Balls and Weddings

My boss (the owner of the Mardi Gras float production company Royal Artists) got married over the weekend, and my gift to the couple was making their wedding cake. His only request is that it be inspired by the late 19th/early 20th century Mardi Gras style Mardi Gras floats. So, 12 pounds of butter and 6 dozen eggs later:

The highlight, in my opinion, of those older floats is the incredible use of flower cut outs, so I went to work making gumpaste flowers in that style. Yes, all the flowers are edible.

The shell design is from a silicone mold I found on etsy. I made little chocolates with it, and dusted them with edible gold dust. The pearls hanging beneath each shell are cake pulls, a Southern tradition in which charm bracelets are embedded in bottom layer of the cake, and prior to the cutting of said cake, the bride's single friends take turns pulling them out to reveal their good fortune.

On an unrelated note, I also did the artwork for MOM's Halloween Ball this year. MOM (short for Krewe of Misfits, Orphans, and Mystics) is best known for their all-night costume ball the Saturday before Mardi Gras, infamous for its debauchery on every level, as well as some of the best costuming in New Orleans. But they also do a great Halloween blow out. This year, I illustrated the invitation, as well as a 10 foot banner that greeted the guests at the entrance to the party.  The captain's request was that it be in the vein of a macabre circus (which, with American Horror Story filming here in town, was an easy theme to slip right into) and that it have specific members of the MOM's royal court represented. All the krewe members seemed really pleased, and the banner is currently hanging in the jester's living room.

I'm particularly proud of the resting bitch face on my Pony Girls: 

That's all for now. I have a new batch of headdresses to post up here soon, so stay tuned!

Mermaid Gras and Soggy Gras

I mentioned in a previous post that I would be decorating a wedding cake for a couple getting married on Mardi Gras dressed as merpeople. I'm pretty happy with the results, especially considering the whirlwind that was Lundi Gras.

The mercouple and fish are made out of gumpaste, painted with luster dust and food coloring:

 

I poured white chocolate into seashell candy molds, then dusted them in edible gold pearl dust.

Here's a few photos of the happy couple on Mardi Gras day, complete with their own float and legion of fish folk:

As far as my own Mardi Gras festivities, this was one of the coldest and wettest Carnivals on record. It stayed in the 20's and 30's all day and never. stopped. raining. I got a few pictures of me before leaving the house, but not much past that, because I pooped out early. In no time I was sopping wet and shivering uncontrollably, and my costume was meeeelting.  Mardi Gras is about enjoying yourself, not forcing an outdoor activity when it's just miserable. So instead it because a sazeracs in the hot tub sort of day. Sometimes nature wins. Though it does further inspire me to make a hardcore waterproof nobody's-raining-on-MY-parade costume some time in the future, just to have in the back of my closet for these sort of occasions.