Chapter V: Menus

As figure piping lends itself readily to this class of work, there is a wide field for design not only for present day functions, but those of the future as well. These may be piped in a variety of forms, and the groundwork for piping on may be silk, satin, velvet, tinted cardboard, or any other foundation that will take kindly to icing sugar. Taken altogether, this class of decoration depends more on the artistic taste of the piper than most of the other branches, because you have to study the effect of different tints in your background and the unaided effect of the piping itself. In the case of a Christmas or other cake, a few silver leaves, comfits, or gum paste novelties, may with impunity and advantage be added, which, of course, would “soften” down the attention from any possible defect in the piping. But in the work on the menu you have to take great care, as the slightest mistake is not very easily rectified, or, at least, it has a “nasty habit” of leaving a slight stain behind it. But the pupil who makes up his mind to go on a few “trial trips” first could not do better than get a large school slate and mark it out in lines similar to illustration. He could practise his writing in the small space and the figures round the margin. It is almost needless to state that this suggestion for a piped menu is not intended to supersede the printed article—at least, not in the original, as, of course, it would be much too large for the table; but if neatly framed and hung at the end of dining-room, it is not altogether unappropriate for the occasion. Moreover, impressions or reproductions may be made by the half-tone process which would at least recommend itself for a special occasion, if only on the score of novelty, and could then be brought down to a size suitable for use on the table. In this class of work it behoves the piper to make himself pretty well acquainted with most of the prominent points of the British sports and pastimes, with the addition of naval, military, and other scenes; so that if it should be his intention to pipe a menu for a Golf Club dinner, for instance, he could illustrate that menu with such scenes as “Driving from the Tee,” “Bunkered,” “A Long Putt,” and so forth. It is the same with other scenes, and novelties of this kind will invariably take the eye of exponents of a game—be it Golf, Football, or Cricket.

The menus we are now going to treat are military and aquatic, and we will take the “aquatic” first. The reader will see at a glance that this sketch is intended for the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. The original is on a dark and light blue background, which makes this fact more evident still. The various details of this design were gained by direct observation, for a good many years ago I lived not very far from Putney Bridge, and used to see the crews in training. At that time, however, the idea of turning any of those scenes into a piping design never for a moment occurred to me; but rough pencil sketches were taken all the same, and from the recorded memories thus obtained this aquatic menu was designed.

In piping a series of sketches of this description, it is essential to collect your incidents and then let them illustrate the progress of the contest in rotation. The first scene, “Training,” is not very difficult. The trotting horse with the trainer, or “coach,” on his back may be piped in first, and then the heavy irregular lines which represent the river bank, a series of fine lines to represent the water in the river, and on this a long low boat or outrigger, with faint indications of nine men in the boat as represented; a very faint outline of distant trees (which has to be done with a very fine pointed paper cornet) will indicate the opposite bank, and the willow tree may be boldly done in the foreground to complete the first sketch. “Gone to Putney” represents two of the oarsmen going down to the river from the direction of the boathouses to embark in their frail craft, which is presumably waiting for them for a practise spin towards Barnes Bridge. In the third sketch we have two young ladies at the edge of one of the numerous creeks, who may be sisters, cousins, or otherwise, of certain members of the crew who are now practising in the upper reaches of the river. These may be piped without the preliminary outline, as also the solitary oarsman who has just arrived on the scene. Here, as in previous designs, the necessity of perspective piping will be apparent, for, since our medium is glacé Royal without any blending of neutral tints, we have to get the distant effect by the sole means of reducing the scale of our objects.

There is considerably more work in the last sketch of this series, although the difficulties are not so great as they may appear at first sight, for it is only a matter of grouping, what the student has been practising in detail during the earlier part of these instructions. “A Struggle for Supremacy” is just such a scene as may be witnessed in the vicinity of Barnes Bridge on any boat-race day, when the leading crew with stern determination are holding their lead, while the others are putting forth almost superhuman efforts to reduce it. It is a matter of small moment which of these figures may be piped first—perhaps the horses, and, as they are looking partly from left to right, they may be less easy than those looking the reverse way. While these horses are drying, the spectators on foot may be added one by one, with a few irregular lines to indicate where the groundwork of the river bank is going to be; fine horizontal lines, too, for the river may be added, and then the distant boats. When the horses have become partly dry, the riders may be piped on—care being taken that they sit as naturally as possible. The river bank (or towing path, as this part is generally called) may be completed with plenty of “body” in that part which is nearest to you.

