[Sca-cooks] marzipan madness

[Kathleen A. Roberts]

--On Monday, December 15, 2003 8:22 PM +0000 Olwen the Odd 
<olwentheodd at hotmail.com> wrote:
> So did you go with the thin parchment paper or just go ahead and scribe
> directly onto the marzipan?  I don't believe you actually mentioned the
> size of the scroll either. Olwen

10x15 full sheet....   3 inch borders on bottom and left, 1 1/2 inch on top 
and right, holding 3-d illumination on painted yellow background.   one 
pink rose with two flowering buds and three closed, one white rose with one 
flowering bud, two white dogwood flowers, two pansies, two strawberries, 
two purple morning glory trumpet type flowers, a scattering of tine white 
star flowers.  i made sugar candy syrup and flicked it into dots and 
strings for pistils and stamens, and touched them with a smattering of 
elible gold leaf (pollen).  one butterfly, and of course an assortment of 
green leaves.   the butterfly wings were thin painted marzipan, the eyes 
gold leaf, and i painted the antennae directly on the scroll.

the writing space itself more 5x9.

"Now she brings the buds of spring and dances midst the flowers.
Her beauty lights our winter nights and warms our winter bowers."

i printed the text, leaving extra large space for the capitals beginning 
each line.  i laid it on top of the marzipan, and with a knife i 'cut' the 
lines for the letters into the marzipan.  i took a fine brush and painted 
the letters as 'calligraphically' as i could.  the capitals were 3-D 
lombardic capitals covered in edible gold leaf.  i trusted neither my hand 
direct, nor the pen nib not to scrape and tear the surface.  fortunately 
these 'channels' kept things from bleeding.

the treasure map was plain old painted on the marzipan, and i curled and 
'tore' the corners.  i used any cracks in the marzipan as rips, darkening 
them with the gel.

connor told me he would get the pix up tonight so i can show the finished 
product.  i was coming down to the wire, and did not have time to do step 
by step except for the flowers being ready to put on.

cailte
the certifiable!

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''Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy which
sustained him through temporary periods of joy.''
                                                        W.B. Yeats
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Kathleen Roberts
Administrative Asst. II
UNM Freshman Admissions
505-277-6249