how to bake a cake
For this project, you will design and build a cardboard maquette for a monument that represents an event, person(s), idea or object (significant or insignificant).
Your monument should ‘represent’ someone or something, whether that be a physical likeness or a conceptual depiction. You may use only two materials to build your maquette: cardboard and hot glue.
step 1: prep
For this project, I wanted to create a monument that celebrates the everyday. I wanted to create a monument that celebrates the mundane, the ordinary, and the overlooked. I wanted to create a monument that celebrates the small victories, the small joys, and the small moments that make life worth living.
My final piece is a cardboard cake with a single candle on top. The cake is decorated with cardboard frosting and cardboard sprinkles. The candle is lit, and the flame is made of cardboard. The cake is placed on a cardboard pedestal, and the pedestal is placed on a cardboard base. The base is decorated with cardboard confetti.
step 4: taste
I'm always a little sad on my birthday, but why is that? A birthday is supposed to be a happy occasion, a celebration of another revolution around the sun, so is it that I am plagued by these negative emotions come every 3/29?
In many ways, a birthday is just like any other day. Coming to that realization on a day that's supposed to be extra special can be a little disheartening and disappointing. I realized that I always expect birthdays to be unique and remarkable to some degree. Even when I don't expect anything, there's always a tiny, secret part of me that hopes the day to be special, that wants the day to be special. But, when the day comes and I have to go to class like any other day, do homework like any other day, and work like any other day, I am struck by a mixture of disappointment, self-pity, and sadness.
This is all very dramatic of me, I realize. Plus, just because a birthday is like any other day, it doesn't mean its not worthy of celebration. If anything, it means that every day should be celebrated! In a world that's increasingly hard to navigate, getting through each day is a feat to be acknowledged. Instead of a reminder that your birthday is just a day, happy day! is a celebration of all the days that aren't your birthday, because every day is special if you believe it to be so.
