6.0 Butter Sculpture Making

History of Butter Carving and Sculptures

The Tibetan Buddhists are said to be the first creators of butter carvings and sculptures. During the 19th century, state fairs in North America became meeting grounds the butter carvers and now remain a popular setting for makers and admirers. It's necessary to work in a cool place to keep your butter creation from melting.


The History of carving food into sculptured objects is ancient. Archaeologists have found bread and pudding molds of animal and human shapes at sites from Babylon to Roman Britain. Butter sculpture is an ancient Tibetan Buddhist tradition; yak butter and dye are still used to create temporary symbols for the Tibetan New Year and other religious celebrations.

During the Renaissance and Baroque periods modling food was commonly done for wealthy banquets. It was during this period that the earliest known reference to a butter sculpture is found. In 1536 Bartolomeo Scappi, organized a feast composed of nine scenes elaborately carved out of food. Each carried episodically centerpieces for a banquet. Scappi mentioned several butter sculptures for the feast, including an elephant with a pancquin, a figure of hercules struggling with a lion, and a moor on a camel.

Another early reference is found in the biography of Antonio Canova (1757-1822), who said he first came to his patron's attention when as a humble kitchen boy he sculpted an impressive butter lion for a banquet. The story now thought apocyphal, though it reaffirms the existence of butter sculpture during that period.

Butter sculpting continued into the 18th century when English dairy maids molded butter pats into decorative shapes. Caroline Shawk Brooks with a butter sculpture basrelief of Columbus for the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition.

The earliest butter sculpture in the modern sense can be traced to the 1876 Centennial Exhibition where Caroline Shawk Brooks displayed her Dreaming lolanthe, a basrelief bust of a woman modeled in butter. It was kept cold with a system of layered bowls and frequent ice changes. Brooks had no formal art training but as a farmer she spent years making butter. To make the work more interesting, she began sculpting it, eventually using it as a selling point. Afterwards she studied in Paris and Florence and eventually became a professional sculptor who worked in marble, but occasionally made more butter art.

The heyday of butter sculpting was from about 1890 to 1930. During this period refrigeration became widely available and the American dairy industry began promoting butter sculpture as a way to compete againts synthetic butter substitute like Oleomargarine (margarine). Butter sculpting decreased during the Great Depression and World War II due to shortages but picked up again after the war.


Picture of Butter Sculpture






                                                            

• Firstly use wire to make shape of plant before put the butter.

• Then cover with musking tape

• After that beat the butter

• Put the butter at wire