If the sand is wet and damp, it can be fairly easy to mould but even then a gust of wind or a large wave can ruin everything in seconds.

This thought - of sand crumbling down and just ending up on a lump on the floor - is probably the biggest fear for 30-year-old sand sculptor Mohammad Ikhwan Ibrahim when creating an art piece.

The talented artist, Malaysia's only active sand sculptor, created a beautiful piece dedicated to our hardworking frontliners recently.

"It took me 15 days to sculpt the artwork, and I was constantly worried about the sand crumbling.

"With sand sculptures, you have to think. You have to keep in mind gravity, the particles of sand, the density of the whole thing and other external factors when slowly chiselling away at your creation," he said when speaking to Rojak Daily.

The Penangite said that when thinking of the concept, he had actually pictured more figures - a delivery person, a firefighter, a policeman, the Health Director-General, a lab worker and a health worker. "I sent a proposal to put together this artwork to the ministry and after they agreed and decided on an appropriate bugdet, we had to settle with four main figures," he said.

Muhammad Ikhwan, better known as Ikhwan Saloot, explained that despite reducing the number of figures, the artwork was the biggest he had ever worked on.

In fact, it took him 15 days to complete to carve out four figures using 2,000kg of river sand.

It's all in the details

"The most challenging part is to get the details right and to make it look as realistic as possible.

"With sand sculptures, parts that protrude such as a nose can be quite challenging because the likelihood of it falling due to gravity is quite high.

"Thank goodness for this one, they all had masks," he laughed.

Ikhwan said that he was grateful to be given to opportunity to create the 3.048m long and 1.6764m high piece and for it to be enjoyed by visitors at the ferry terminal in Kuah, Langkawi.

"Just like many other people, my work was also badly affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic so I'm grateful to have been commissioned to do this.

"I also hope this artwork will shine a spotlight on the beautiful art of sand sculpting. It's not only exciting and challenging, but it is also environmentally friendly.

"The artwork is made from sand and water, and it will eventually return to the earth," said Ikhwan who recently graduated with a masters in science in landscape architecture.

For those of you living quite jauh from Langkawi, you may still have an opportunity to see Ikhwan's art up close.

The talented artist is planning on putting together something in KL soon.

"If all goes well, it will be an Ox-shaped sculpture in line with the coming Chinese New Year celebrations," he said.