3D Finalist
Mind Control
by Erin Schwartz · submitted Oct 28, 2015 · 2015 contest
1 / 30
Description
I wanted to find a design that both appealed to me and would challenge me and o boy did I find that with Mind Control! This tee and I had an instant spark, and though I tried to ignore it so I could fairly consider all other designs, in the end it was fate!
To start, I planned out my simple structure (in a way that would create the illusion of my piece standing on the tip of his beard) and decided what unique cake flavor would make this cake cohesive from the inside out. I felt inspired by different spices, went to a local shop and came across a Bombay Chai tea blend! BINGO! That’s what I wanted to do! I steeped a hearty amount of the tea in my milk for the cake; this was a first for me, but oh man did I enjoy the results! Turns out you can have your tea and eat it too! I wanted an icing that complimented the cake, so I went with a Saigon Cinnamon and Vanilla Bean American Buttercream!
I stacked up my cakes (6,7 and 8 inch rounds), giving a hearty filling of icing in between each layer. After the head of the cake was stacked, I carved away to give it the proper shape and used homemade ganache to cover the outside. As I got a better visual I added another two layers of cake to the top of the head (where the snake wraps).
Now came the time consuming part! Using my own modeling chocolate mixed with fondant; I began to sculpt the features of the cake. I never went to art school so working on a piece like this is always a challenge for me. Honestly, I probably sculpted every spot of this cake at least two or three times, constantly checking with the original design. I even made great progress in a few hours and then felt the face was too wide and cut off his cheeks and started that part over again. It too a long time, but it’s really fun seeing the piece come to life!
After I was happy with the sculpting, I mixed rice cereal and marshmallows to help me build up the curves of the snake a bit. As my base for the skin tone, I speckled the surface with 6 or 7 different colors so that it mimics real skin (which is not one solid color). I used different techniques to sculpt and color-I got to use my favorite tool (my Dresden tool) for the beard texture!
The snake’s skin started as a light green that I wet washed with a diluted black food coloring and wiped it away, leaving the black in the crevices (another first!). To make the texture, I used pliers to reshape a pumpkin-carving tool into a shape that would work. Once that dried, I dry brushed some beautiful luster colors to give it a magical iridescence. Painting the eyes a midnight blue made the piece quite creepy, but once that dried and I painted on the tiny galaxy stars, it really gave it life!
Since this design had such a spell on me, I had to include a special effect! So, I used 3 extremely tiny red LED lights (two for the snake’s eyes and one for the bindi piece). I used red isomalt to make the snake eyes and gem for the head and placed that over the LEDs. Turning those lights on for the first time with the isomalt sugar over it was really exciting! The glowing of the red eyes and head jewel mean the man and snake are communicating.
I was pretty proud that I felt I captured the mystifying spirit of this design and translated it into a cake! And, although I loved it so, I may have been even more excited to dig in and get to that Bombay Chai Cake!!! My family and I started in the back, trying to leave his face unharmed for as long as we could!
I hope you all enjoy my Mind Control piece! Anyone who follows me on periscope got to see some sneak peaks of me making my structure, the snake texture tool, etc.
**Warning, just don’t stare too long or it may be your mind he is controlling next!!!**
To start, I planned out my simple structure (in a way that would create the illusion of my piece standing on the tip of his beard) and decided what unique cake flavor would make this cake cohesive from the inside out. I felt inspired by different spices, went to a local shop and came across a Bombay Chai tea blend! BINGO! That’s what I wanted to do! I steeped a hearty amount of the tea in my milk for the cake; this was a first for me, but oh man did I enjoy the results! Turns out you can have your tea and eat it too! I wanted an icing that complimented the cake, so I went with a Saigon Cinnamon and Vanilla Bean American Buttercream!
I stacked up my cakes (6,7 and 8 inch rounds), giving a hearty filling of icing in between each layer. After the head of the cake was stacked, I carved away to give it the proper shape and used homemade ganache to cover the outside. As I got a better visual I added another two layers of cake to the top of the head (where the snake wraps).
Now came the time consuming part! Using my own modeling chocolate mixed with fondant; I began to sculpt the features of the cake. I never went to art school so working on a piece like this is always a challenge for me. Honestly, I probably sculpted every spot of this cake at least two or three times, constantly checking with the original design. I even made great progress in a few hours and then felt the face was too wide and cut off his cheeks and started that part over again. It too a long time, but it’s really fun seeing the piece come to life!
After I was happy with the sculpting, I mixed rice cereal and marshmallows to help me build up the curves of the snake a bit. As my base for the skin tone, I speckled the surface with 6 or 7 different colors so that it mimics real skin (which is not one solid color). I used different techniques to sculpt and color-I got to use my favorite tool (my Dresden tool) for the beard texture!
The snake’s skin started as a light green that I wet washed with a diluted black food coloring and wiped it away, leaving the black in the crevices (another first!). To make the texture, I used pliers to reshape a pumpkin-carving tool into a shape that would work. Once that dried, I dry brushed some beautiful luster colors to give it a magical iridescence. Painting the eyes a midnight blue made the piece quite creepy, but once that dried and I painted on the tiny galaxy stars, it really gave it life!
Since this design had such a spell on me, I had to include a special effect! So, I used 3 extremely tiny red LED lights (two for the snake’s eyes and one for the bindi piece). I used red isomalt to make the snake eyes and gem for the head and placed that over the LEDs. Turning those lights on for the first time with the isomalt sugar over it was really exciting! The glowing of the red eyes and head jewel mean the man and snake are communicating.
I was pretty proud that I felt I captured the mystifying spirit of this design and translated it into a cake! And, although I loved it so, I may have been even more excited to dig in and get to that Bombay Chai Cake!!! My family and I started in the back, trying to leave his face unharmed for as long as we could!
I hope you all enjoy my Mind Control piece! Anyone who follows me on periscope got to see some sneak peaks of me making my structure, the snake texture tool, etc.
**Warning, just don’t stare too long or it may be your mind he is controlling next!!!**
