As things start to return to normal, the Omni Grove Park Inn’s annual National Gingerbread House Competition has returned to the in-person event we all know and love. This year I decided to go with something I have wanted to do for years and do it on a grand (for me) scale.
Every year my goal is to do better than last year and take my gingerbread game up a notch. This year I really focused in on details and set my sights on creating something that draws you in and has so many things to see that you see something new every time you look at it.
I was inspired by 2 things in making my entry. The first was my paternal grandmother’s aunt’s house in the hills around Mountain View, Arkansas in Stone County. Her family was part of the original founding in the area, so our roots there go deep. We visited the area (and Aunt Emmer and Uncle Newton) many times when I was a child. Their house wasn’t big but it had a charm and appeal that I still remember. It was made of stone and when you walked through the door the temp dropped 10-15 degrees in the summer, which is important when the outside temperature is pushing 100. I have always wanted a stone house because of that. So far I have had to settle for this stone gingerbread house instead.
The other inspiration comes from a popular children’s book series about a boy who finds out he is a wizard and goes to a prestigious school of witchcraft and wizardry in the Highlands of the UK. The gamekeeper of that institution has a unique shape to his stone cottage that has been calling out to me to be done in gingerbread for years. The angles for walls and the multi-tiered roof on top of it were a challenge! And the roof was a real engineering challenge since I needed to make sure there were open spaces for light to get into the interior. It took 6 months of planning and construction to complete it, but finally placing in the Top 10 made it all worth it. I give you The Gamekeepers Cottage.
The Gamekeeper’s Cottage (Hagrid’s Hut)
At the start of every project I do a proof of concept, usually in foam board because it is the same thickness as construction gingerbread and it is more rigid than cardboard. Once the shape is defined and fine-tuned I can take it apart and use the pieces as templates. For this house that was pretty important because each wall had a window or door or fireplace opening in a different place so a single wall template wouldn’t work. The roof went through multiple iterations before I finally settled on a design with enough structural strength that also had open space that was visible all the way to the top.
After baking the wall and floor sections I started assembling the basic structure. The walls were then covered inside and out with gingerbread pastillage of different colors and textures. I really like the flexibility the gingerbread pastillage gives me to use food color stains and impression mats to create realistic looking wood grains for the floors and walls. The exterior rocks were individually marbled and shaped then attached to the walls with royal icing. For a realistic touch, I spent a weekend using multiple colors of royal icing to add “lichen” to the exterior stones to soften the joints and give it texture.
I spent about 2 months working after hours and on weekends creating all the details inside and out. It takes a long time because perfection in the details and maintaining proportion is incredibly important in competition work. The fireplace logs are individually carved pretzel sticks that are blackened with a lighter to give them a realistic look. Smoke stains (black luster dust) on the wall, chimney, and ceiling also give it an extra touch of realism.
Another thing I did differently this year is including many natural elements in the entry. I used food color painted dried parsley sprigs from my garden for the fallen leaves on the roof and ground. I also used basil flower shoots for the doorway plants, and real lavender and blue cornflower petals were used for the drying lavender on the walls. The candles are made of edible beeswax with angel hair pasta for wicks – again, charred with a lighter to make them look real.
The other big step forward for me this year was the creatures made from modeling chocolate. The dog was my first try and the hippogrif was the best piece so far. Patience is key and being willing to wad it up and start over is a must.
So proud of this year’s entry! Now, on to 2022!
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