“Easter Bunny Communion Cake” is a delightful little fantasy world comprised of a plastic Madonna standing in a see-through red chapel (purchased from England) on one side, and a pink Easter Bunny on the other. I currently have this cake displayed on a motor on a countertop in my brick and mortar shop in Phoenix and it looks magical constantly turning so you can see all sides.
The Madonna is being visited by two storks as she gazes out over her domain of two angels playing music – and a rooster having communion with a skull in a little graveyard, protected from the elements by a pink and blue lacey plastic parasol. Tiny multi-colored lucite flowers have sprung up in the graveyard. Plastic flowers, a bunny head and ornate faux icing decorate the arch above her head. Light shines through the red plastic behind the Madonna giving her a radiant glow.
On the other side of the cake there is a mischevious pink Easter Bunny being kept company by several plastic chicks (two emerging from eggshells), two bunnies (one with a top hat and cane, one with a book), and speckled plastic eggs with ‘communion wafers’ on top of them. Plastic flowers and a colorful communion wafer decorate the arch above the chapel. There is a lot of symbolism in my cakes, but I like to leave them open to interpretation so that some mystery and self-interpretation is possible.
This cake sculpture is one-of-a-kind and was created on a 7 inch wide dense styrofoam base (but extends out about to about 8 inches with the ornate decoration), coated with a faux icing. It stands about 9 inches tall at the highest point.
All the icing is created from high quality acrylic artist materials, from a formula I’ve developed over the last 30 years, and the colors are hand mixed by me and extremely colorfast. My cake sculptures are a time consuming process as I start by tracking down interesting vintage cake toppers, plastic toys, lucite and celluloid decorations, and anything else that I like that is washable. I then ice the sculptures by layering multiple layers of faux icing over several days, or weeks – and I make all the faux sugar roses, or other faux icing decorations, like medallions, in advance.
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Allee Willis
If all religion were this fanciful I might be a lot more into it!
As usual, excellent composition and color scheme. This definitely deserves to be motorized!
kookykrafts
Thanks once again Allee for the Certifikitsch!
This is one of my faves and IS on a motor (or WAS, as I am always moving them around). I suppose it reflects my irreverence about religion pretty thoroughly. Wouldn’t it be great if religion didn’t take itself seriously at all? The world would definitely be a better place. This plastic Madonna actually came from an Etsy shop based in California called blackforestrose. She has lots of religious retro stuff.
Still looking for time to post a couple of very cute retro planters. Maybe this weekend when I am in the shop catching up on things…
Allee Willis
Planters please!
Have you ever made a cake rising out of a planter?
Michael Ely
If this were a real cake, I bet it would taste like heaven!
kookykrafts
Either that, or perhaps like purgatory.
No I haven’t specifically thought of planters for cakes but HAVE thought about doing some kind of faux icingish thing coming out of the planters. You’ve inspired me now to think more about this since I have some super cute planters and porcelain vases. Maybe I’ll try some in the next couple of weeks and see what happens
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Allee Willis
Definitely try that. Good for the creative process one way or the other.
Mark Milligan
This looks to me very reminiscent of Monica Johnson’s work! I love it.
What is a brick and mortar shop? Where is your shop in Phoenix?
Great post!
Allee Willis
Monica’s work: https://www.alleewillis.com/awmok/kitschenette/author/monica-johnson/
kookykrafts
Allee – Thanks for the link to Monica’s work – very fun and wacky. I can tell she is a loving, and probably obsessed, collector of all things quirky and unusual.
Mark – I have an Esty shop (www.kookykrafts.etsy.com) but I also have an actual storefront (they call a store a “brick and mortar” store if it is a physical entity and not just online) in Phoenix called the Kooky Krafts Shop at 1500 Grand Avenue (next to the infamous, and very historic, Bikini Cocktail Lounge). It is on lower Grand Avenue, in what we call the Grand Avenue Arts, Culture and Small Business District.
I am only open Fridays and Saturdays (I view it as somewhat of a hobby and at times it almost feels like a crafting “museum”) but am there a lot since my crafting workshop is in the back, and always happy to open for anyone. In the Etsy shop it’s just my work; in the real store it is (primarily) Phoenix artists who love making over-the-top crafty things. I also have things that are handcrafted that I find here and there that I think are interesting or goofy, as well as old crafting supplies (like plastic doll parts, monchichis, monkey/pig/owl faces, plastic doo dads like cake toppers and cabochons, hand tied pom poms, feathered birds, velvet leaves and flowers, etc.) that are hard to find. I am always looking for new, old stock of craft supplies. People don’t craft much anymore (although there is the younger Indie crafting craze) so many of the really great craft supply places have gone out of business the last few years (the chains have helped to push them out). It’s kind of the Home Depot syndrome, where they have pushed out a lot of the smaller hardware suppliers, but their stock now is comprised of almost the “lowest common denominator”, and not very interesting (IMO).
You can take a virtual tour of my shop by going to: http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/jackalope/2010/09/best_of_phoenix_hero_worship.php
I am told by those that visit that my shop is a “happy place”. A place that Dr. Seuss would feel very much at home in. It is definitely a refuge from reality…
Allee Willis
Monica unfortunately passed away last November. She was a brilliant writer and friend. She co-wrote most of the Albert Brooks movies. Got her start on Laverne & Shirley. Really an unbelievable and witty person who in the last couple years of her life started expressing herself through her found object art.
kookykrafts
I’m very sorry to hear that. She was clearly having fun while she was on the planet with her whimsical sculptures – and no doubt made a lot of people smile.