One of our readers used our Clock Tower Pattern to make this haunted Halloween gingerbread house. Here's the note they sent along with the pictures:
------------ I first made a template out of cardboard to see how the parts would fit. It was sort of like putting together three boxes. I did slightly alter the top box by carrying the angle all the way up so it was about a 1/4 of an inch narrower at the top than the bottom but that was purely for looks.
I used 3 batches of gingerbread which took a total of about 5 lbs of flour. I also dyed the dough black with food coloring to add to the mood. I used some regular g.b. dough to show the contrast. I cut the pieces for bottom part about a 1/4 inch thick and used a dough fortified with honey for strength. I rolled the pieces for the two separate towers thinner as they went up. The top clock piece is only about 3/16 inch thick.
To gauge the depth of my dough I use wooden dowels on each side of the piece as it is rolled out. The rolling pin "rides" on the dowels and keeps each piece a uniform thickness. I used a pizza cutter to cut out each piece.
I used an old drawer out of a cabinet as a base. I needed a strong sturdy base because of the weight of the piece. I cut a hole in the center so the light would shine through from the bottom. I also placed a string of battery powered lights on the inside and placed some scary figures inside the windows as well but they are hard to see on the pictures.
I made fondant, colored it with dye and used it to cover the grave yard. Pieces of excess g.b. was trimmed down with a rasp to make the tomb stones. I soaked toothpicks in black food coloring all night and used them to make the fence.
I could have gotten more creative but I wanted to get this back to you as soon as I could. This one was pretty labor intensive even at this size. I can only imagine how long a full size model would be to make.
I should also mention that I wanted to see how it would be received in a contest so I allowed my daughter to enter it into a contest they had a work. It won 1st place. Everyone loved the design.
