Margherita Pizza - A guest #FakeFoodFriday post from Hannah Fenske!

Hello all, it's that time again for a guest post!  This time we have a tutorial on Margherita Pizza from Hannah Fenske, who I worked with at the Opera. This delish dish (yeah, I said it) was for 2018's The Italian Girl in Algiers at the Santa Fe Opera. Take it away, Hannah!

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Hi y’all!  Happy Fake Food Friday!

Aimee shared a great tutorial last month for her version of leftover pizza, but there’s no single way to make a pizza!  I was tasked with making one last summer, and used some different techniques to accomplish a similar product.  It was requested as a rehearsal stand-in for what would eventually be a practical margherita pizza consumed onstage in a very silly scene.  This meant that it didn’t need to be anything fancy, but the desire to make something pretty combined with a quiet work week allowed me to go all out on this project!

Materials: Thin upholstery foam, hot glue, Jaxsan, papier mache, Flex Glue, fake ficus leaves, acrylic paint, gloss sealer (also, round plastic tray and pop rivets)

Tools: Heat gun, scissors, hot glue gun, sandpaper, Olfa knife, paintbrushes (also, pop rivet gun)

First, I started off with a thin piece of upholstery foam (1/2” or so) and cut it into a rough circle.  I wanted the final product to have some flexibility to it to mimic real slices of pizza, but in retrospect, after I added the layers of hot glue and Jaxsan, the pieces ended up fairly stiff.  While the foam worked really well aesthetically, I would probably recommend using some craft foam as a base instead if you want a more flexible end product.

For my particular pizza, since I knew it would be carried around stage and tipped towards the audience, I needed to keep the slices on the tray and together until they were removed for “eating”.  I accomplished this by adding some pop rivets to the tray and keeping the corresponding hole in each slice marked and clear throughout the process. You can see my Sharpie marks in the next picture.

From there, I cut some additional pieces of the same foam to build up the edges for a thick crust look.  I made sure to vary them in width and placement since real pizza crust isn’t perfectly consistent. Then, since papier mache doesn’t really like sticking to upholstery foam, I painted a layer of Jaxsan onto the crust and let it dry before adding a few layers of good ol’ papier mache.  This gave the crust a nice lumpy look and feel while still being smooth enough to look like crust. After a bit of sanding, I also ended up adding a layer of Flex Glue to the crust for added stability and to smooth out any rough spots.

Next, tomato sauce!  I added liberal amounts of hot glue to the center of the pizza, making sure to overlap the edges of the papier mache to keep them from curling up.  Once a section was covered with a puddle of glue, I would wait for it to partially set up, then go back and use the tip of the gun to add texture by re-melting the glue in places.  I considered using a more sophisticated material like silicone for this, but I liked the malleability of hot glue since I added lots of texture with this step (also, hot glue is way easier to paint!).  Once the layer of tomato sauce was built up and cooled, I added a few specific smooth puddles of glue that would become the melted slices of fresh mozzarella. (Sidenote: If you’ve never had a slice of classic Italian-style margherita pizza with the fresh mozzarella slices, you’re missing out!  It is by FAR my favorite kind of pizza. Go try it.)

Basil came next.  I acquired some leaves from a silk ficus tree, and since basil shrinks and gets sort of wrinkly when it’s cooked, I took a heat gun to them.  Worked like a charm! I also pressed them flat while they were still warm since they were initially a bit too voluminous to be convincing.

The next steps were a lot of careful layers of paint.  I based the whole thing in a pizza dough beige, then added a variety of browns to darken the crust, focusing on darkening the places where the dough “bubbled”.  I used two or three reds for the sauce, and after painting the cheese white, I added some yellow in the low spots where the oil would have pooled. I painted the basil a darker green, glued it on, and added bits of even darker green and brown to the cooked edges.  To seal it, I added a layer of gloss to all of the sauce, cheese, and basil.

Also, once I realized that my pizza wasn’t going to be particularly flexible, I went ahead and added a layer of Jaxsan to the bottom (not pictured, sorry).  This gave it a nice crumbly feel, and with some paint, it blended in well to the edge crust.

As much as I didn’t want to cut up my lovely pizza, it did need to be sliced.  I made the cuts with an Olfa knife, then painted the sides of the slices strategically with the beige, reds, and whites.  The edges didn’t end up looking as finished as they could have with some additional papier mache and/or Flex Glue, but I wanted to make sure that the pieces fit together as snugly as possible.

And here you have the end result!   Don’t you love when a fun project goes even better than you expected?  I tend to get the wiggles when I’m in a good place creatively, and there were lots of those during this project.

Wishing you happy crafting and creative wiggles of your own.  Prop on!

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Thanks Hannah! If you want to check out more of Hannah's stuff, you can check out her website at www.hannahfenske.com.  

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Hammy Sammies aka Hammy New Year!

