[Sca-cooks] marzipan madness pix

[Olwen the Odd]

>--On Tuesday, December 16, 2003 10:40 PM -0600 Stefan li Rous 
><StefanliRous at austin.rr.com> wrote:
>
>Your shading of your colors on your
>>marzipan looks wonderful. Really, the best I've seen. How are you doing
>>it? With air brushing?
>
>nope.... just the 3D marzipan shapes painted with gel food color used like 
>water color with a sable brush.  the stuff i DID mold color into is what i 
>am least happy with... the calyxes (sp) and stems.  a watercolor and oil 
>art background helped.

If you would have gone outdoors and gotten a real sample or two of the stems 
and such then you could have better mixed and matched the colours that make 
the whole.  When we mix together a pallet of colours of an item we do not 
completely blend all the colourations into one seperate colour, but rather 
leave some random swirls of all the colours.  That is what brings the depth 
and realizm to the piece.
>
>Marzipan copies often give themselves away because
>>their colors are too uniform or too bright. The two pieces of art you are
>>showing here are both "flat" works.
>
>again, illuminator experience.... the map is just a painted picture.  it 
>tried to paint the 3D as if they were alive, with the color shadings going 
>into the petals, rather than relying on the product being pink or green to 
>start with.
>
>>Have you done any three-dimensional work, such as Olwen tends to
>concentrate on?
>
>other than doing a strawberry or carrot or two, this is the first 3D 
>marzipan i tried... or only other marzipan i have tried.   my idea to 
>supply flowers for the 'garden' escalated to the flemish scroll.

And how happy I was as her first messages began with a few flowers and 
quickly escalated to the finished project!  Magnificent.  Being an artist to 
begin with is very helpful but not really necessary.  When I first dragged 
Alainne kicking and screaming to the worktable, she flatly said she was not 
artistic in any way.  What a liar!
>
>with owen's strong guiding email hand i got thru it with a minimum of prior 
>experience.  and lots of semi-useless print outs from the web.  the 
>directions from the marzipan readymade product people for roses didn't look 
>like real roses at all to me, so i played.     don't know if i am ready for 
>realistic twinkies and tacos, tho. 8)

Sure you can!  Just get a sample of the real thing and go from there.  But 
if you try for the tacos be sure to give yourself a week or more.  Just 
doing the tiny different coloured bits for the taco shell took a sitting!
>
>>Both your pieces are true  works of art. I can easily see why no one
>wanted to cut into them.
>
>thank you.  the scroll will be preserved and used at as a centerpiece 
>display in three months for our heralds and scribes symposium.  and i am 
>getting alphabet cookie cutters and making 'scribal marzipan' to accompany 
>the 'heraldic cookies' for dessert.
>
>it's sadly addictive....

I know.
So, need more almond paste?
>
>cailte
>more illuminator than calligrapher... in all forms
Olwen

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