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Sand – it’s just something you shake out of your shoes after a trip to the beach, right?

This weekend in Long Beach, find out what can be done with a little bit of sand, a little bit of water and a little bit of imagination.

The 21st SandSations Sand Sculpture Contest Friday and Saturday, July 15 and 16, gives beachgoers a chance not only to see some master sand sculptors at work, but also to try their hands at creating their own temporary masterpieces.

Free lessons in the secrets of sandcastle building will be offered to beginners, who then can put those helpful hints to use to create dragons, race cars and of course, castles in the sand.

While it will draw some professional teams, the Long Beach event is designed for families, encouraging kids and adults to dig their hands into the sand no matter how skilled they are. Some entrants make the festival the centerpiece of family reunions, while a number of church groups also attend.

“This is more of a family event – not cutthroat competition,” said Merry Scharfe, one of the event organizers.

That doesn’t mean it won’t light a competitive spark. Scharfe spoke of one youngster who entered the contest one year with his grandmother. Their entry fell short of a prize, but the boy was inspired to do better, and spent the next year honing his skills. At the next SandSations event, his entry won.

The event begins Friday with registration from 3 to 6 p.m. Free sand-sculpting lessons are offered from 3 to 5 p.m, followed by a bonfire on the beach at 6:30.

On Saturday, check-in and plot assignment is 9 to 10 a.m., followed by construction from 10:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. The winners are announced at 4:15 p.m.

Winners will be picked in five categories – masters, intermediate, novice, family and children. Entrants pick their own categories, but be warned – the masters really are masters, usually teams who’ve won other competitions in the past.

Each team is given a plot to work in – 30 feet square for masters and novice teams and 20 feet for the rest. In the children’s category, an adult can help with the initial digging but not the actual sculpting. No sand can be added or removed from the work area, but extra water to wet the sand can be brought in.

A hint from Scharfe for prize-seekers: Aim high.

“In the judging, height is the big thing,” she said. “The higher you go, the more difficult it is to get the sand to stay up.”

Sculpted figures come complete with sunglasses and other accessories.Prizes range from $600 to $1,200 for the masters class, $300 to $500 for intermediate and $150 to $300 for novice. The top entry in the family class wins $100, with the two runners-up earning gift baskets. Awards are also given out for children’s entries, people’s choice, mayor’s choice and judge’s choice.

The contest inspires a variety of subjects, both serious and whimsical, including dolphins, a volcano and Old Glory.

The beach is always a good place for a cat nap.”This year, we’re hoping someone does Lewis and Clark,” Scharfe said.

You’ve slaved away building up a quaint little sandcastle, only to watch it crack, crumble and fall into a shapeless pile.

Meanwhile, the team of sand sculptors just down the beach has erected an elegant palace, complete with graceful, slender towers standing several feet high, that seems to mock both gravity and your own puny efforts.

Sandcastle-building is about much more than just a shovel and pail these days. It’s a regular calling for many enthusiasts, who’ve formed professional teams that travel the world building one masterpiece after another, using specialized tools and moldings.

People watch as sculptors create a small wonder.But whether a mound or a masterpiece, it’s all still sand. The key to success, according to the pros, comes down to a few techniques, offered here courtesy of the “Sons of the Beach” sandcastle building team of Texas.

The key ingredient to any sand sculpture, after the sand, is water. Water is the glue that holds the sand grains together – the more water, the stronger the structure will be and the longer it will defy the ravages of gravity. Using water-saturated sand, you can create a solid form that will serve as a sturdy base for a variety of designs.

Spectators at sand-sculpture contests may have seen the large wooden molds many professional teams use to build up their big sand forms. But the same sturdy structures can be created by hand.

A man and a monkey appear contemplative in this display. First, pick a spot near the high-tide line, and build a strong base by packing down a pile of soft, wet sand and leveling off the top. Next, dig a hole near the base, going down until you hit water. Mix up sand and water into a nice consistent slurry, then scoop out a large double-handful and plop it down on the base. Jiggle the wet sand gently into a flat pancake – don’t pack or pound it – so that the water spreads evenly through the sand.

To build a tower, continue the process, adding one “sand pancake” after another, gently jiggling each layer. Gradually make the levels smaller as you go up, creating a taper so the tower won’t get top-heavy.

Building walls follows the same general method: Scoop out wet sand from the hole, set it in place and hold it between your hands to form a brick shape as you jiggle it to help the water run out – don’t tap down the top. Lay more bricks end-to-end to the desired length, then add more layers on top.

Once the rough structures are done, they can then be sculpted into a variety of shapes. Old kitchen knives, trowels, paint-scrapers and used paintbrushes make excellent, easy-to-find and cheap tools for carving roofs, windows, stairways and surface textures like bricks.