Blog | Transcend Design

Gingerbread 2018: Vancouver Art Gallery

December 30, 2018January 9, 2019
by brucen

In 2009, I received The Gingerbread Architect as a gift. It’s a great book, and it comes with recipes and ingredients for 12 different gingerbread masterpieces. Since then I’ve made a number of gingerbread houses, including 2011’s Urban Brownstone, the Canuck Place Children’s Hospice in 2012, the Stewart Farmhouse in 2016, and the Hotel Europe in 2017.

This year, for the fourth time, I decided to make my own designs for a gingerbread structure. My inspiration is one of the more recognizable buildings in the downtown area – the Vancouver Art Gallery.

The Vancouver Art Gallery is the largest art gallery in Western Canada. The building used to be the main courthouse in Vancouver. Due to the massive scale of the building, I did need to pare down the scale. I did manage to keep many of the original design features, including the central dome, ionic columns, stonework, and the main front portico.

Again, thank you to everyone who follows along every year. While there are some late nights in December (and sometimes January!), it’s always fun to create something that people enjoy.

General Randomness

Gingerbread 2017: Hotel Europe

January 30, 2018
by brucen

This year, for the third time, I decided to make my own designs for a gingerbread structure. My inspiration came from a real heritage building in Vancouver’s famous Gastown area – the Hotel Europe.

Hotel Europe is a six-story heritage building located at Powell and Alexander in Vancouver, British Columbia. The building was commissioned by hotelier Angelo Calori and completed in 1909 by Parr and Fee Architects. The building is designed in the flatiron style.

This specific building style has only a few pieces, but each is quite large. The entire design has over 100 windows.

The baked gingerbread. I baked other pieces “on the fly” as it was difficult to measure in advance.

Trying out a brick design. The bricks are all cut from Sour Straps candy.

Each of the large side walls is at least 50 inches long. Lots of bricks!

Assembling the walls. This is easier with pins, which allow the icing to dry with the walls in place.

All of the walls are up, with some structural beams in the middle.

Roof is decorated with sanding sugar. Also added trim, and a Sour Gum sidewalk.

Added hand rail around the sidewalk – Popeye Candy Sticks with thin licorice rope.

Detail shot of the start of the road. Sour and regular Gummy Coke Bottles, cut into brick shapes.

Start of an idea for street lamps – pearlized gumballs with Blueberry Candy Sticks.

Finished – lower angle photo from the front.

Thank you to everyone who follows along every year. While there are some late nights in December (and sometimes January!), it’s always fun to create something that people enjoy.

Canucks

Canucks Pumpkin 2017 – #Brocktober

October 31, 2017December 11, 2017
by brucen

The play of Canucks rookie Brock Boeser inspired this year’s pumpkin carving. Since it’s October and Boeser is having a great start to his rookie season, #Brocktober only seems natural!

I began with a photo of Brock Boeser. Using Photoshop, I modified the photo to black and white, then increased the contrast on the photo and repeated that process until only a few shades remain: black, white and some easily discernible areas of grey. From there, I roughly shaded the areas of darkness on the pumpkin.

Here I began carving the pumpkin. Remember that when carving, the thinnest areas will appear lightest, and the thickest areas will appear darkest. For the areas that will be the darkest, only a thin layer of the hull is shaven off. For the areas that are lighter, I carved deeper.

The carving process continues deeper. Each time I carved specific areas I would do a quick lighting test. A LED light inside the pumpkin is helpful. For the hair, I did not shave off any of the hull; instead, I carved lines that followed the sweet flow of Brock’s hair. More lines means more light could come through.

Here things are looking great. The only parts of the face that I did not carve the hull of the pumpkin are the hair, and the pupils of the eyes, which should be black. The only areas that are carved right through are the whites of the eyes. Everything else is a varying depth of carve that will determine the amount of light coming through.

The finished pumpkin as featured on Bardown and Sportsnet! No effects on the photograph, just a longer shutter opening to capture more light.

Baseball

White Rock 11U AAA Team – 2017 Provincial Champs!

August 8, 2017January 30, 2018
by brucen

The White Rock 11U AAA Tier 1 Tritons won the provincial title on the August long weekend in Cloverdale, capping off an amazing 26-1 season.

The tournament began on the Friday against Cloverdale, with the boys coming back to win a hard fought game 9-8. The game was highlighted by a 1st inning 3-run homer from Ben McKinnon to keep the game close, scoring Matty Ng and Vasya Seymour. In the 2nd, the hit parade continued, with Max Ross hitting a triple to score Austin Hexter. Consecutive doubles by Ben, then Jack Clayton pushed the score to 7-4 White Rock. Later in bottom of the 5th, White Rock found themselves down 8-7 when Vasya hit a game-tying solo shot on the first pitch of the inning. Tyson Craven had the go-ahead RBI on a double. Ben then entered the game in the top of the 6th to preserve the win.

