GINGERBREAD creations

Gingerbread building is one of my favorite diversions around winter time and combines my love of travel, learning about magical new places, architecture, solving challenging design problems, and the divine smell of gingerbread.

My process is usually the same.. Once I’m locked on a concept I start collecting reference, sketch out ideas, and then draw the final design in Adobe Illustrator to make the blueprints and transfer to card stock. I love diving into possibilities of creating fantasy around an idea, placing myself as a resident and making my home there for the winter.

There were definitely hits and misses over the years, and I’ve done my best to document it all so I can learn from my many mistakes!

lighthouse (2023)

historic-inspired lighthouse

A very dear friend suggested that I take on a lighthouse, which became deceptively challenging dealing with a rounded base with areas that bordered on defying gravity! Handmade bricks, spiral staircase, isomalt windows, curved icing railings, icing shingles, and tentacle-inspired supports were among the few new things I tried out for the first time.

DR. ZHIVAGO ICE PALACE (2021) - UNFINISHED

RUSSIAN NOUVEAU DACHA + victorian conservatory

This one was a disappointment in the end, but I learned a lot from my process. I’ll need to redesign and try again another year! I was unhappy with the cutaway bit, and it was much too heavy-handed overall. Truthfully I was so unhappy with how it turned out that I just gave up when it came to the snow.. I did come up with a few new techniques that will help in the next iteration - I’ll probably use the painted woodgrain and embossed effects again, but that’s about it!

BABA YAGA HOUSE (2020) - UNFINISHED

bylina*-INSPIRED WITH NOUVEAU STYLING

I had such high hopes and a great vision for this one. Unfortunately life got in the way this year (oh, and COVID-19), which halted everything mid-build. I’ll revisit another year - it needs to be made!

*Bylina was a beautiful wooded compound created by artist and inventor Anatoly Vasilyevich Ryadinsky. Link to documentary/video by Elena Makarchuk. In 2008, the compound was destroyed by fire.

LICHTENSTEIN CASTLE (2018)

gothic revival

By suggestion of my son this year to make a castle, I came across Germany’s Lichtenstein castle in my hunt for something unusual. I was intrigued by the “stair step” roofline and towers. Tower details were created by freehand piping stones and black food coloring to tint the mortar spaces and rock edges - I had to make a special jig for the tower sides to dry in their appropriate angles. Geometric Moroccan Berber pattern motifs were pulled from my memory bank of early days of Henna design practice.

STAVE CHURCH (2017)

MIDIEVAL, NORSE

A whopping 4-story Stave Church built to about 24” tall. There are several spectacular examples with varying levels of decoration, but the one I used mostly for reference was the Borgund Stave Church in Norway. Add to that a mashup of Swiss folk patterns and Eidelweiss flowers. Many of Norway's stave churches combine Christian and Norse decor, “…capturing a moment in time when Norwegians weren't prepared to fully abandon their old gods. Just in case…” This concept is similar to what I saw in the cathedrals I visited in Prague, with Pagan symbols proudly adorning the church inside and outside like wards of protection.

FAIRYTALE COTTAGE (2016)

BAVARIAN CUCKOO CLOCK, railway-house

Inspirations from cuckoo clocks, bird houses, Hungarian folk patterns. This is really the time I started leveling up my designs with challenging architecture, interesting shapes, and heavy decoration. Roof tiles were indented with the back of a butterknife and washed with black food coloring before baking. Flooded icing and plain panels were layered up to add more dimension - bonus was that this created a convenient way to tuck under some LED lighting. Sometimes if I end up making extra dough for cookies, I’ll translate the house designs from the current year’s project. I entered this one into a fun online Ginger contest and won First Place! Woo!

SHOUT OUT TO THESE AMAZING, inspiring ARTISTS!

Christine McConnell - the QUEEN of gingerbread house creations and all that is creepy crafty in my book!

Caroline Eriksson - master of sculpted ginger and construction