCostic toppick, too.
“Experience really makes it fun,”
he tells students and other younger
carvers. In starting, “you don't have the
muscle memory, you don't know the
techniques. I feel like I can carve any-
thing. And that comes with experi-
ence.”
Gietzen and Costic (of Elegant Ice
Creations,ElegantIce.com) have plans
for interactive games in Plymouth and
the crowd favorite “fire and ice” tow-
ers. Costic said his ice sculpture work
is bothabstract and realistic.
“I'm kind of all over the place,” he
added.
Carving is a physically taxing job,
Costic noted. Although he admits he is
on the road carving less than earlier in
his career, he has no plans to retire
anytime soon.
“It's a seven days a week kind of
job,” he said.
Experience really
makes it fun.
I feel like I can
carve anything. And that
comes with experience.
”