Friday afternoon, White Rock had a statement game, shutting out Nanaimo 15-0. Zak Burden and Max Ross pitched a combined no-hitter, as the team played error-free defence behind them. Matty had a big day at the plate, going 3-for-3 with 2 doubles and a homer, good for 5 RBI on the game.

On Saturday morning, the team suffered their first loss of the season, losing to Abbotsford in a slugfest. The boys jumped out to a lead in the 1st inning on a RBI single by Garin Wickstrom, but found themselves trailing going to the top of the 6th. Jack hit a solo shot, and Sam Manship scored with some heads up base running on a passed ball to make it close, but the final ended up as 11-8 for Abbotsford, setting up a must-win game later in the day.

Saturday evening, the boys punched their ticket to the playoff round with a 13-2 win against Kamloops. Max Ross came to the mound in the 2nd inning, and pitched an efficient 4 innings, using just 51 pitches, and allowing just one earned run. In this game, Danny Berringer hit a long double off the fence, and had 3 RBI on the day. The game ended on a dramatic walk-off grand slam homer by Ben in the bottom of the 5th to put the mercy rule into effect.

Sunday morning’s semi-final game showed that this team scores from anywhere in the lineup. 9 different Tritons players had at least one RBI, and every single player scored at least one run in a 19-6 win. White Rock had 4 home runs in this game – Ben with 2, while Danny and Sam Persaud hit one each.

The final game was a back-and-forth affair, with White Rock coming back from 1-0 and 3-1 deficits to eventually tie the game and win the championship in extra innings. After Abbotsford took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd, with 2 outs in the top of the 3rd, Matty hit a long double off the top of the left field fence, scoring Zak to tie the game. Top of the 4th with 2 out, trailing 3-1, Jack launched a huge solo homer to straight away center, hitting the concession stand before it landed.

The Tritons were still down 3-2 until the top of the 6th inning, their last chance to tie. Matty reached on a walk, and advanced to 3rd on consecutive passed balls. Vasya Seymour then sacrificed on a grounder to the 1st base side, scoring Matty to force extra innings.

The game stayed tied until the top of the 8th inning. Then, as they have done all season long, the Tritons started a long rally – this time from the 8 spot in the order. After Sam Manship grounded out, Sam Persaud singled on a liner to left, Max Ross singled on a beautiful bunt, and Danny walked to load the bases. Persaud scored the go-ahead run on a passed ball, while Zak battled hard but popped out on an 8 pitch at-bat for the second out. With 2 outs and 2 on base, Austin Hexter hit a towering fly to right for a 2-RBI double, making the score 6-3 Tritons. Matty, Vasya, and Ben all singled to run the score to 9-3 when the inning ended on a strikeout.

Abbotsford rallied for 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th, but the game ended when Austin fielded a grounder at 3rd and threw to Zak at 1st base for the final out. Persaud and McKinnon had combined to pitch a great 8 innings, each of them striking out 7 batters.

This team went undefeated in all their tournaments, and all their league games throughout July. Their only loss on the season was to Abbotsford in the provincials. The hallmarks of this team are depth of pitching, and hard hitting from anywhere in the lineup. All 12 of the players on this team threw from the mound in a game, and all 12 had the power to hit the ball out of the park.

Huge thank you goes out to the great group of families that were so dedicated, and all of the players that put in the work, and were so determined to learn and grow throughout the season. Congratulations to all of the White Rock baseball teams this summer!

Baseball

White Rock 11U AAA Tier 1 All-Stars – Boulanger…

July 20, 2017July 20, 2017
by brucen

The 2017 White Rock 11U AAA Tier 1 All-Stars won the Boulanger Memorial tournament championship, capping a great weekend of baseball on the Canada Day long weekend.

In the round robin games, White Rock showed that they have a hard hitting lineup, and the rally starts from anywhere in the order. In Game 1 against Richmond, Jack Clayton hammered a 2-run shot, and Ben McKinnon launched 2 homers for 5 RBI. In Game 2 against Chilliwack, Sam Manship and Austin Hexter each had home runs. In Game 3 against Victoria, Austin Hexter hit his second home run of the tournament.

In the semi-final game, 3 White Rock pitchers (Vasya Seymour, Matty Ng, Garin Wickstrom) combined on a 3-hit shutout in a 10-0 win over Ladner. White Rock jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the first, which featured a 2-run homer from Max Ross. White Rock then extended the lead to 8-0 in the second inning on the strength of a 2-run homer by Tyson Craven.

