Sunday, July 11, 2010

Sunday Sweets: Threadcakes 2010

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Some of you may remember Threadcakes from last year. Well, guess what? It's that time again! And - AND - the powers-that-be have foolishly agreed to let me help judge again this year. [rubbing hands together] Mwuah-ha-ha-haa. THE POWER.

For those of you who don't remember, Threadcakes is a competition wherein you select your favorite Threadless shirt design, and then render it all artistic-like in CAKE. Brilliant, no?

The contest is open until August 16th, but there's already some amazing stuff rolling in. Here are just a few of the early highlights.

(I'll post these in pairs, starting with the shirt design and followed by the cake.)

"Mr. Cloud's New Scarf"

Cake by Christina Burgess

One word: D'awwww.


"The Monsterhill"


Cake by Julie Freund

Also gets an "awwww" - skulls and bones notwithstanding. Besides, there's a carrot. C'mon.


"Ink Happens"

Cupcakes by Melissa Thomas

Do what John does, little guy: blame it on the cat.


"Monkey Business"

Cake by Julie Viens

Julie did her monkey portrait using a reverse transfer - a painstaking, super cool process. For more info and progress pics, check out her entry here.

"Phascolarctos Cinereus"

Cake by Andi Foster

I'm in awe of the dot-shading. Gorgeous!

To peruse all of the entries so far, check out the Threadcakes gallery. And when you're done with that, check out last year's winners for even more eye candy.

If you like to bake or do crafty things, consider entering this year! It's lots of fun, you could win some sweet prizes, and, most importantly, if you wreck it you can always send it to ME. You know, just for a laugh. :D

Sandy C/Boynton Beach said...

Ok, I'm a little confused. What is a threadless shirt? Is it made of plastic, like a trashbag with neck and armholes cut out?

Glad to see the server overlord has acknowledged the value your blog adds to our society and has shown mercy by allowing you to continue. I will sacrifice cake today in gratitude. ;)

BTW I have your book at my desk @ my office and it is a hit! Can't wait for #2.

VembaTsith said...

silly cloud. you don't need scarf. you need to be scarfed.

spagirljenna said...

me too... i'm with sandy c...
what is a threadless shirt?
[scratching head in confusion]
but i'm also with vemba tsith...
love the cloud cake with scarf!
hey!
is that scarf threadless?!?!

Julie Freund said...

Threadless is a t-shirt company www.threadless.com

On a side note-so psyched to be on CakeWrecks (in the sunday sweets no less:) Happy Day:)

Tricia L said...

Threadless is a brand. See www.threadless.com for the shirts.

(source: Google)

Caroline B said...

I just love Threadless t-shirts - my son has two and they are so cool. These cakes (and the ones on the Threadcakes site) are brilliant, thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

You missed mentionting some of the really good ones!! Alice's Sewing Basket,You've Got Some Splaining To Do, Nesting Dolls, and Zombie at Tiffany s are so far some of the best work on there!!!

Anonymous said...

Wow.. some amazing cakes on the Threadcakes pages. The "Alice's Sewing Basket" is stupendous! The hedgehog pin cushion! The hermit crab thread! The bird sewing scissors! And that was just the first cake on the pages..

(Also wondering why people who didn't know what a Threadless shirt was just didn't follow your handy-dandy link to see? Duh..)

Echo said...

Funny how my very first reaction to the first cake is "D'awww". I have to say the Monsterhill replica is my favourite though.

The Beans said...

Yay! It's that time of the year again!!! :-D

I love the Cloud scarf cake, and the shirt. *WANT*

-French Bean

Zara said...

How cute! I am in awe, as always on Sundays.

Anonymous said...

The cloud cake=awww

Jessica said...

These cakes are great, I especially like the cupcakes...but i've been looking at the other entries in the contest and i am completely in awe of how the ghost was made on the Nesting Dolls cake...

Unknown said...

omg, threadless AND cakewrecks in one awesome combo?!? i freakin' love it! went through the gallery too -- some great stuff there.

of the ones on the front page for today, i have say pretty much all work out nicely, but i love the expression on the faces of the little squids. plus it's cupcakes, which goes right after my heart.

as always, thanks for sharing!

Jules AF said...

I love all of these. Sunday sweets might be my favorite day.

Katie said...

I agree, the Alice's Sewing Basket one is AMAZING. It WAS just submitted today, though, so perhaps it wasn't up yet when Jen wrote her post.

I also really liked the Nesting Dolls for some reason.

Robert said...

I really like these cakes, especially the koala. I'm really going to try to get an entry finished for the contest this year. It's just a matter of finding time, patience, and an occasion for a seasonally inappropriate cake.

Anonymous said...

sorry but do not like today's Sunday sweets :( weird stuff makes bad cakes.although obviously very cleverly made.

Doctor Tarr said...

I thought that cloud design looked familiar:

http://shirt.woot.com/friends.aspx?k=14050

Bin said...

My niece and I each entered a cake last summer, and Jen posted a picture of my niece's cake here!
So, even though neither of us won, it was a big thrill.

We each tried to pick a shirt design that would make an APPETIZING cake, and were surprized by all the black, red, and blue cakes, and other really inedible-looking designs.
The fact that buttercream cakes didn't stand a chance was depressing, too.

