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Practice Bakes Perfect Challenge #15: Destination Inspiration - Istanbul

 

When my family and I were living as expats in London, we had the opportunity to do a great deal of travel throughout Europe and Asia. One of our very favorite destinations was Istanbul, Turkey. The exotic mix of people and culture and art was intoxicating. It is truly a world set apart, where East meets West (both literally and figuratively), and history is measured not in years or decades, but millennia. I was extremely inspired by all that I saw in Istanbul, and hope that, now, YOU will be too! 

For this challenge, I would like to show you some pictures from my own travelogue. I hope that you will be motivated to create some cookie art inspired by one of the most beautiful and captivating cities in the world: Istanbul.

IMG_1892 [1)

Of course, as with all of these challenges, there will be prizes for one lucky entrant, who will be chosen at random. This challenge's prize will a grab bag of mystery cookie loot generously donated by Cookie Connection's own Julia M. Usher, and, as an added bonus, the winner will also receive this super-fun kissy face plush emoji pillow from plushmoji.com

kissy-face-emoji-pillow_2048x2048

While I think the rules for this challenge are very straightforward, I would like to talk for a moment about what I mean by "inspiration." According to Merriam-Webster, "inspiration" is: 
  • something that makes someone want to do something or that gives someone an idea about what to do or create; a force or influence that inspires someone
  • a person, place, experience, etc. that makes someone want to do or create something
  • a good idea

The operative words in the definition of "inspiration" are "idea" and "create". Inspiration provides the spark to create something NEW. It is NOT COPYING the object of inspiration. Likewise, in this challenge, I would like you to draw inspiration from a set of photographs. I do not want you to directly copy any of the photos. Instead, look to the colors, textures, lines, techniques, architectural elements, and themes that you can glean from the photos, and create something fresh and unique.

The full set of 25 inspiration photographs for this challenge can be found on this Pinterest board. To whet your appetite, here are some of the patterns, textures, and architectural features that will form the base of our inspiration for this challenge.

The Blue MosqueIMG_7146

Turkish TilesDSCN1879

Turkish RugsDSCN5169

Religious Art and MosaicsIMG_7162

The Bosphorus SeaIMG_1887

Rules:

1. Create a set of five (or more) cookies inspired by this Istanbul Pinterest board. The overall theme for the cookies themselves does NOT have to be Istanbul. 

2. State which photo(s) on the Pinterest board provided your inspiration for your set in the comments under your entry.

3. As always, we ask that you make a brand new set of cookies for this challenge.

4. Think outside the box, take some healthy risks, and HAVE SOME FUN.

To enter:
  • Please post an image of your cookie set to the site under the Practice Bakes Perfect clip set no later than March 27, 2016 at 5 pm central.
  • Again, please state which photo(s) provided the inspiration for your cookies in the first comment under your entry photo. This information is a requirement of the challenge; photos without it will be disqualified.
  • Because these challenges will be ongoing, we ask that you put "Practice Bakes Perfect Challenge #15" in your photo caption (subtitle field) AND in a tag, so that we can tell the challenges apart from month to month. Please use the main title field to uniquely name your cookies as you normally would.
  • Please also assign other relevant clip sets and tags to your images, as you normally would. (Meaning don't just use the Practice Bakes Perfect clip set and leave it at that, or your photos won't easily be found with keyword searches.)
  • You can enter more than once, but please post only one clip of each distinct entry/cookie set. Multiple clips of the same entry/cookie set are not allowed unless added in a comment beneath the one primary clip.

After the challenge has closed on March 27, we will announce the winner in the Saturday Spotlight the following weekend (April 2). The next challenge will be announced after that Spotlight.

And one last thing . . . This is NOT meant to be a competition. The only person you should be competing against is yourself. Period. These challenges are intended to inspire the artist in you and push you to be the best cookie artist YOU can be at this snapshot in time. Remember, the whole point of this exercise is to get you out of your comfort zone - to "take healthy risks," as my wise-beyond-his-years son always reminds me. Plus, prizes are given entirely at random, so healthy risk-taking has its own rewards!

I would love to chat with you as you journey through this process, so if you have any questions about the challenge, are having trouble getting started, need help bringing an idea to life (by, say, inviting me to Istanbul so we can do some "field research"), or want technical advice, please leave a comment below.

Christine Donnelly began her professional baking career at 16, when she was hired on the spot at her local bakery to work the counter and decorate cakes. After detours to college and law school, she worked as a trial lawyer in Chicago for many years, ultimately leaving that career to become a stay-at-home mother to her two children. In her “retirement,” she continued to bake at home, at last finding her preferred artistic medium in decorated cookies. In February 2013, Bakerloo Station was born with a presence on both Facebook and Instagram. Christine makes cookies to balance her left brain, to inspire and share creative ideas, and to feed those needs that only art can satisfy. 

