The colder weather is bringing out the creative side of a New Jersey craftsman who was furloughed from his job.

Earl Covington was just a teenager when he discovered a love for ice sculpting.

“I was 16 years old at the time,” he says.

This is when Covington first started to carve ice and created sculptures for a restaurant. It soon became his career.

Covington became a champion ice sculptor and competed around the world, turning blocks of ice into elaborate figures. It was a good career, he says. But one that he put behind him years ago, until a few weeks ago when he found his way back.

"It's like turning into a community where we can all get together again. Something we haven't done. You can still social distance,” he says.

Furloughed from his current job because of the pandemic, and with plenty of thick ice to harvest from the lake behind his home in Highland Lakes, Covington started to carve ice again with the help of some creative neighbors.

“I got to know a lot of people in the neighborhood because I’m new here. So, I’ve met a lot of really nice people,” he says.

When News 12 caught up with Covington, he was making a swan to add to an igloo that also includes a sofa, coffee table and family of other figures frozen in place. He says that he is hoping for cold weather to keep them around for a while.

“It feels really good to have a chain saw back in my hand, doing what I really had a passion for,” he says.

Covington says he hopes everyone in the community gets some enjoyment from his sculptures for as long as they last.