sandcastling

So the first essential ingredient is a dream. Of course, imagination by itself does not suffice. You must acquire the skills to match your dreams—or you will remain a bemused armchair sandcastler, nurturing pipe dreams of unfulfillable glory. / Fortunately the skills required for sandcastling are developed with reasonable ease in a pleasant environment.

1981, Joseph Allen, “Chapter 4: The Art of Sandcastling”, in Sandcastles: The Splendors of Enchantment, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 61

A major principle of sandcastling is always to complete your work on a higher level before proceeding to a lower level. […] Making up your own techniques is not difficult. In fact, the more sandcastling you do, the more you will find your imagination taking over.

1982, Jeffrey Shear, Michael DiPersio, Steven Schneider, Castles in the Sand, Putnam Press, →ISBN, pages 9, 26

These sand castles and other constructions became centerpieces for annual festivals and competitions. “Sandcastling” moved beyond family games for kiddies to become a verb. […] Sandcastling origins, far upstream in time, may go back to Egyptians who, four thousand years ago, made sand replicas of pyramids and monuments. […] Sandcastling now joins a host of other occupations which, increasingly in the 1990s, enliven varied sites with once limited but now expanding artistic activities.

1994 November 15, Grady Clay, Real Places: An Unconventional Guide to America's Generic Landscape, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, pages 216, 218