In the beginning 09/28/2011
Did I ever tell you the story of why I began creating realistic fabric breads and pastries? Growing up in the Pop Art era, way back when I was in college, I was very fond of an artist named Claes Oldenburg, who had used everyday objects for models in his soft sculptures. He had incorporated fabric in several of his creations and made many food soft sculptures such as a giant hamburger and giant French fries. When I was a child, I had learned to sew, loved arts and crafts and enjoyed cooking. I was a very curious kind of person and was always interested in how things where made. I have never forgotten the trip my brownie troop made to the Duffys bottling company, all the machines turning and whirling and then there it was, a labeled, sealed and deliciously filled orange soda. It totally fascinated me. Ok, so you see it was already in my genetic make up when back in 1997, the opportunity happened. I was chatting with the owner of The Little Swiss Shop, in Ouray, Colorado, when she said, “Have you ever seen any fabric made pastries?” She didn’t like the plastic ones, as they looked to “cheap.” That was that “light bulb” moment. The wheels stated turning in my head. Was there such an item out there, something like that? After, weeks of research, all I could find was either plastic, or felt food, which neither would do justice for high-end crystal ware. So, I set to work, researching fabrics, paints and items that would look like realistic toppings. Since she carried fancy beer steins in her store, I decide to start with giant pretzels. I drew out a pattern, cut, stitched and painted the fabric. As I painted it, I was amazed. The fabric began to look like a real fresh baked, hot out of the oven pretzel! Here I was doing this, knowing I started with a piece of fabric, but it even took me by surprise. It worked. I felt like a magician (I love magic, don’t you?) I felt like jumping for joy. Laughing to myself, (out loud), I made several more. Just for the fun of it, I placed them all on a big cookie sheet and took them to town. People walked by, smiling and saying, “can I have one? Or “yum, those make me hungry, did you just bake them?” When I told them they where made from fabric, they would just burst out laughing. I had never had so much fun. That day, I made my first sale. The store owner bought all of them.  CommentsLeave a Reply |  |
