A Day In The Life Of... A Polish Baker...

For my rooster showpiece I decided to go with a Polish theme. Why?  Because I am a Polish girl from a small Polish town in New York.

Final Rooster Showpiece

As wonderfully exciting as the miche showpiece may have been, the rooster is that times 10 (plus twice the amount of stress & pressure). The cool thing about this project is that it is 100% your own sculpture/showpiece, you choose the theme, you make all the components, you decide what changes to make, and you determine the grade you will get.

I won't go too deep into evey single aspect of this showpiece but instead I will give a few helpful pointers.

• Choose a theme and love it. Don't do something you aren't passionate about or know very little of. 
• Again, get a lot of research. Know what works with your theme & what doesn't.
• Make a sketch. A detail sketch if you are artsy & have the time for it or a simple sketch if you still draw stick figures or work 30 plus hours a week. 

My Sketch (Detailed)

•  Pay attention to Chefs demo & write down a list for yourself. Do things the same way he did them: there are specific ways to put together certain pieces such as the rooster so be sure to have a picture for reference.
• Don't be afraid to take things home!!!! My entire doll and butter lamb I did in my living room while watching movies. Not only can you take your time & pay attention to detail but it saves you time in class & can actually be enjoyable (for people who less than love making showpieces). 
• Details are key, BUT do not lose the focal point of your showpiece! The rooster is the star of the show here so don't forget it. I made this mistake with my showpiece & put a lot more time & effort into my doll than my rooster. (This was slightly due to class time restrictions, but still).

  

  Rooster in Polish Folk Dress

Child's Doll in Polish Folk Dress

• Clearly I got a little carried away here and may have overdone the doll, I think she came out beautiful (as all Polish girls are) but she has a tendency to draw your eye away from the rooster.
• Use pieces to connect your base to your rooster (visually) Chef will show you this by placing a blank paper over each half of your showpiece. It is not supposed to look like two separate showpieces, it is one working piece. I used polish folk art themed flowers to connect the bottom half of my showpiece to the top so that things would flow together. 
• When doing multiple pieces of the same idea- keep it uniform. The first flowers I made were a little on the boring side (top right corner)  and the ones I made after were much more detailed & had different textures (bottom left corner). They are both nice to look at.. separately... but not so much together. 
• Don't be afraid to shy away from your sketch if things don't seem to look right after you build them. My initial sketch had only one bottom base, but after seeing how large my doll was I added tall spacers under my base and attached it to a larger base to give it a raised effect.
• Finally  You will screw up. Accept it and work with it, I glued my one of my bases upside down, glued spacers to a base that did not need them (ripped them off as carefully as possible), glued the egg to the dolls chest instead of resting it in her hand,  put my base facing the wrong direction and had to change the side my doll & lamb were on, as well as  countless other stupid little things.  But that is all they are stupid little things, chances are no one will notice these mistakes but you so don't get worked up about it. Improvise, it is not about how perfectly you can make things but about how well you can hide the imperfections.

With these tips I wish you all good luck on your future roosters or any other showpiece you may create.

- Erin Pawliczek