Recently, I had the pleasure and honour of participating in the Festival of Lights collaboration with an amazing group. My Diwali piece was inspired by the ethereal paper lanterns that are displayed on the second day of the Festival of Lights. It symbolizes the inner light that protects us from spiritual darkness. I wanted to emulate light glowing through a lantern and applied a geometric pattern to convey that.

I was also inspired by the lotus for its serene grace and wanted to include both the petals and pod elements. The lotus is a symbol of beauty, prosperity and fertility. The lotus flower and/or it’s petals are also often seen in rangoli chalk patterns that children draw outside their homes.

The most challenging element I would say was the geometric pattern on the barrel tier, I kept losing the dragees ha! I had placed a paper towel, that had this great geometric print, gently onto the fondant and then took a blunt end tooth pick, and pressed it into each divet following the pattern in the paper towel. It took which seemed like forever aha! I then dusted dragees, and dabbed each with sugar glue and adhered them into each divet in the fondant creating the pattern. I was finding them strewn about for days. Hope you like my contribution.

Thank you Candace Chand for heading up this fantastic collaboration! …and also a huge thanks to Loren O’Neill Ebert and Kara Andretta for your swift and amazing behind the scenes work! xx