Potato Days 2008 - Mashed Potato Sculpture Contest 1st Place - Goldfish

I had the neat idea this year of mixing the orange food coloring in with canola oil and putting it in a spray bottle. I actually had two spray bottles, one with a darker orange and one with a more yellowish orange in hopes of getting some variation in coloring as you see on goldfish. The oil gave the fish a nice shine like it was wet. It also helped smooth out the incredibly thick potato texture. This year I even found large chunks of un-mashed potatoes in the batch. The consistency doesn't seem to be consistent from year to year. The other noteworthy feature of my sculpture is the bubbles. The evening before was spent carefully cutting out bubbles from 3 different sized bubble wrap sheets and putting clear tape loops on the back (transported to the sculpture contest on waxed paper, of course).

Potato Days 2006 - Mashed Potato Sculpture Contest 1st Place - Bird's Nest

I made the nest by putting the mashed potatoes through a garlic press (spin off on my spaghetti in the 2000 contest). The mashed potatoes this year were incredibly hard to work with as they were the runniest I've ever seen - it was like trying to sculpt with oatmeal. I was glad that I had brought along some flour to mix in.

Potato Days 2005 - Mashed Potato Sculpture Contest POTATO KISSES (HERSHEY'S KISSES)

Potato Days 2004 - Mashed Potato Sculpture Contest 1st Place - Corn on the Cob
The realistic corn was the main selling feature of this sculpture. I made corn-on-the-cob texture with a mesh bag/fabric.

Potato Days 2003 - Mashed Potato Sculpture Contest 2nd Place - Pizza and Pop

Even the "pepperoni" and "cheese" on the pizza is made from potatoes!

Potato Days 2002 - Mashed Potato Sculpture Contest 2nd Place - Storybook

To create the text on the "potato pages", I came prepared with printed transparencies.

Potato Days 2001 - Mashed Potato Sculpture Contest 1st Place - Keyboard and Mouse

Once I was finished, I noticed that I forgot the "H" in technology. It didn't seem to sway the judges decision...

Potato Days 2000 - Mashed Potato Sculpture Contest 1st Place - Spaghetti, Meatballs and Beverage
Potato "spaghetti" was made by running the mashed potatoes through a garlic press. It worked and looked much better than I thought it would!