Materials: Upholstery Foam, Liquid Latex, Microfoam, Fake Tomatoes, Jaxsan

 Hey, all. Sorry that it's been a bit since my last post. I've had a perfect storm of three big shows at work, one freelance show on the side, and the holidays! Boy Howdy! Well, I'm two weeks away from opening one big show and one side show, and the holidays are....well, tomorrow they'll be over. So, here I am, bringing you another fun and exciting post about food fakery.

These Dagwood sandwiches were fun to make because they are meant to look a little over sized and proppy. They are for our upcoming production of 'The 39 Steps,' a humorous take on the Hitchcock film of the same name.  We're not going for realism here, we're going for humorously over sized,  fake sandwiches that are obviously made of ham and tomatoes.

The bread is foam and latex.  I cut out a vague bread shape from upholstery foam and coated the 'loaf' with several coats of liquid latex. After a quick spritz of Design Master for that oven browned look, I sliced up the loaf with my trusty Olfa knife.

Next up were the tomatoes.  Commercially produced fake fruit and veggies can sometimes be a good starting point for built food. In this case, I had fake tomatoes with foam cores.  I sliced the tomatoes (as you would a real tomato) which gave me the correct size and shape of a tomato slice, as well as a finished edge. Then, I coated the foam with flex glue, and painted the surface with acrylics to look like a tomato slice.

The ham is made from microfoam packing material coated with Jaxsan and painted with Design Master and acrylics. I spray painted the pieces with Dusty Rose, and then painted the edges with Burnt Sienna for that ham skin look.

Hehe. Ham stack.

Once all of the components were created, it was time to assemble!  I wanted these sandwiches to be as sturdy as possible, so I stitched them together in layers with nylon thread, after using green glue to hold the folded ham slices together.  Since I didn't want the stitches to show on the top and bottom slices of bread, I used rubber cement to glue the last pieces of bread on.

Now, if these sandwiches were supposed to be more realistic, I would have done a few things differently. First, I would have worked to make the bread look more convincing by trying different types of foam and adjusting the color. My approach to the ham would have been similar, though I would have taken more time with the paint job to make it look more realistic. Perhaps I would have pepper crusted the edges.  The tomatoes? Well......thinner slices and fewer of them.  Also, I would have added some more details. These sandwiches are rather cartooney. Some purchased fake lettuce goes a long way towards adding texture and interest to a fake sandwich.  Also, I would have dressed them on a plate with chips or potato salad,  something to help with context and realism.

As it is, the sandwiches are pretty funny. I had a good time walking around the shop with them before they were assembled and letting them explode and bounce all over the floor.  All in all, not a bad way to start the year in the Fake-n-Bake kitchen.  Coming up soon (most likely) a floofy graduation cake, Garibaldi biscuits, and the epic tale of life casting, failed materials, and a fast approaching deadline.

NOM NOM NOM

So, from me and the sandwiches, Hammy New Year. May your 2011 be filled with excellent food, both real and fake! Happy propping!

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Herring-Do Part 3- Sugared Pansy Cake Ala Oona

Lovely Oona and her lovely cake. The photos don't do either of them justice.

This is a fine example of pastry fakery from a lovely young woman who claims to be a costumer/couturier but is just aching to let her inner propster out.  Oona Tibbetts created this lovely bundt while overhiring in our shop this summer.  I hope you'll all forgive me, my sub-par camera has led to some sub-par photos of this lovely cake. I assure you, the 'real' thing is far more scrumptious looking than these pics give it credit.  If any of you many wealthy readers want to see better photos, please send a Canon Rebel EOS to Anna Warren, C/O Milwaukee Repertory Theater, and I'll do what I can.  Now, back to Oona's cakery.

Here is the research image that Oona was given:

She decided to make a few adjustments based on size and the flowers we had available in our stock.  The cake that Oona made is taller and has a smaller diameter than the source photo, and she used violets instead of pansies. You see, my friends, adaptability! Oona started by carving the cake form from bead foam. After patterning the cake, she set the bandsaw table at a 10 degree angle, and cut the cake with a lovely bevel.  From there, she used an Olfa knife to carve away the scalloped pattern around the edge of the cake, and sanded the top to a graceful curve.

Once the shaping was done, a coat of Jaxsan (the magic prop goo) was applied to seal the foam and provide a paintable surface.  One of our talented props painters (Ilana Kirschbaum, I believe) painted the cake. Once dry, Oona glittered up a few silk violets (mmm sugared flowers) and applied them to the top of the bundt. Et, Voila!  Another darling addition to the Albert Herring picnic table.

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Herring-Do Part 2, Strawberry Cream Cake ala JT

Some of you may remember my first guest contributor, JT Ringer, from his earlier post Canapes ala JT. Well, he is back on the Fake-n-Bake blog with his towering strawberry cream cake! Yet another picnic delicacy for 'Albert Herring', this cake is a delight for the eyes.

JT based his cake on this research photo:

We decided against the grapefruit.

