Reverse Thermoforming

It's good to be back, took a little time off due to the tryouts.  We finished up last week, and it was a great group of chefs to compete with.

I am always on a hunt to find ways to do things that produce a great end result using some simple and inexpensive tools.  The reverse thermoforming process, really wasn't that simple to come up with and it does involve some equipment but the end result is fantastic.

This whole process would not have been possible without the help of Clay Williams.  I was on a quest for the perfect feather mold, the goal was a plastic mold that would provide a nice shine to the finished product while looking natural.  A significant amount of time was spent searching, nothing available was in the correct size.  After searching a little longer I stumbled on some YouTube videos of Clay demonstrating Lifeform Silicone.  It will release from anything, only problem it's not foodsafe.  I reached out to Clay and he brought some silicone molds and acrylics of actual feathers.  After several attempts the process below was developed.

Please visit Eaglewood Sculpts to see more of Clay's great work.

The feather was placed on a piece of foam padding to ensure it would not break.  I cut a piece of dura-lar to fit in the vacuum bag on top of the acrylic feather.

The contents of the vacuum bag were sealed at 99.9% 

The dura-lar requires heat to become soft.  I used the Rational in combi mode at 40% steam and 140 F for 20 minutes.  This oven is a great tool to have in the kitchen!

After being heated you can see the detail of the feather comes through the bag.   Below is a finished feather cast in dark chocolate.  

Time sure is flying by!

It has been too long since my last post, and I have been thinking about what to write about.  Here I sit on a Friday night and decide that it is time to do it.

The past few months have been spent preparing for Team USA Coupe du Monde de la patisserie tryouts.  More information can be found at Pastry Team USA.  It is an honor to be selected for the tryouts, many pastry chefs that have been an inspiration to me as I grew in the industry were members of previous teams.  The Coupe du Monde truly is the number pastry competition in the world, being chosen as a candidate to possibly represent the USA is one of the greatest accomplishments of my career.

That is the primary reason for not updating the blog.  Many hours have gone into preparing for the tryouts. As always the sacrifice is not my own, the extra time at work means time away from my family and more work for my wife (we will be celebrating our 14th anniversary just days before the tryouts).  One of my former students and employees, Tony Kozlowski, has been hard at  work apprenticing with me for the competition.  Along with help from several other students on the other projects that are always popping up Heather Schreiner, Stacey Lyons, and Jacob Shuttleworth.  There are many more that have contributed and I apologize if I left anyone out.  They contribute a great deal along with other colleagues that have advised me on this and previous competitions.

The good news is that there a some fun technique posts of some techniques that I will be using for the tryouts, that will come after the competition.

So please get the word out about the tryouts and help to support Team USA.

Hotel reservations - https://resweb.passkey.com/Resweb.do?mode=welcome_ei_new&eventID=8725674

Awards reception will be held at Grand Rapids Community College on Saturday April 21st at 6:30, $50 per person.

All the best to everyone trying out!  Looking forward to seeing everyone at the tryouts!