Cakes and Tattoos

Anmar Odendal is a  pastry chef, wedding cake baker and social media addict from Aldeburgh in Suffolk. We chatted to her about her tattoo inspired cakes and cake inspired tattoos as well as her new book venture. 

How old were you when you got your first tattoo? I only got my first tattoo in February 2013! I love the idea of being able to permanently carry with you your experiences and things that you hold special. Getting inked and discovering the world of tattoos has come at the perfect stage of my life, as I am now in a position where my both my style in my career and  personal life have become my trademark. Every tattoo I have tells a story  and means the world to me. It’s my journey, on my skin, that I take with me everywhere. My tattoos make me feel like a million bucks – and if someone doesn’t like it it doesn’t bother me at all. My skin, my way!

Who did it your first tattoo? My first tattoo was only a tiny rainbow infinity sign on my wrist. I know the infinity sign has now become one of those tattoos that every one has – but to me it means “what goes around comes around”. A really horrid relationship just confirmed how much I believed in Karma – and that is what it symbolises to me. I don’t look at it in a negative light at all – I love it and it reminds me I was the stronger one and that I came out better, and stronger on the other side.


My first real tattoo (and I say real as I mean this was designed from my own concept) was done by Dolly at Needles & Nails s in Brighton. She has since moved to Occult in Worthing and has also done my thigh piece for me. I knew she would be the perfect artist for my dream of having a tiered wedding cake tattoo! Her style is bold, mega colourful, girly and super bright. I now have a massive pink wedding cake on my forearm – and I love it. People don’t wonder about my job any more!

How do your friends and family react to your tattoos? I don’t know if anyone really honestly says what they think about tattoos. It’s clear that tattoos are still a big no-no to lots of people and I understand that.  Most reactions have been good as they suit my personality.I am South Africa and grew up on a farm over there. I do sometimes wonder what the reaction will be when I do go home, as tattoos are still very much frowned upon.  People always ask ‘what are you going to look like when you are eighty?’

Why are people so worried about what were going to look like when we are eighty? When I’m eighty my body will tell an amazing story of the live that I have lived!

Do you have any future tattoo plans? Definitely. I had one of my feet done by the amazing Jody Dawber and I still need to have the other one done! The fab Miss Dolly will be doing my other thigh – I’m not so sure what I’ll get, but I look unbalanced with one beautifully tattooed and the other bare.  I also have a space booked with the amazing Hollie West for one of her fab chubby ladies – with a baking theme of course!

When did you start baking and when did you set up your own business? I’m lucky as I come from a family of very talented bakers.  I never specialised as a pastry chef/ baker as I trained as a professional chef, but always found myself in the pastry kitchens. I always loved making cakes,but it was only once I moved to the UK with my then husband that I decided to do it full time and start my own business. I saw a gap in the market in the area for big, bold beautiful cakes and set CRUMB up in 2010.
I am very lucky as Crumb grew really fast and by 2013 I won the regional award for “best wedding cake designer” in the East of England at the National wedding industry awards in London. I am also listed in 2014’s “most incredible wedding cake bakers in the UK”.

What do you usually create? As well as running Crumb I also work as the pastry chef at a local hotel. I create anything and everything really! I always like to say- “If you can dream it, I can bake it!” At the moment my mini meringues and macarons are very popular and I’m doing numerous master classes and workshops teaching eager bakers how to make them. Food demonstrations on stage is another great passion I have – I love theatre cooking – something I never thought I’d get in to!

Do you have any favourite cakes that you have baked? There are many! One of my favourites has to be a massive black, red and white wedding cake that was topped with a life size solid white chocolate skull, red glitter encrusted red roses and black lace for one of my favourite couples ever. I made a very opulent cake for a celebrity couple that also featured in OK! Magazine last year. I love doing big over the top cakes – shows topper cakes – things that Marie Antoinette would have approved of! I also make birthday and other celebration cakes when I have the time – some of my favourites include a Mexican sugar skull cake and some cupcakes topped with designs from the jewellery brand Tatty Devine.

Do you have any future projects?  I am currently working on a new baking recipe book, with a bit of an edge. I’ve rounded up 12 of my favourite female tattoo artists who are all letting their creativity flow and designing their dream wedding/celebration cake in the style and theme of the tattoos that they create. The book will feature all 12 artists, and I will make their artwork into a real cake, with recipes, tutorials and tricks to recreate the cakes, or design your own cake. The book will also contain some amazing other recipes that are my favourites including macarons, meringues, cookies and brownies.

Follow Anmar and her book for exciting news and delicious bakes.

Keep your eyes peeled for a future blog post for Anmar’s recipe on how to make a rainbow unicorn cake…

Sailor Jerry and Iggy Pop

The Flash Collection 2014 has landed! Featuring designs by global rock and style icon Iggy Pop The range is an annual collaboration between Sailor Jerry and like-minded artists, mixing rum, tattoos and music into a punchy style cocktail. 

This exclusive rock ‘n’ roll collaboration will go on sale in a handful of selected stores around the world including London and Miami. The collection will also be available online at www.sailorjerryclothing.com.