Each layer of the cake is carved from bead foam, which lends itself well to the spongy nature of the angel food cake. After a coating of Jaxsan, the layers were painted by the talented Ilana Kirschbaum to give them that golden brown, fresh-from-the-oven look.

JT assembling the cake layers.  Notice his use of splash proof goggles, nitrile gloves, and a respirator. You can't tell from the photo, but he's working outside to spare his co-workers the fumes. How considerate!

The cream in this cake is made with Great Stuff expanding foam.  The foam is adhesive, so it holds the layers together, and holds the (purchased) fake strawberries to the top without additional glue. It is lightweight and durable as well, and is very useful in the making of food props.  The thing to remember, though, is that Great Stuff expands as it cures, so it's important to plan ahead.  Notice how the prop cake is slightly more towering than the research photo? Yup, expanding foam. Luckily, this precarious tower of angel food cake is the perfect opera prop- scrumptious looking, and ever so slightly larger than life.

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Fauxsciutto Part 1

 The real deal. Check out that awesome stache!

 So, sometimes I like to take a break from my job of making fake food to spend a little bit of down time making fake food. I also like to tout new, exciting things that are happening in my neighborhood- especially new foody propsy things!  A few weeks ago, some good friends, my husband, and I toured a new meat curing facility in our neighborhood. Bolzano Artisan Meats is the first dry curing facility in Wisconsin, and is owned by a charming couple who are clearly passionate about their product and their process. After touring their facility, and sampling several of their delicious products, we got to talking. While we enjoyed our lesson on the history and process of meat curing, we wanted more, we wanted visual aids! So, we mentioned this to the Bolzano Meatsters, and they mentioned to us how they'd been dreaming of a display prosciutto, and we mentioned to them that Jen and I made fake stuff for a living, and somehow an idea was born. We decided to create a fake prociutto, modeled off of Bolzano's speck prosciutto.  I would do the sculpting, and Jen would do the painting, as Jen is a far better painter than I. So, step one is completed, I have carved the prosciutto, and I am handing it off to Jen today. Here is the process thusfar:


Materials: Insulation Foam, Green Glue, Dowel, Jaxsan, Cheesecloth


Step 1) Research Photos
I was lucky enough to get some in person research for this one. Scott (see above photo) was kind enough to allow me to come in and photograph one of his prosciutto from every angle. I also took measurements on the prosciutto, noting them on a quick sketch in my notebook.  (Note the gloves, beard net, hat, and white jacket. These guys are serious about sanitation.)

Like so.

And so.

Step 2) The Foam Blank

This project, like so many, is carved from pink insulation foam, which is available at most home improvement stores.  Pink foam, like blue foam, is easy to carve with a band saw, hand saw, utility knife, etc, and can be sanded smooth when the carving is done.  It is lightweight and durable, and is an invaluable theater material. If you've seen a play in America, there is an 84% chance that you've seen insulation foam carved into something else. (Ok, I made that statistic up.)  I decided to place a dowel through this piece as well, to give the thin part of the leg some extra stability. I layered the foam in the usual way, sticking the layers together with green glue, having first cut a v shaped trough for the dowel. Once the layers were together, I trimmed the sides on the block so that the blank was nice and square, and traced the basic shape of the prosciutto onto the faces of the blank.

Step 3) Carving the Shape
When cutting, it's important to remember this: It is always easier to remove more later than to add material back on, so err on the side of caution. Because I squared off my blank, I was able to do most of my cuts on two planes. What I mean is this, I carefully cut away the excess from the ham shape. Then, I taped the excess foam back onto the shape, as if it hadn't been cut away. I then rolled the blank over 90 degrees, and cut the profile shape of the ham. When I removed all of the excess, I had a basic shape cut into all four sides of the ham.

Ta-da!

Once I had the rough shape cut into the ham, I used the research images to lay out the details. I used my trusty Olfa knife, a hand saw, a Japanese saw, and course sandpaper to whittle down to the correct shape, before smoothing it all with some medium grit sandpaper.


Step 4) Coating and Texturing
This coating was a tough one. I was hoping to try out some casting latex, but none was available. I considered flex glue, but decided that it wouldn't give a tough enough skin. I finally went with my old stand by, Jaxsan. For the bottom of the prosciutto, or the top of the leg, whichever you prefer, I used cheesecloth covered in Jaxsan to give a striated look. I also used a bit of cheesecloth up over the hoof to give the little toes a bit more stability. Once I had the Jaxsan on, I used a spray bottle of water to wet down the Jaxsan, and smooth it out more. Then, I hung the whole thing to dry overnight.

For the most part, the project went really well. If/when I make another, I'm interested to play around with new coatings, and also to get more detail on the hoof.  Once I have photos of the painted item, I will post them! Also, if you like the fake ham, you should definitely try out some of the lovingly crafted Bolzano products, available in Milwaukee, and at their online store.
















                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

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