I like to build sand castles very close to the water with tje idea that just about by the time I'm finished, the waves come in to destroy it.

The first step is to build a breakwater of sand piled on driftwood (remnants visible at upper left), a rough area scraped with my feet between it and the waves, and then a moat to catch any water that does get through. The rough area slows down the little waves for a little bit. The breakwater stops the larger waves for awhile. All of this buys me enough time to build the castle.

Once the protective fortifications are in place, I put a large piece of driftwood on the island in the moat, and pile a lot of sand on top of that. This allows the castle to survive a few direct hits by the waves. Then I pile up sand into a circular wall to make the basic castle. The bridge was built by pressing sand onto another piece of driftwood.

Once the basic castle structure has been built, the next step is the drip towers (see finished picture). This method requires a lot of water, and building so close to the water it's easy to obtain by digging down a little bit. The water well can't be too close to or inside the castle, because it eventually becomes a sinkhole.

Once the water is available, I grab a handful of wet sand with my fingertips all together, and let the sand/water slurry drip out onto the castle. The effect is similar to dripping candle wax. That's what I'm doing in the picture with my left hand.

Arches can be made by putting two drippings close to each other, and taking turns slowly dripping closer to the other one; eventually they meet. Hollow domes can be made by dripping in a circle, and then spiraling the dripping in little by little as it gets higher. When making these fine structures, it is important to let most of the water drip out of your hand first, or the rush of slurry will destroy the arch or dome.

© 1994  Hippotaur