Carried Away by Flights of Fantasy, Sugar Myths and Fantasies 2.0 - 11/7/16 -
This Cake is one of my little-known Favorites. The collab I did this for ("Sugar Myths and Fantasies) also brought you the Rainbow Pegacorn Launch, where mama teaches baby to fly. This year I wanted to REALLY make the Cake FLY.
This year, I bring you "Carried Away".
I wanted to play with photo-realism, image recreation in 3D, and gravity-defying load-bearing. I have a whole folder of pics for you, but new pieces keep interfering. A few are below to tease (Quick side note, best way to kick me in the pants to write an ebook is to go buy one I've already written, right now. Then, drop me an email)
This design is a rendering of a 70s blacklight poster that I looked at through my entire childhood life - "El Condor". I still own this poster, kept safe along with a few other relics. I loved this picture-story, Lovers being carried away, on a velvet bed pulled by irresistible strong wings. They fly, absorbed in each other and in the idealistic golden love of Beginnings, oblivious to the terrifying, forbidding mountains and trenches of Reality. They are towed, floating softly, unknowing (uncaring), perfectly supported by forces beyond their apparent control or direction, winging with terrifying silent strength towards an undefined (unneeded?) destination. Do they control the Crane? Or are they Captive, literally, to uncontrollable forces? Can they see Crane? Can they see the Certain Death below? Or can they only See each other? And, do they TRULY see each other? Is their blindness the source of their safety, and that once they lose that focus they see their true peril? Is there True Peril??
Yes, I chewed on this poster FOR YEARS. It actually was a huge source of Artistic Inspiration, as I've come to realize this is the sort of Art that turns me on. The Storytelling Art. A single image you can sit with, quietly, and which will slowly reveal itself as an entire diatribe of meanings, storylines, and deliciously unknowable questions. The kind of image that Creates more Questions than it Answers. You may see this in my more unpopular works, as Popular Culture rarely likes gritty depth in favor of shiny. I mean, it IS pretty, but it is also undeniably weird too... like the Artist ;-)
The figures are gumpaste, and the mountains are filled with Dark Chocolate Cake and Almond Vanilla buttercream. The Trees are white chocolate piped out. Clouds are strips of wafer paper. Made with Magic Colours awesome airbrush tints and gels and Satin Ice killer black fondant. We ate the cake, then trashed the rest. I still have the Couple, wrapped safely. I have learned so much since I made this piece, but it is still one of my Favorites.
Scroll down for a few works in progress
This Cake is one of my little-known Favorites. The collab I did this for ("Sugar Myths and Fantasies) also brought you the Rainbow Pegacorn Launch, where mama teaches baby to fly. This year I wanted to REALLY make the Cake FLY.
This year, I bring you "Carried Away".
I wanted to play with photo-realism, image recreation in 3D, and gravity-defying load-bearing. I have a whole folder of pics for you, but new pieces keep interfering. A few are below to tease (Quick side note, best way to kick me in the pants to write an ebook is to go buy one I've already written, right now. Then, drop me an email)
This design is a rendering of a 70s blacklight poster that I looked at through my entire childhood life - "El Condor". I still own this poster, kept safe along with a few other relics. I loved this picture-story, Lovers being carried away, on a velvet bed pulled by irresistible strong wings. They fly, absorbed in each other and in the idealistic golden love of Beginnings, oblivious to the terrifying, forbidding mountains and trenches of Reality. They are towed, floating softly, unknowing (uncaring), perfectly supported by forces beyond their apparent control or direction, winging with terrifying silent strength towards an undefined (unneeded?) destination. Do they control the Crane? Or are they Captive, literally, to uncontrollable forces? Can they see Crane? Can they see the Certain Death below? Or can they only See each other? And, do they TRULY see each other? Is their blindness the source of their safety, and that once they lose that focus they see their true peril? Is there True Peril??
Yes, I chewed on this poster FOR YEARS. It actually was a huge source of Artistic Inspiration, as I've come to realize this is the sort of Art that turns me on. The Storytelling Art. A single image you can sit with, quietly, and which will slowly reveal itself as an entire diatribe of meanings, storylines, and deliciously unknowable questions. The kind of image that Creates more Questions than it Answers. You may see this in my more unpopular works, as Popular Culture rarely likes gritty depth in favor of shiny. I mean, it IS pretty, but it is also undeniably weird too... like the Artist ;-)
The figures are gumpaste, and the mountains are filled with Dark Chocolate Cake and Almond Vanilla buttercream. The Trees are white chocolate piped out. Clouds are strips of wafer paper. Made with Magic Colours awesome airbrush tints and gels and Satin Ice killer black fondant. We ate the cake, then trashed the rest. I still have the Couple, wrapped safely. I have learned so much since I made this piece, but it is still one of my Favorites.
Scroll down for a few works in progress
Work IN Progress
This Cake was a huge effort I enjoyed immensely. I created patterns, structures, drying molds, airbrushings, modelings dusting and carvings for this design, combined in a dizzying array. This was indeed an actual Cake, all of the mountains and foreground are Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Buttercream, covered in black Satin Ice Fondant. Gumpaste Mountain faces, dried on a curve and airbrushed with brilliant Magic Colours edible airbrush colors, attach to the front as a facade. The Moon, Couple, and Velvet Bed are all gumpaste with structure. I have over 250 photos of the exact process, so stay tuned for a ebook on this Cake. Here are a few to tease you in the meantime!
This Cake was a huge effort I enjoyed immensely. I created patterns, structures, drying molds, airbrushings, modelings dusting and carvings for this design, combined in a dizzying array. This was indeed an actual Cake, all of the mountains and foreground are Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Buttercream, covered in black Satin Ice Fondant. Gumpaste Mountain faces, dried on a curve and airbrushed with brilliant Magic Colours edible airbrush colors, attach to the front as a facade. The Moon, Couple, and Velvet Bed are all gumpaste with structure. I have over 250 photos of the exact process, so stay tuned for a ebook on this Cake. Here are a few to tease you in the meantime!
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