Beach Artist’S Creations Just Temporary

Scott Dodson turns beach sand into pay dirt.

He packs and pats, scrapes and blows, carves and cuts until spires, then towers, turrets and courtyards emerge.

Sometimes his Gothic rooftops reach 25 feet into the sky and stretch across 40 feet of ground. Sunbathers and surf-strollers gasp at the stonelike walls and tiny sand staircases spiraling in every direction.

But the splendor is temporary. Before time and tide erode his medieval fairylands, Scott takes photographs. He has about 1,000.

“I love sand,” he says, with passion most people reserve for favorite foods. “I can control it so well.”

A stove and chimney-cleaning shop in Hayden hardly stirs visions of parapets and buttresses. But they’re there. Anyone who leans on the counter to ask a question at Oaken Shield Stove and Chimney sees pictures of Scott’s sand castles under a plate of glass.

Scott, 38, bought the shop after he left New York for Idaho in 1991. His sand castle building necessarily slowed in Idaho, where lake beaches are covered with gravelly sand.

But he’s thinking now he could make a go of his castles in the Northwest with commercial sand.

The fine sand and pricey resorts on the south shore beaches from Long Island to Montauk, N.Y., launched Scott’s sand castle trade 15 years ago.

When he wasn’t driving a taxicab or running his cab company, he hung out at the beach with a friend.

“He’d socialize and I’d build,” Scott says. “I’d go by myself to some majestic spot and build just for me.”

Gothic architecture had fascinated him since boyhood, and art was in his genes. His parents were art teachers. Sand was his creative medium.

At first, he built to please himself. But as he perfected his technique, crowds gathered. People wanted to know if he was an architect or a mason. Did he build sand castles for a living?

Word spread. A couple about to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary tracked down Scott on the beach and offered to pay him to build a sand castle for their party. He did, and recognized opportunity in his weekend hobby.

He gathered his pictures and headed to the beach clubs, rock’n’roll bars and chic resorts. Managers liked what they saw.

“I had too much business at one time,” Scott says.

For resort guests, he was an artist and entertainer. They’d watch as he mounded and packed beach sand, then transformed nondescript lumps into fantasy castles.

Gradually, his creations grew and Northeastern sand castle records fell. Club managers wanted magnitude. Scott resorted to a backhoe to heap his sand.

His bigger creations required three days of work and some help. Scott built frames in which to pack sand for a solid foundation. A friend designed special sand castle tools to meet Scott’s needs.

Scott taught his friends to carve an impressive stone look into the castle walls with a nail and straw.

“That’s the rookie’s job,” he says.

To each castle, he added the club’s logo in the form of a crest. When construction was finished, he sprayed each creation with glue to preserve it up to six weeks, depending on weather.

The building business went so well that Scott sold his taxi company in 1989 to pursue it full-time. He sold framed photographs of his castles and began writing a how-to-build professional sand castles book.

But even with his full attention, the sand castle business didn’t grow enough to support him and his family. In 1991, he followed relatives to Hayden and took a job as a chimney sweep.

Scott resisted building castles with Idaho’s poor sand for two years. He didn’t totally neglect his art. Beck’s Beer flew him to New York for five days every summer to construct its annual sand castle.

But, he needed more than one giant castle a year, even after he bought the stove shop. In 1993, he decided to work with mason’s sand and sent out promotional brochures.

Wild Waters wanted a sand castle in its parking lot. Then Post Falls Mazda ordered one - a three-day job that cost $500 for Scott’s skills plus $350 for materials. Scott also built several for Art on the Green, all variations on a Gothic theme.

“I’m a castle guy,” he says, admitting he often builds castles in his children’s huge sandbox at home.

He’ll travel to British Columbia next month to compete in his first sand castle world competition. He’ll have 22 hours over three days to create whatever he can. First prize is $5,000.

“I think I can win,” he says. “I love to do them. I really want to do them.”

For sand castle information, call Scott at (800) 395-9509.