chocholate cellos?
My friend sends me these silly articles called "The Endpin" every month. I think that we were talking about eating cellos or something... so here is something interesting... The Endpin! Marni Winchester, a chocolatier from Jackson, Wyoming, has concocted an extraordinarily original design of confection: stringed instruments made of chocolate. Her creations are not cute little candies like Turtles®, but rather full-sized replicas of instruments, made to look identical to the real thing, down to the finest detail! WCN: “Ms. Winchester, what inspired you to make cellos and other instruments out of chocolate?" MW: “I have always been fascinated with any sort of art that strives to replicate real objects. When I was 10 years old, my grandfather took me to a wax museum, which had a profound effect on me. My chocolate instruments have quite a lot in common with the wax aesthetic, in that (as far as my skills currently allow) they look very close to real ones." WCN: “Can you tell us a bit about what goes into creating a chocolate cello?” MW: “Chocolate, mostly (laughter). The fingerboard, tailpiece and tuning pegs are of an extremely dark variety; I use a special organic blend from Bolivia for them. The main body is almost always milk chocolate, and will vary in color according to what look I want the instrument to have. I go for a marbled effect if the instrument I am emulating is an antique cello. And then there is glazing, which gives the body its sheen. This is very important, because if the sheen is not perfect, the instrument will not look real.” WCN: “What about the bridge and strings? What do you make these from?” MW: “The bridge is made from a very dense white chocolate, for strings I use aluminum. These strings are similar in appearance to real ones but are much, much lighter. All but the thinnest of the 4 strings are hollow inside. I also use aluminum in other parts of the instrument, for reinforcement.” WCN: “What sort of a market is there for your creations? MW: “I am still in the process of determining exactly what the market is. Happily, I can report that there IS a market, which not so long ago, I would never have believed! One thing people use my chocolate instruments for is pranks. There was a famous cellist who came to town last year. Near the end of his performance, when he returned to the stage for an encore, his cello was surreptitiously replaced with a chocolate replica. The poor fellow actually got as far as to attempt the first note before realizing that something was terribly wrong! The look on his face was worth the price of admission! For another event, I was commissioned to create an entire ensemble of chocolate instruments - cellos, violins, even double basses.” WCN: “That’s a lot of chocolate!” MW: “Sure was - expensive too. It’s amazing how much money some arts organizations have to burn! Anyway, the occasion was a farewell to the symphony’s elderly and much loved conductor of many years, who was retiring. This was the final concert he was to conduct. Before he came onstage, the ensemble's real instruments were swapped for chocolate ones. Through an ingenious system of speaker placement, an aural illusion of the sound of an orchestra tuning up was created, so even though it was a stage full of fake instruments, it didn’t sound that way! The one thing that couldn’t be gotten past, though, was the smell! It smelled like my factory in there! When the conductor was brought onstage, 4 giant bouquets of aromatic flowers were carried near him, which helped to disguise the chocolate smell a bit. He took the podium with a slight wrinkle on his nose, but then quickly put his attention to his orchestra. As had been his custom for the past 30 years, he made eye contact with his principal players, raised his baton...and..."SCREECH!!!" A rather different sound was heard than the music he expected! Oh, again, the expression on that poor man's face! The architects of this joke were very lucky that he did not have a heart attack! The musicians then proceeded to break apart their instruments and offer chunks of delicious chocolate to their leader. It ended up being a very moving, and, dare I say, sweet moment. As to the future of my chocolate instrument business, believe it or not, there are individuals out there who want chocolate instruments for their own personal consumption. A chocolate cello makes one of those giant Toblerone® bars look quite small!" WCN: “How long would it take someone to eat one of your cellos?" MW: “Trust me, you don’t want to know!" ©2005 Corbin Keep Note: the above is best consumed on an empty stomach!
My friend sends me these silly articles called "The Endpin" every month. I think that we were talking about eating cellos or something... so here is something interesting... The Endpin! Marni Winchester, a chocolatier from Jackson, Wyoming, has concocted an extraordinarily original design of confection: stringed instruments made of chocolate. Her creations are not cute little candies like Turtles®, but rather full-sized replicas of instruments, made to look identical to the real thing, down to the finest detail! WCN: “Ms. Winchester, what inspired you to make cellos and other instruments out of chocolate?" MW: “I have always been fascinated with any sort of art that strives to replicate real objects. When I was 10 years old, my grandfather took me to a wax museum, which had a profound effect on me. My chocolate instruments have quite a lot in common with the wax aesthetic, in that (as far as my skills currently allow) they look very close to real ones." WCN: “Can you tell us a bit about what goes into creating a chocolate cello?” MW: “Chocolate, mostly (laughter). The fingerboard, tailpiece and tuning pegs are of an extremely dark variety; I use a special organic blend from Bolivia for them. The main body is almost always milk chocolate, and will vary in color according to what look I want the instrument to have. I go for a marbled effect if the instrument I am emulating is an antique cello. And then there is glazing, which gives the body its sheen. This is very important, because if the sheen is not perfect, the instrument will not look real.” WCN: “What about the bridge and strings? What do you make these from?” MW: “The bridge is made from a very dense white chocolate, for strings I use aluminum. These strings are similar in appearance to real ones but are much, much lighter. All but the thinnest of the 4 strings are hollow inside. I also use aluminum in other parts of the instrument, for reinforcement.” WCN: “What sort of a market is there for your creations? MW: “I am still in the process of determining exactly what the market is. Happily, I can report that there IS a market, which not so long ago, I would never have believed! One thing people use my chocolate instruments for is pranks. There was a famous cellist who came to town last year. Near the end of his performance, when he returned to the stage for an encore, his cello was surreptitiously replaced with a chocolate replica. The poor fellow actually got as far as to attempt the first note before realizing that something was terribly wrong! The look on his face was worth the price of admission! For another event, I was commissioned to create an entire ensemble of chocolate instruments - cellos, violins, even double basses.” WCN: “That’s a lot of chocolate!” MW: “Sure was - expensive too. It’s amazing how much money some arts organizations have to burn! Anyway, the occasion was a farewell to the symphony’s elderly and much loved conductor of many years, who was retiring. This was the final concert he was to conduct. Before he came onstage, the ensemble's real instruments were swapped for chocolate ones. Through an ingenious system of speaker placement, an aural illusion of the sound of an orchestra tuning up was created, so even though it was a stage full of fake instruments, it didn’t sound that way! The one thing that couldn’t be gotten past, though, was the smell! It smelled like my factory in there! When the conductor was brought onstage, 4 giant bouquets of aromatic flowers were carried near him, which helped to disguise the chocolate smell a bit. He took the podium with a slight wrinkle on his nose, but then quickly put his attention to his orchestra. As had been his custom for the past 30 years, he made eye contact with his principal players, raised his baton...and..."SCREECH!!!" A rather different sound was heard than the music he expected! Oh, again, the expression on that poor man's face! The architects of this joke were very lucky that he did not have a heart attack! The musicians then proceeded to break apart their instruments and offer chunks of delicious chocolate to their leader. It ended up being a very moving, and, dare I say, sweet moment. As to the future of my chocolate instrument business, believe it or not, there are individuals out there who want chocolate instruments for their own personal consumption. A chocolate cello makes one of those giant Toblerone® bars look quite small!" WCN: “How long would it take someone to eat one of your cellos?" MW: “Trust me, you don’t want to know!" ©2005 Corbin Keep Note: the above is best consumed on an empty stomach!