I'm not really sure what I was thinking when this idea popped into my head - it's a fusion of food and fun - edible spin art.

The Spin Art Machine

Construction of the machine is detailed on the previous page - but there was some work to do before I could use the machine for edible materials - I vacuumed it out thoroughly, then lined it with paper and covered the turntable with a sheet of glossy card.

The purpose of the lining is not to protect the food from the machine - all that mess is just dried paint - it's not going anywhere. The purpose is to protect the machine from the food - it's easier to use a disposable liner than to clean up whatever sticky, perishable mess might be created by this venture.

So... what material is to be my canvas?

Toast, of course.

Fixing it down to the turntable was a bit of a challenge - with ordinary card for painting, it's held in place with Blu-Tack - that's not possible with toast, so I pinned it down with a dressmaking pin in each corner, gently tapped into the plywood turntable with the back of a spoon.

Paint?

Butter (melted briefly in the microwave), Bramble jelly, yeast extract (this one is the store's own-brand version of Marmite).

Also (not pictured) chocolate spread and honey.

Spin It Up

Toast simply isn't as durable as art board and my spin art machine has no motor speed control, so I had to limit the speed by switching on and off periodically.

I poured, spooned or dripped the edible painting materials onto the toast variously as it was stopped, spinning or slowing down.

Jam, butter and other toast toppings don't have the pigmentation or adhesion properties of poster paints - lots of the material simply splashed right off the toast - or left only faint marks where it did adhere.

Results

Not bad, for a first effort.

The idea needs further development, however; the crumbly surface of the toast is not conducive to adhesion of edible paint arriving at high speeds, also the painting materials left much to be desired - they were not sufficiently bold in colour and were difficult to apply properly - being blobby, stringy or too thick.