Iggy has created a denim vest, leather belt and embroidered patches, which have all been made in the USA. The vest is a true collectors item as only 50 have been made, each one is numbered and signed by Iggy Pop himself. Each item has been inspired by Sailor Jerry tattoo flash and Iggy’s own style preferences, making for truly unique garments

Want to frame your tattoos after you die? Now you can!

Peter van der Helm, owner of Walls and Skin a tattoo and graffiti studio in Amsterdam, is offering to preserve tattoos after the owner has died.

The Foundation for Art and Science of Tattooing has had over fifty people already signed up for their preservation service, in which they remove the tattooed skin, pack it in formaldehyde and send it to a laboratory where the water and fat will be removed and replaced with silicone. The tattooed skin will belong to the foundation, it can be put on display or loaned to friends and family of the deceased.

Prices start from 300 euros for a tattoo roughly 10cm in size. You can also buy gift vouchers and cards for the service.

The foundation wishes to collect different styles of tattoos from different artists, thus preserving the stories behind the tattoos. The main reasons for tattoo preservation as stated on their website include:

 the emotional values of the tattoos, the interest in contributing to the history of tattooing, the preservation of the art piece or the artist work and to leave behind a piece of yourself to friends and family father death. 

Image from Tattwords

 

 

Tattoo advice for first timers

We’ve put our heads together here at Things&Ink to bring you a post filled with tattoo advice for those who are yet to go under the needle…

Get quality not quantity!

 

Jen Adamson our Music Writer says: “Get quality not quantity!” Jen has learnt from her own mistakes of being covered with awful tattoos when she was younger! You get what you pay for! (she is also going through a painful removal process, read more here)

 

Know your body and its limits. Don’t over push them.

 

Writer Kimberly Baltzer-Jaray has a multitude of great advice to impart, she really knows her stuff: Do your research before getting one. Know everything about the process of getting a tattoo, understand the equipment, have an idea of the health and safety standards, etc. If you walk into a shop and you see anything wrong, leave immediately.
Always look at a portfolio of both fresh and healed work. Wet, fresh, swollen tattoos often look so great, but it’s after the peeling and healing that you see if the lines are straight, or if the colours took, or if the drawing is good.
Be sure you fully hydrate and eat a good meal before sitting down. Bring drinks with you and don’t be afraid to ask for a pause to sip. Also, sometimes if you are getting a back piece done or something on a painful area it helps to bring along a sweatshirt or something from home that you can put your face on or into when it gets a bit tough.
The tattoo shop comfort is as important as the artist. Be sure when you’re looking around that you actually go to these places, don’t just look online. Go in and check the place out, does it feel right for you? (e.g., are there private rooms or are you out in the open, does the artist allow people to hang around him or her while working, are there comfortable chairs or tables). Talk to the artist and the staff and make sure you are comfortable with them. After all the artist is going to be touching you, and you have to be able to tell him/her if you are struggling, or might faint etc., The shop needs to be a place where you aren’t afraid if the worst happens – it needs to be a place that if something happened like fainting or puking you’d feel confident that you’d be taken care of properly and be okay. Know your body and its limits. Don’t over push them.

 

You don’t need to be able to draw, a good artist will do this for you

 

Our editorial assistant Rosalie Woodward says: You don’t need to be able to draw, a good artist will do this for you, but it helps to go with an idea of size and what you would like. I always try to give the artist as much free rein as I can, I think you come away with a better tattoo. I have a lot of tattoos that have no meaning, I simply liked the artwork and this is fine! You don’t need a story behind every one! While it heals it will itch! So infuriating but don’t give in and scratch it and don’t pick at your healing tattoo, this will peel off the ink and ruin it!

 

Keely Reichardt
Stick to your guns and be confident in choice of sizing and design!

 

Make-up artist and homewares writer Keely Reichardt has this pearl of wisdon: If you really are not sure whether you want to go bigger or not, then do not be bullied into getting a tattoo much bigger than you first thought. Stick to your guns and be confident in choice of sizing and design!

Look beyond photographs of other tattoos that belong to other people in your search for inspiration.

 

Editor Alice Snape has this advice: Look beyond photographs of other tattoos that belong to other people in your search for inspiration. Think about the artists you love – the pictures that hang on your walls – favourite books, characters from films and just look around your home at the things that surround you. Then pick a tattooist whose style you are drawn to – whether its their colour palette, or bold lines. If you go with them with an abstract idea and some references, they will be able to create something just for you a custom, unique piece. Just don’t let them persuade you too go too big, or have it somewhere you are not happy with.

 

We hope this helps… good luck and remember to share your tattoo journeys with us, hello@thingsandink.com, @thingsandink, facebook.com/thingsandink.

Mobile tattoo parlour collects 200 pictures and stories

A mobile tattoo parlour has been touring Bristol, encouraging the public to document their tattoos with photographs and share their stories. The project “I Will Always Have You” will be featured in the city’s art and culture show and started in Knowle West in June 2014.

Arts producer Melissa Mean curated the exhibition in order to gather memories and stories behind tattoos to add to growing digital archives.

By exploring the power of personal narratives and the construction of character through body art, we hope to better understand the growing popularity of tattoos across the UK and the richness of Knowle West’s tattoo culture.

The exhibition will be on show at Knowle West Media Centre until Christmas. People can add their tattoos to the online archive.

Image and Melissa quoted from bbc.co.uk