Mill Creek Manor

Dec 14, 2016

I made this for a silent auction with proceeds going to the Kelowna Food Bank. It was auctioned off at the Kelowna City Concert Band Christmas concert and brought in $1100 for the Food Bank.

I tried several new techniques on this house. I wanted to try a flat roof for some time. To make sure it had enough strength, I added a lot of support into the roof structure on the inside, including extra walls in the center to make sure the weight was well distributed to avoid sagging in the middle. It was tricky to get the angles right and to get the very top of the roof on.

I molded several elements for this house. I started with polymer clay and then molded the window and house trip. I’m always looking for ways to make windows on my gingerbread houses straighter. Piping sometimes goes crooked. Fondant is difficult to add without it changing shape, so I thought molding chocolate would be the best option. Unfortunately, thin molded items don’t come out of the molds very well. I had several castings that needed to be remelted.

I also did royal icing iron work. I haven’t done that very often either.

Bay windows are always a bit of a challenge too, but I think this one turned out well.