The second menu—which is designed for military functions, and especially those in relation to cavalry—is introduced here by way of variety, and a glance will suffice to show the difference in subjects as compared with the other. This is as well, for the various scenes include a goodly number of horses in various positions: each and every one of these the pupil can copy singly if he chooses. Natives of the Metropolis will scarcely need an explanation as to the first scene; but for the benefit of the far away provincial, it may be stated that Hurlingham, which is the home of aristocratic pastimes, lies on the fringe of London in the Fulham district. It is here that polo is to be seen at its best—a pastime which is adapted to, and adopted by, most cavalry regiments. So the first scene on the menu represents rival military teams at this equestrian game. These horses may be piped as in the past, and allowed to get tolerably dry before adding the riders to them. Care, of course, must be taken in making the riders in their correct attitudes, so as to give life and spirit in the scene as far as lies in our power. Sketch No. 2 represents a trooper practising outpost duty at Aldershot; while the third is intended for the military charger at full gallop with his rider in a tent-pegging competition at the Agricultural Hall during the annual Military Tournament. The next step of the professional soldier is, as we may assume, “Foreign Service,” and there are, perhaps, more difficulties in the delineation of this subject than in any of its predecessors, for in piping, with nothing but the white icing, we cannot very well get one animal behind the other with any degree of accuracy in all details, so we have to use outlines only for some of the offside horses, which method, although its result appears somewhat “sketchy,” will convey the idea more forcibly than if two solid horses were merged into one. It will be seen by this last sketch that the team of artillery horses is represented in a hilly country; therefore, the leader should be first piped and well elevated, so that those in the rear are much lower when they are completed. The officer’s charger, in advance, too, should be well up the hill, and the groundwork must be piped slanting downwards, with a couple of trees of the palm variety on top, just to give it that foreign aspect which we intend to convey. A very faint undulating line will give a “shadowy” idea of distant mountains, while a couple of bursting shells from the enemy’s artillery will give a realistic touch to the scene. Perhaps I may be permitted to state in behalf of the art of figure piping generally, that these menus we have just had under consideration, have been successful beyond the designer’s expectations, having been awarded a special silver medal—appreciated the more from the fact that it was presented by Mr. J. Szanyo, the King’s confectioner—at the Universal Cookery Exhibition, Royal Albert Hall, London, 1902, and the first prize (gold medal) for “The most Artistic Piece of Work of any kind,” at the International Confectionery Exhibition, Royal Agricultural Hall, London, 1902.

Although we have had two menus under consideration, I think there is yet room for another, as it is variety of design we want, and may as well have it on a menu as on anything else. As this has been done partly in colours, the reproduction is not so clearly defined; but, perhaps, a little explanation will assist the reader. It is intended for a patriotic menu. In the original it is headed by “God Save our King,” then a crown, which is piped in yellow to represent the gold, and crimson to represent the velvet. Two doves are flying towards it with sprigs of laurel as emblems of peace. The crown is supported by the Rose, Shamrock, and Thistle, in colours. At the head of the menu proper, is the Prince of Wales’s feathers, which is flanked by leeks emblematic of Wales; and from the ribbon at the base, spring two Union Jacks in colours, then follows the menu itself in italics. The sketches which flank the menu proper, are respectively “Epsom,” “Sandringham,” “Aintree,” and “Cowes,” while the last scene is Boer and Briton shaking hands, entitled, “Peace,” so that the idea is to represent the British sports in which His Majesty takes a great interest. The menu itself is piped in white, on a red ground, which is edged with gold, and the wide margin around it is a Royal blue, the figure piping being in white. We thus have a combination of red, white, and blue. It is, perhaps, not necessary to go into detail as to how this is done, as a glance of the method adopted in the previous designs will suffice; but this is simply to illustrate another of the uses of Figure Piping. As reference has been made to piping in colours, however, I may mention here that in certain subjects some very good effects may be obtained; but for anything which is intended to be eaten, of course, our range of colours are somewhat limited—or at least, among those which may be pronounced “harmless” in this category, I think we are allowed to dabble a little in pale green, yellow, pink, and brown, or chocolate, and some very novel effects can be got up even with this limited array, especially in the Christmas cake or chocolate medallion line. While, if we go beyond the eatable stage, and go in for piped menus or framed pictures for our shops, or sitting-rooms, we can almost get up an effect like a water-colour drawing, the only difference is the piping picture has the additional novelty of being in bas relief, which has rather a taking effect when viewed from a short distance with a side-light shining upon it. These, too, will last for very many years if kept in an ordinary dry room, so that the artistic confectioner may vary the monotony of always making something for somebody else to destroy.

In mixing coloured icing for a landscape, for instance, two or three shades of green may be made; but, as in water-colours, nothing should be too “glaring”; a few drops of Browning or “Black Jack” will always sober down a too brilliant green, and a little extract of saffron added will make another shade, and a knowledge of each, with the “happy medium” thrown in, will be beneficial “assets” towards the art of Figure Piping in colours. The methods to be adopted in the arrangement of the various tints will be greatly simplified if the operator has a slight knowledge of the general use of colours, as he will then know where to place them to get the best effect.