Yes, the cakes are all amazing works of art, but they are still supposed to be CAKES.

Ruth said...

What kind of scarf is that cloud wearing? It's a DOUBLE RAINBOW! OMG it's full on! So intense! ;)

Elaine Shandra said...

Amazing! FYI - the "shading dots" are called Benday dots, named after illustrator and printer Benjamin Day. They were a great favorite of Roy Lichtenstein who loved the dots in cartons and newspapers and transferred them into his art.

Honey said...

Hi! I wanted to share that I gave you the Sunshine Award!

http://mondorfment.blogspot.com/2010/07/sunshine-award.html

Honey

Tiffiny Felix said...

I'm so excited to make my cakes! I finally narrowed it down to two designs and gave in and am going to do both...Threadcakes rocks! :)

Riddy said...

Egad, that cloud is cute. However, Monsterhill is definitely the coolest. If only it wasn't missing the rightmost upset cloud...

Anonymous said...

The Monkey Business cake was done with a technique called Frozen Buttercream Transfer, or FBCT.

It's so incredibly easy and fun -- much like coloring in a coloring book!! :-)

Lisa! said...

Woohoo, Julie- love your Monkey Business cake!

Anonymous said...

These are wonderful! and I am wearing one of my many threadless tees right now:) IN fact this city scape one would make a great cake design. Hopefully peeps check out threadless.com.

I got some great zombie tees from them:)

Eric said...

Whoa! There are some interesting and crazy looking cakes there. The cloud cake is super cute.

Drew said...

Seriously? These are Sunday Sweets? The black monkey cake is going to do scary, scary things to someone's poo... and, speaking of which, the octopus CCCs ... Under each of them, is that a big green lump of.....AAAHHHHH.

Donna M. said...

I've been reading this blog too long. I saw the Monsterhill cake, saw the carrot, and thought "Hey, the carrot lost it's naked mohawk baby jockey"

The cakes look awesome, makes me wish I could decorate more than tossin some sprinkles on top LOL

Monkeyville said...

They're all excellent, but that last cake really stands out. I think the dot shading (which must have taken forever!) actually makes it look even better than the shirt!

Arlene said...

Wow if only I had the talent I would go for it and enter. Unfortunately if I tried it I know it would end up here lol. Alas I know not to go near the kitchen and attempt the cake so will just look on with envy.

Unique Chocolate Gifts said...

wow!...the cloud with a rainbow scarf is cute...and the cake also is perfectly baked! I'll go for the clouds!>..

Laura said...

"powers-that-be"? Didn't know you were an Angel fan, Jen! I must admit, I would love to see some Buffy/Angel themed cakes on here some day...

Rose B said...

I'm totally digging the "Phascolarctos Cinereus" cake. I think it's even better than the shirt.

Zeb said...

The first sweet really made me smile!!! :) MashaALLAH so cute! :)

Becky said...

I always enjoy the threadless cakes; this first batch looks great! I actually think the Monsterhill cake looks even better than the original picture.

Sandy C/Boynton Beach said...

Oh, I followed the link and figured out what threadless was, duh! What I posted was the first thing I thought of. I had not heard of threadless shirts before this post and the threadcakes site IS awesome.

Anissa said...

I always love this competition and there are some great entries this year. I think my personal fav/pick is Alice's Sewing Basket, as it represents the shirt image (even in 3D) perfectly, and even adds something new w/ the inclusion of the basket cake :)
Gorgeous!

Aliza said...

The cloud's cute-- the cake's much nicer than the t-shirt. The koala's just lovely, but I'm not so keen on that all-black transfer cake. As for the commentators-- I agree, Alice's sewing basket is amazing. There's a few real gems on there (shh, spaceboy retrospective, demise of mr flamingo, rabbit valley, mr blue sky), and some that are cute if not as difficult (sky thief, piggy bank heist, camouflage, we were tomatoes). And the colourfull hedgehog's huggably adorable!

And I agree with the poster who said that it's important that the designs recognize that this is about cake, and has to look appetizing (which is why I like 8 Bit Blues-- it looks yummy, even if it's isn't as perfect a version of the t-shirt as others)

Unknown said...

I'm not so sure about the black cake being so appetizing (though the artwork and execution are WOW) but these are great! I especially love the octopi and Mr. Cloud. Although 'The Monsterhill' reminds me of http://abominable.cc (The Abominable Charles Christopher). =D

Unknown said...

Oops--I said that the 'Monsterhill' reminds me of Charles Christopher...but I have to amend that. Charles would never eat bunnies! (it pays to look a bit closer) Still the fuzziness of the monster reminds me of Charles. Perhaps this monster is CC's evil cousin?

Doctor Tarr said...

"Powers-That-Be" predates Buffy by at least a decade or two. I know I've been using it since the early '80s, and I didn't make it up.

Binkey said...

Gah! I don't know whether I want to eat the cloud cake or just hug it til it's mouldy crumbs - it's so adorable!!! :o) ~ Binkey xx

Garden Lily said...

Those are very sweet. There are some very talented decorators out there. Nice to see they're not all wrecks.

JKS said...

Phascolarctus cinereus is the name for a koala bear (an "ash-colored pouch bear" in Latin) This is undeniably an Phascolarctus polychromus!