Going Off Half-Baked

My name's Megan and I'm a blogger. It's been ten days since my last post.

But what a ten days. The kids finishing their school year seems to bring so much drama with it. Getting reports, cleaning out the layers of detritus from their school bags (for which I am grateful for some archaeology knowledge), going through all the school clothes and all the school books. And getting ready for Christmas. There were presents to buy and presents to finish making and baking to do. So much baking. And in the midst of that all the usual, boring things, like grocery shopping and cooking and doing the washing. Bleah.

Somehow, in all that, time for quietly drawing or painting got shunted back in the schedule (and blogging went right out the window).

Baking. Every year I go a little crazy making gingerbread. I love gingerbread, and ginger cake. And I love making things out of gingerbread. The whole house smells of gingerbread for days on end. It greets you when you walk in the door and wafts you off to sleep at night. Just heaven.

It started with houses. I have been making houses for a number of years. They are fun and versatile and when the kids were little they used to love decorating, although I think that had a lot to do with scoffing sweets as they worked. Houses were made for family and friends and we would have a great time making each look different. We'd change the biscuits and other decorations out the front. But inside was always the same - biscuits with the names of each of the recipients, as a little surprise when the roof was finally taken off.

Then last year the Son up the ante. "We always do houses. They're fun. But can you make a TARDIS?" said with the definite tone of throwing down the gauntlet. So I put my mind to it and came up with this (note the small size of the Cybermen and Daleks) :

Gingerbread TARDIS, 2013

There was one for us and one for some friends who love Dr Who. And then there were several houses as well. Inside the houses were the usual biscuits with names. Insides the TARDISs were biscuits done like Seals of Rasalon with names on the back. I was quite pleased with how it came out.

Gingerbread Seal of Rasalon, 2014

So this year I thought, more TARDISs, why not? I made TARDISs for some school friends and their families, with Seals inside, and larger Daleks outside. They were more to scale, but it did mean two figures per structure. Four was too cluttered.

Gingerbread TARDIS 2014

Looking at it now, my piping could have been better. Don't know what was wrong with me there. The Daleks (and cybermen) are just made with a template I draw each year, which will always mean that no two years will be alike. I also found this year that Smarties make a perfect top to the TARDIS light. Which enables me to colour-code each one. Otherwise, once the lid's on I have trouble remembering which one is for which family.

There was also a sleigh. I used a mold, which I haven't done before. It needs rethinking. I was happy with the sleigh, but the two reindeer had to go. They looked like they'd been hanging around the king of Goblin Town. Not good. I shall cogitate and experiment (there is still some dough left in the freezer). Might make templates for them and see if that works better. Or make them in the mold but with chocolate rather than dough. Needs work. This was the first time I had made something without testing it first. Just trusted the thing I had bought. Sorry, Cate. I owe you two reindeer.

Anyway, Son threw down the gauntlet again this year. "You've made TARDISs. They're good. But what about a Dalek? Like, a 3D one?" Ooookay.

So I went through the process I adopted for the houses years ago and for the TARDIS last year. Lots of thinking. Draw plans based on images from the Doctor Who Technical Manual. Build out of cardboard to perfect template. Build prototype from gingerbread. Look at it, pick faults, iron out kinks, revise, think.

And this was the result:

Gingerbread Dalek Travel Machine, 2014

There were problems. Snapping the panel above the gun and plunger was a big one. The dome needed perfecting. But I think jelly baby heads make perfect lights. On the whole, however, it worked. And the scale is Jaffa scale.

I made another one for a friend and her family. And the Son came up with the great idea of putting an actual dalek inside. Did you know, if you chop up and melt jelly snakes they become a glorious slimey mess? And almost impossible to clean off teaspoons? The Dalek came out okay, and caused a "ewww" reaction, which was the desired effect. But I have since had ideas on improvements. This is, as always, an ongoing process. And sometime I shall have to make a Doctor gingerbread man. After all, he often says he wants to be ginger.

So after all the panic and rush, Christmas was done. I love that people loved their gingerbread. I love that we still have our prototype to eat. But I am really pleased to sit down, to get off my feet, to read and draw at leisure.

And I am NOT showing this to my Son:

In closing, here's a little something for all of you who, like me, need to relax a little now Christmas is done. In! Calm! Out! Relax!