Behold this gorgeous copper mold! 70s astrology at its finest baby, can you dig it?
I don’t know if you can appreciate how large it is from this photo. Think record sized. 12 inch vinyl. That is a LOT of jello. Pantsloads.
(Here I actually used Royal gelatin so I better start calling it gelatin since jello is not technically accepted as a genericized trademark, but I digress.)
As with all things, I do not take the easy way out. Sure, I could whip up a double batch of gelatin and dump it all in there while reading your chart and slurping down a TaB. No sweat. But noooooooo. I must be clever. So I decided to make the little astrological signs one color, then layer a contrasting color, and then finally layer another color.
Much planning was involved and by planning I mean scrambling around in the kitchen in the middle of doing ten million other things.
First challenge: How to fill in the little symbols? I went with a turkey baster because I was all out of food safe eyedroppers. I filled in the little indentations one by one by one until I got impatient and squirted gelatin everywhere. The errant gelatin blobs could be scraped up after it chilled. NBD.
Second challenge: How to pour the next layer of gelatin into the mold without melting the astrological signs? I used the quick set method, in which you replace the cold water with ice cubes. The mixture felt cool enough to me, so I poured it in and watched all of my hard work melt and float away. Go me.
Third challenge: Oh for crying out loud there are THREE challenges? Fine. We’ll just dump the next layer on top of the layer beneath it now that it is set. PERFECTION!
Fourth challenge: Unmolding.
ARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHH!
What have I learned?
- Filling in those cute little astrological signs is an ADORABLE idea. The way I did it was completely incorrect, however. Next time I will use a thin layer first, rather than filling in each shape one by one.
- Layering gelatin is awesome but time consuming.
- When the instructions say submerge the pan in warm water for a few seconds, it does not mean hot water for more than a few seconds. No room for error here, folks.
- Playing with gelatin is a wonderful sensory activity will also make your child’s hands colorful for a day or so.
These practical lessons, accurate though are, are not why this project failed.
This project failed because I was not present.
I was not at one with the gelatin.
(Stop laughing!) =)
When I was making this gelatin mold, I was cleaning up dinner, crocheting, having family time, watching tv, and getting a small kiddo off to bed. I was doing EVERYTHING except paying attention to what I was doing.
I couldn’t tell you if I missed a step in the directions, measured water incorrectly, added too many ice cubes, or left it in the water to unmold it too long…no freaking idea.
That is why my gelatin was literally a hot mess.
Even though I have my suspicions about what might have gone wrong, I wasn’t paying enough attention to what I was doing to learn from my mistakes so that I could do something differently next time.
If gelatin could speak, it would say:
Original photo credit: Mark Fickett (Naib at Wikimedia)
All is not lost, though. You may recall Pineapple Surprise. I attempted it again and it was FABULOUS!
What’s your most recent kitchen fail, and what did it teach you about life?
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