Diary of a sugar addict #10

 *** 13th March 2013: L’examen ***

I woke up this morning to a blanket of snow over Paris. Gosh it was beautiful.

It was going to be a great day. Whatever happens, I was going to make sure that it would be.

After breaky I grabbed my equipment and slid my way down the icy footpath to school. I stood on the corner of Rue Léon Delhomme, where all my cakey dreams came true, and reminisced my first day of school where I stood at the exact same corner to take the photo. Only this time the streets, cars and buildings were layered with snow, like icing on a cake. My very last day walking to school for the diploma. What a sad thought. A dream-come-true life was coming to an end.

Paris under snow

On my way to school

Whoever sitting on this will surely have a cold a*#@

Last day of being an LCB student walking to school. This is the exact same spot where I stood to take this photo of my first day.

Without getting too sooky-la-la, I continued to tread carefully over the patches of snow towards school and was greeted by my classmates in the locker room. For the very last time.

The everyday happy faces in the locker room. No one was nakey. Thank goodness.

This was our exam format, 3 hours work, 1 hour break, 2 hours work. Our day went a little something like this:

• 8.30am – 11.30am: work our little bums off (by 10am we should have the sugar lamps switched to heat level 2-2.5)
• 11.30am – 12.30pm: lunch
• 12.30pm – 1.30pm: finish off the pulled sugar and heat lamps should be packed away otherwise it will eat into the next phase…
• 1.30pm – 2.30pm: assemble the whole structure, flower and other pieces to complement. Tidy workspace and ready to present
• 2.30pm: finish and present sculpture. Otherwise a deduction of 10% for every minute late

Days before, I typed up a half-hourly schedule to guide me through the exam just incase my nerves got the better of me. For what I wanted to create keeping to my time frame was essential. However, today, I managed to meet my own demands. In fact I was even ahead of schedule. In my general day to day life, being timely doesn’t happen very often so I was ecstatic about being  ahead on what could possibly be a stressful day to some.

Notes to keep me in line….Flower – check! Mushrooms – check! Dirt -Check! Check check check! wohoo!

Exam notes to remind me of what colour where, what, how…

We had Chef J supervising our class – he just stood back, didn’t say anything, observed and assessed our every move.

Throughout the 5 hours I was in my own world, enjoying every moment – that included every petal pulled, every ball blown, every mushroom made. Especially in the final hour – during assembly time, I felt like I was in my own sugar bubble. The room fell silent – at least it seemed like it even though I knew blow torches were blaring away.

Classmates wrapping it up before breaking for lunch

The flower completed before lunch. Check! Wohoo!

It’s hard to describe but it was like my sculpture and I had a ‘moment’, we ‘connected’ (I say this sarcastically but there is an element of truth). It was just her and I – because I was so attuned, so focused (and so loving it!) it was like, I was in the zone (once again, sarcastic truth). We were going to finish the diploma with a bang!

This was how I finished the Diplôme de Pâtisserie…

My final piece. Completed at 2.10pm with 20 minutes to spare!

The back of my flower.

The petal arrangement wasn’t exactly what I had wanted. I wasn’t allowed to use the usual alcohol lamp in the exam due to ‘dangerous risks involved’ so I had to use a larger, stronger flame from the blow torch. I didn’t know how to control the heat and so the petals were ‘too melted’ for attachment and took a long time to dry. The petals kept moving even after attached hence they didn’t sit in the correct position as I had intended it to be. C’est pas grave!

I even had time to make and attach extra decorative bits! yay!

Mushies! They leant in a little more had wanted them to.. oh well. But happy that they stuck on. There’s also crushed black sugar ‘crumbs’ that I had sprinkled on to the base and blow torch to give it a ‘dirty’ ‘foresty’ feel..

I managed to finish the piece at 2.10pm, leaving me some time take a photos of everyone else’s work.

all ready for presentation..

My classmate neighbour’s work – who have worked alongside with me all throughout Superior. I could not ask for a better neighbour to work next to.

She said she had a problem with the fish tail and it broke (she was also used to the alcohol lamp, but instead we had to use the blow torch)

Beautiful piece!

This classmate of mine created this to represent Guns & Roses. One of his best pieces out of all the l’ateliers. Top job! 🙂

More sculptures from my classmates

more sugar pieces..

more sugar pieces

My classmates’ work

My classmates’ work – the best piece of work I have seen from this student out of all the l’ateliers. You know who you are, job well done! 🙂

My classmates’ work – beautiful roses. One of the best roses I have seen from the class. I know whose this belongs to too, so well done!

And that was the exam. I walked out with a feeling of elation and at the same time, emptiness. There was such a huge build up and now it’s over. I had so much fun in those 5 hours that I could do it all over again!

Look! No blisters! Only a little bit of ripped skin. The skin on my thumb and index finger has definitely thickened, ready for more petal pulling…

Those of you who have been following the progress and updates of my sugar addiction, thank you. I hope you enjoyed experiencing my little journey into the world of sugar sculpturing. This is all only just the beginning… and I hope that there will be more to come in the near future.

—————————————-

The end of Diary of a Sugar Addict… or is it…?