Photo credit: Christine Donnelly

NotePractice Bakes Perfect is a bimonthly Cookie Connection blog feature written by Christine Donnelly that poses inspiration or challenges to get you to stretch as a cookie artist - for practice, for prizes, and for fun! Its content expresses the views of the author and not necessarily those of this site, its owners, its administrators, or its employees. Catch up on all of Christine's past Cookie Connection posts here.

 
 

Attachments

Images (8)
  • Practice Bakes Perfect Challenge #15 Banner: Graphic Design by Julia M Usher; Cookie Photo by Steve Adams
  • Signpost: Photo by Bakerloo Station
  • Kissy Face Emoji Pillow: Pillow and Photo by plushmoji.com
  • The Blue Mosque: Photo by Bakerloo Station
  • Turkish Tiles: Photo by Bakerloo Station
  • Turkish Rugs: Photo by Bakerloo Station
  • Religious Art and Mosaics: Photo by Bakerloo Station
  • The Bosphorus Sea: Photo by Bakerloo Station

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Comments (20)

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Laegwen posted:

Phew, that's a wide one, and a bit tricky, as I cannot watch the pinterest inspiration board without an account

Laegwen, it is free and super easy to start a Pinterest account, which is why I posted the pictures there.  There were just too many to post here. I hope you will give it a go!

Bakerloo Station posted:
Laegwen posted:

Phew, that's a wide one, and a bit tricky, as I cannot watch the pinterest inspiration board without an account

Laegwen, it is free and super easy to start a Pinterest account, which is why I posted the pictures there.  There were just too many to post here. I hope you will give it a go!

Even with an account it won't let me look unless I get the app.

Econlady posted:
Bakerloo Station posted:
Laegwen posted:

Phew, that's a wide one, and a bit tricky, as I cannot watch the pinterest inspiration board without an account

Laegwen, it is free and super easy to start a Pinterest account, which is why I posted the pictures there.  There were just too many to post here. I hope you will give it a go!

Even with an account it won't let me look unless I get the app.

You don't need an app.  You can use Pinterest on a computer too.

dukemom posted:

I will give it a try but I am still learning how to do all the fancy styff

You do not need to do anything fancy!  You need to do what inspires YOU and where you are artistically right now.    

Quanto ci piace questo tema!!! Proveremo a lavorarci su con grande impegno, ma anche

se non dovessimo riuscire ad ottenere qualcosa che ci soddisfi, avremo sicuramente modo di vedere e deliziarci con le innumerevoli opere d'arte che tantissimi membri di questa comunità realizzeranno ��

 

Bakerloo Station posted:
Econlady posted:
Bakerloo Station posted:
Laegwen posted:

Phew, that's a wide one, and a bit tricky, as I cannot watch the pinterest inspiration board without an account

Laegwen, it is free and super easy to start a Pinterest account, which is why I posted the pictures there.  There were just too many to post here. I hope you will give it a go!

Even with an account it won't let me look unless I get the app.

You don't need an app.  You can use Pinterest on a computer too.

I can still use pinterest on my phone without the app. I was able to keep scrolling down to see the photos. If it automatically takes you to your apps to download it, you can just go right back to the web browser option instead. 

Shannon @ Twelve Eleven Bakery posted:

Will there be more pins added or is this it? Do you think we can title or number the pins so I  can reference properly when I get to post?  Thank you!

I have numbered them, and I will not be adding any more.    

Last edited by Bakerloo Station
Bakerloo Station posted:
Shannon @ Twelve Eleven Bakery posted:

Will there be more pins added or is this it? Do you think we can title or number the pins so I  can reference properly when I get to post?  Thank you!

I have numbered them, and I will not be adding any more.    

Great thank you! Here we go!

Bakerloo Station posted:
Laegwen posted:

Phew, that's a wide one, and a bit tricky, as I cannot watch the pinterest inspiration board without an account

Laegwen, it is free and super easy to start a Pinterest account, which is why I posted the pictures there.  There were just too many to post here. I hope you will give it a go!

Now that is kind of embarassing... when trying to make an account I was informed that I already have one *lol*

CHELY Morales posted:

Sí que es un verdadero reto! Gracias por motivarnos a salir de nuestra zona de confor. Gracias Julia usher!

Thanks, though thanks really go to Bakerloo Station. She does all the heavy-lifting with respect to challenge organization, monitoring, judging, and writing up recaps! I mostly just observe! 

Отличный конкурс!Ведь я живу в самом Стамбуле\участвовать нужно обязательно!
Спасибо!

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Rough translation of Olesia's remarks for those who speak English - "Great contest! After all, I live in Istanbul; engage - a must ! Thank you!"]

Last edited by Julia M. Usher
Julia M. Usher posted:
CHELY Morales posted:

Sí que es un verdadero reto! Gracias por motivarnos a salir de nuestra zona de confor. Gracias Julia usher!

Thanks, though thanks really go to Bakerloo Station. She does all the heavy-lifting with respect to challenge organization, monitoring, judging, and writing up recaps! I mostly just observe! 

Thanks for the shout-out, Julia!  And for all of your help with these challenges.  

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