How To: Art on the Beach
Meredith and Dan were kind enough to bring it down a notch—well, several notches—in order to teach me the tricks of their trade. Because I had never sculpted before, we settled on a simple castle. The results weren’t perfect. My turret turned out a bit lopsided, and the sides weren’t perfectly smooth, but my little, lumpy castle was the best beach art I had ever made. With the following tips, perhaps you can do even better.

In order to make a professional-quality sandcastle, you’ll need the right tools. Pros such as Meredith and Dan have their own special gadgets, but the more easily acquired implements below will do the trick for the rest of us.

•Two 5-gallon buckets (one with the bottom cut out) and one piece of PVC piping, about 15 inches long and 4 inches in diameter. The bottomless bucket and the PVC pipe will serve as forms for the sand.
•A shovel, a butter knife, some toothpicks, and a cheese-serving wedge
•A balloon pump or small fireplace bellows

Meredith and Dan’s first hint is to select good sand. Lucky for me, they had already scouted out a perfect patch of powdery beach for our project. Steer clear of “bad sand,” which feels round and granular. As a test, make a “Florida snowball” (a.k.a. a ball of wet sand), and throw it a few feet into the air. The best sand will barely crack when you catch it.

Click here for step by step instructions on building the perfect sandcastle.