Rainbow Road, My Hardest Centerpiece

One of my original centerpiece ideas was the rainbow road in Mario Kart. I used to spend hours on this map, speeding as fast as I could and constantly falling over the edge. Although Ben didn't play this map, I was obsessed with the idea of making this centerpiece work.

First of all, I spent so much more money than I wanted to for this centerpiece. My first purchase was the road. I wanted lots of bling for this centerpiece. So I googled and googled for ideas until I came across these flatback beads on ebay.

There were a couple of variations in size so I thought about it for a couple of days. I didn't want to sit on it long though because these were from China and from experience, I knew that it could take a while to receive. I printed out life-sized pieces and started formed a circle to see if I liked the size and how many pieces I would need.

I determined that I liked the 8mm x 8mm beads and got six colors. They came in bags of 200 each so I had more than enough although the beads alone were already a little over $20. Not bad considering I got about 1200 beads though.

Next was the figurines. I was too lazy to make Mario Kart cars so I searched on ebay until I found some very tiny figurines. I came across this set of 10 that were 5-6cm each. I took the chance that they were small enough and that I could rip the character off some of the cars. Luckily, I was able to for two of them, which was enough for me.  That was another $20 gone.

The hardest part (and my failed part) was how to assemble the road. I started with some grand idea that I would have a floating, twisted road that was held in the air by some sort of legs. Here's my rough draft of it:

Please excuse the child-like doodling. This is the best I can represent my dream since I was far from achieving it.

I had hoped to have it floating in the air like the game and even hoped to add the little turtle cloud guy that fishes you back onto the road after you fell off. I tried manipulating a wreath wire to no prevail. I tried using plaster mix but failed at that too. I also failed to figure out what I could use as legs. I had spent a lot of money on failed attempts but I was running out of time.

In the end, I opted for the easy way out. I planned out a simple oval road and glued the beads onto paper. It wasn't what I had envisioned but at least I was still able to present a centerpiece that was relatively close.

To add to the effect, I made some clay items like the black bomb guard and a turtle shell. It wasn't as grand as I hoped but I think people were still impressed. 

From our amazing photographer Christopher Kim