Toronto, Cakes, Pastries, and Retro-Rudolphs

Hello everyone, I haven’t done any posts for the last while because my wife and I have been in Toronto visiting our daughter for the last 8 days. It’s great to get away from routine and experience new things.

In my earlier postings I had mentioned how I love candy for its shapes and colours, well I may as well add pastries and cakes to that list.

I was photographing cakes and pastries in bakery windows as well as in the showcase in one bakery/coffee shop.

Beautifully done cakes and pastries are like little sculptures. It is going to be interesting to see how these little morsels make their way into my work, lots of ideas are coming to mind.

Just before we left for Toronto I got in touch with Lori Rudolph of Retro-Rudolphs. We had a great talk and have been sending e-mails back and forth. Check out her website at http://www.freewebs.com/retro-rudolphs/. While you are doing that check out her blog http://retrorudolphs.blogspot.com/.

Giant fiberglass food

I love the giant fibreglass food that is used in Switzerland to advertise a restaurant or bakery.

The giant ice cream cone was photographed in Bern, Switzerland, it stands almost 6 feet tall! It would be great as a sculpture in our home.

I photographed this giant sausage in Thun, Switzerland, it stands almost 5 feet tall.

This giant croissant was photographed in Interlaken Switzerland, it stands almost 5 feet tall. These sculptures are made commercially. My son mentioned when I was taking the photos that it was like someone photographing McDonalds over here. The fibreglass items in North America are generally cartooned and meant to be "fun" mascots for a fast food chain. These European items are mostly realistic representations of food. I did see a wonderful baker made out various types of bread and pretzels. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of it or the giant sandwich made in a roll complete with meat, lettuce, and tomatoes. Oh well next time.

The beer jug is at least 8' high and was photographed outside of a restaurant in Grub, Switzerland. It was probably made specifically for the restaurant. It isn't made from a mould and therefore is a little rougher in its finished look.

Website Update

It certainly has taken longer than anticipated but the new website is up and running. Over the next little while we will be checking everything out, making certain that the links are working properly and the descriptions make sense. Have a look at the site, www.happyholidays.ca and let me know what you think.

Happy Holidays School of Napkin Folding – Day 14

Today is the last day the “Happy Holidays School of Napkin Folding”, I hope you have had fun trying the folds. This last fold is called “The Vase”.

Happy Holidays School of Napkin Folding – Day 13

This next napkin fold would be fun used on a gift at Christmas. In order to use a napkin fold as a gift trim you will have to carefully pin it at strategic points in the fold. Be very careful to keep the sharp end of the pin or pins concealed inside the folds of the napkin. This napkin fold is called “The Slipper”. Have fun coming up with colour schemes for this one.

Happy Holidays School of Napkin Folding – Day 12

The website seems to take longer than anticipated. We are nearing the end of the napkin folding as well as coming near to completion of the site. Hopefully both will coincide. Here’s the next napkin fold to try. This one is called “The Sachet”.