Sand castle

What

A small model of a castle built from sand.

Where

Sand castle building is almost exclusively carried out on beaches, where both sand and space are plentiful and it’s always possible to find sand with the perfect degree of moisture in it. This is important for most sand castle building.

How

There are broadly three methods for constructing sand castles :

1. The bucket method, in which moist sand is packed tightly into a pail, usually by filling the pail and then banging the sand down with the flat side of a spade. The pail is then inverted, the bottom (now uppermost) is banged, and the pail is then carefully lifted off. If the sand is tightly packed and moist enough, it will remain standing in a bucket-shaped pile. There are special castle-shaped pails available which can be used as sand molds. Stick a little flag in the top, and there’s your castle.

2. The sand sculpture method, in which moist sand is tightly packed and molded into shape by hand (literally, or with the use of tools such as spades). If treated carefully, sand can be used to form tunnels and bridges. This is often combined with the bucket method. Sand sculpture is of course by no means restricted to the making of castles. Many beaches have sand sculpture displays and competitions, and there are many artists who work with sand.

3. The dribble castle method, in which sand is mixed with enough water to enable it to flow like a liquid. This is usually done in a pail. It is then poured gently onto a base of drier sand, where the water can run off leaving the poured sand standing in peaks, typically with troughs and rivulets left from the water running off of them. They often appear to be greatly detailed carvings, but are of course in reality more or less spontaneously and randomly formed structures.

Why

Firstly, wet sand is a marvelously malleable material which lends itself to many sculpting techniques, but which, like all materials, has certain restrictions and limitations which are imposed by the nature and physics of the materials and principles involved. Anyone who has ever constructed a tunnel or a bridge in sand will know that there is a point at which the structure just about holds together, and beyond which it collapses. It is possible to very quickly get a feel for when that point is approaching, and there is something intrinsically pleasing and satisfying about gaining and exercising such knowledge.

Secondly, there is the fact of the very obviously impermanent, transitory nature of any sand structure. Almost anyone who has ever made a sand castle will recognize the odd pleasure of seeing it undermined by the incoming tide. Indeed, many sand castles feature moats around them, and sometimes elaborate canal layouts running through them, in order to take advantage of the first onslaughts of the approaching sea.

The final outcome is never in any doubt though.

Why build sand castles? Well, because it is fun, of course!

The above methods are all useful, but there's another method of building sand castles that has much more impressive results in the right sand. I don't claim to have originated this method^*, but I've certainly used it enough.

This method works best if you build right at the tide line. Of course, this means you really want to build when the tide is going out. I like to start just before high tide.

1. First, start by digging a hole. I usually use a shovel to help. The goal is to dig deep enough to hit the local water table. The closer to the tide line you start, the less work this will be. And if you have to go too deep, it makes building extra work. My castles usually end up as a ring of walls surrounding the water filled hole, sort of like a backwards moat.
2. Use the material pulled out of the hole to start a base. The base should be broad and well packed, and far away enough from the hole that it won't fall in, but close enough that you can reach it easily from the hole.
3. Once the hole is deep enough to contain water, it will begin collapsing in on itself. Use the wet sand from the hole, and pile it on your base in pancake like shapes. The pancakes should be wet enough to almost be liquid. You may have to hold the sides for a few seconds while the water drains down through the sand layers. Lay one pancake on top of the next, and pretty soon you'll have a sand tower. Don't slam the pancakes down, as it will weaken the rest of the tower.
4. When the hole gets deep enough, it may be helpful to stick your foot in it and stir it continuously, like a cement mixer. Be careful to not pull the sand from the same side as the tower, as you'll end up undermining the base of the tower.

• You can make walls similarly, by forming bricks with your hands instead of pancakes.
• You can make arches by building two towers next to each other at the same time. When the towers start reaching the limit of how high you can build them, build so that they lean towards each other a bit. When the tops are close enough together, lay down the keystone, on top of both towers and between; use your hand to hold up the keystone while it turns from liquid cement into the arch of your tower. If it is a large keystone, it helps to have a second person support it underneath while you put pancakes on top. You may need to gently add a few pancakes on top and in the corners to stablize it.
• Of course, the towers, walls, and arches are just elements to make a castle. Detail work can be done with tools such as knives, spades, trowels, small paint brushes, carving tools, clay working tools, etc. With these, you can make windows, balconies, staircases, turrets, etc.

With a bit of practice and a bit of patience, you can amaze people. These techniques work best in fine sand, but can work in coarse sand with a bit more work.

I'd supply pictures, but mine would not do justice to the ones in the book, listed below--I can't quite match the skills of the pros. If you'd like to see my beach pictures anyway, /msg me.

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* Sand Castles, Step-by-Step
Lucinda Wierenga with Walter McDonald
ISBN 0-671-69611-4