Earlier in April, I was in a casting competition sponsored by The Chicago School of Mold Making.

It was my first competition, and it was much more fun than I expected. I was as nervous and busy and anxious as I thought I would be....but in the middle of it all....there it was. Fun! I had a great assistant named Delecia who helped make things go smoothly. In the end, I didn't win. However, one of the judges said that my name kept coming up, but they couldn't decide where to put me. And that next year they would have more categories. So....I guess I invented new categories!
We had to create a sugar sculpture and a choclate amenity piece using a set of molds that were given to us. The theme was "Modern Nature." I conceptualized the sugar as destruction and chaos with life and growth coming out of it....and the thing on top that resembles a snail in the picture is actually part of a butterfly, but it's hard to tell in the picture.... With the chocolate, I went more with straight up "nature" with a flower.
Pictures....






A close up of the base....The orange was made using more "traditional" techniques, and not molds. I poured the melted sugar over granulated sugar, and pulled it as it cooled. The orange part rising up on the left was made by pouring the melted sugar over ice, causing it to set quickly. The ice melts off of it and...voila! An orange flame coral looking thing.