Sept. 25-29
Pinup Presentation Feedback
After hearing what my peers and professors had to say about my ideas thus far, I spent some time reflecting on where I was and where I wanted to go. After the pinup I realized that my ideas I had concerning the tart display only revealed how much I didn't know or understand about what limitations caramel as a material had. I had hopes I could manipulate it and have it yield to the shapes and designs I wanted, but I had no experience actually creating these forms. This week began the month-long journey of testing everything that could happen to caramel under all states I could test.
I started with what I knew, that caramel could be poured over a surface and allowed to cool at room temperature to create some form. The structure was brittle though, and snapped easily. It also needed to be heated to such a high temperature that surfaces it would come into contact with would have to be sufficiently heat resistant. ​
I formed the above caramels I've entitled Dome 1, Dome 2, Swan, and Duck, by allowing the caramel to pool and run over surfaces freely. It yielded an organic and pleasing shape but there wasn't much control and this got me thinking that I needed a way to contain the molten liquid and constrain it enough to cool but still be workable.
I stumbled across the idea of using copper sheet metal as a barrier and trying to may my own "cookie cutter" shapes that I could pour the caramel into and control the shape of it. While I was developing this idea I also spent two weeks trying out different techniques to alter caramel and seeing how the material behaved.
I poured the caramel into containers and immediately placed it in the freezer to cool completely, this made the caramel sticky and hard to get out of the container.
I dripped molten drops of caramel into a bowl of water and created caramel pebbles, but they were also very sticky and I couldn't find much use for them.
I put on heat resistant gloves and then kneaded, twisted, and rolled the caramel, pressing it into itself over and over. This was incredibly interesting because as it cooled and the more I would fold it over itself, the more bubbles slowly became incorporated and I could create different levels of opacity.
I drizzled thin streams of the liquid caramel over rods, cups, glasses, bowls, vases, and just about anything I could get my hands on. I made twisting thin snakes of beaded caramel, domed cages, zig zagging spindly cups and so much more.
I poured the caramel into cake pans and then turned it upside down and let it drip out, creating caramel stalactites with long pulled sugar tendrils.
I melted pre-made caramel forms in places and tried to attach new pieces of caramel in a make-shift soldering.
By the end of those two weeks my entire apartment was covered in sugar and there were no regrets.
View next weeks findings here