Kinetic Sand Challenge

Let the sculpting commence!

A while ago we saw an article on OtakuUSA’s website about a sand sculpture of Attack on Titan by Toshihiko Hosaka. If you’re curious to see how he did it you can watch the time lapse video here on YouTube. This got us inspired. Other than some pretty feeble sand castles at the beach when we were younger, we’ve never really made sand sculptures before. I had received some Kinetic Sand boxes a while back and thought why not open them and give it a shot, and while we’re at it let’s make it interesting, CHALLENGE TIME!!        

Rules: You have one box of Kinetic Sand to render a movie character of your choice and 1 hour to complete it.

We each got our work spaces ready and started the challenge. Mandy chose to sculpt Totoro, the forest spirit from my personal favourite Studio Ghibli movie “My Neighbour Totoro”. I chose to use the Lord of Sith, the Dark Father Himself, the Magnificent Darth Vader from the cult classic “Star Wars”. Mandy had printed out a reference photo to use, while I used my Darth Vader Lego alarm clock, and then we chose the most unbiased person we could think of, our mother, as the official challenge judge.  

At first we got a bit distracted after opening the Kinetic Sand packages just because Kinetic Sand is AWESOME! It looks like sand, but it behaves in a way that makes it look alive, making it an almost completely foreign substance. I think the most fun I had was actually just watching the way the Kinetic Sand would fall and break apart. After about 10 minutes of just admiring the sand we had to get serious and get to work. I’ll admit I was ill prepared for this challenge, because I underestimated its difficulty. The first obstacle we faced was figuring out how to keep the sand from falling apart, but once we learned how to apply the right pressure things started taking form. We began to use the ends of paint brushes to sculpt and shape it, and also used toothpicks and a quill for more precise detailing.

Every time I looked over at Mandy’s sand sculpture I had even more confidence I would win. Darth Vader was starting to  look good. Then at the 45 minute mark I look over again and she’s practically finished, and I was nowhere close. Then the 1 hour mark hit and I still wasn’t finished… Taking pity on me though Mandy said we could ditch the time limit rule, so I could at least finish my masterpiece. I was happier and happier as I went and then I realized I hadn’t taken many progress shots of this serious skill level, so I should probably take one now… I can only describe my feelings as sheer and utter horror at what I saw on my screen. Instead of Vader’s edgy cool helmet, there was an oddly shaped unsymmetrical hodgepodge staring into my soul with very very creepy eyes. Basically I just created a monster, and right there two feet from me was the most adorable Totoro 😂

The judging still hadn’t started so similarly to how Schrödinger’s cat was both dead and alive, my sculpture was both the winner and the loser until that final decision. Our Mom without hesitation gave Mandy the victory, and just like that my cat was dead, theoretically, but you guys get it.

I believe the score is now    Mandy: 1  Rosie: 0

Fear not, I will avenge myself from such a humiliating defeat! The lesson here: Don’t get cocky

Until next time -  Stay obsessed ~