White Rock prevailed 4-2 over Cloverdale in a tight final game, which featured some remarkable team defensive play, and timely hitting. Ben McKinnon pitched 4 solid innings as White Rock came back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits to tie the game twice. In the bottom of the 4th inning, Tyson Craven doubled to drive in a run, and Garin Wickstrom followed that up with an RBI single to give White Rock a 4-2 lead. Vasya Seymour took the mound in the top of the 5th, striking out 1 and walking 3 batters to load the bases. Just when it looked like Cloverdale would rally, White Rock brought the infield in, and turned a gem of a double play going 6-2-3 (McKinnon, Ng, Burden) to put out the fire. Vasya finished the 6th inning by striking out the side to earn the save, and MVP honours.

So far, this team has gone 14-0 in combined tournament and league play. Good luck to all the other White Rock teams in July – here’s to a successful run for these boys of summer.

Canucks

Canucks Top 5 Surprises This Season

February 2, 2017February 2, 2017
by brucen

Bo Horvat started this season as the 3rd line centre behind Henrik Sedin and Brandon Sutter. Despite ranking 5th in TOI/GP for forwards this season, and with very little time on the power play, Horvat is leading the team this season in goals and points. He has been a professional through everything this season – good or bad. Horvat represented the Canucks at the NHL All-Star Game, and he did not look out of place, showing off his speed against Patrik Laine, and scoring 2 goals in the 3-on-3 tournament.

Nikita Tryamkin started this season in the press box. He refused a demotion to Utica, instead choosing to stay in Vancouver. Due to all the injuries on the blue line, Tryamkin finally drew into the lineup on November 3. He hasn’t relinquished his spot in the lineup since, ranking 4th on the team in plus/minus, and leads the team in penalty minutes. At 6’7″ and 265 lbs, Tryamkin’s size got him to the NHL, but he has shown surprising mobility for a big defenceman.

Everyone loves an underdog, and Richmond’s Troy Stecher fits the bill perfectly. Undrafted and undersized for a defenseman, Stecher had a great pre-season, but was sent down to Utica to start the year. Since he got the call to return to the Canucks, he has excited the fanbase with his play. He can rush the puck with his speed and leads all Canucks defensemen in shots on goal and points.

In 2014-15, Luca Sbisa was everyone’s favourite scapegoat. In 2015-16, injuries kept him out of the lineup for half of the season. Finally this year, Sbisa is getting a chance to consistently show why the Canucks signed him to an extension through 2017-18. He looks far more comfortable on defense, making solid contact to gain possession of the puck and make a good first pass out of the zone. He has stayed healthy, and leads the team in plus/minus and hits. Solid.

Markus Granlund came to Vancouver via a trade with Calgary for Hunter Shinkaruk. There were a lot of armchair GM’s out there that called for Jim Benning’s head, but at this point in time, the Canucks are the clear winner of that deal. On Brandon Sutter’s left wing, Granlund has provided the Canucks with some much needed secondary scoring, playing in every game and potting 12 goals so far. Shinkaruk on the other hand has spent most of his season in the AHL. He has played 7 games for the Flames and has 1 assist.

General Randomness

Gingerbread 2016: Stewart Farmhouse

January 8, 2017
by brucen

stewart-farmhouse This year, for the second time, I decided to make my own designs for a house. My inspiration came from a real heritage building, right here in Surrey.

The Farmhouse at Stewart Farm was built in 1894 by John and Annie Stewart. The house has that Victorian style and features a veranda and bay windows at the front and side of the house. It is a picturesque site, and one of the most photographed landmarks in Surrey because of it’s romantic old world charm.

Plans are cut from card stock and labelled in a way that makes sense (to me!)

All the pieces are baked. I keep them wrapped with the card stock template.

The external walls are easier to decorate when they’re flat on a table.

Beginning assembly on the board. Royal icing, heavy mugs, and pins hold everything in place.

External walls are all up, and porch floor is also assembled.

Roof assembly nearly complete. Gingerbread needed to be trimmed to make a good fit. Looks like a real construction site.

Beginning roofing. Alternating rows of shingles made of Bubble Tape, and Sour Power Belts.

Roof is complete! Barely had enough material for all the shingles.

Porch is done, complete with stone work detail made from Necco wafers.

Veranda mostly complete, working my way from front door to side of the house.

Railings. I made these by cutting Popeye Candy Sticks in half, and gluing with royal icing.

The veranda is complete, and the railings are assembled and attached.

Finished house, front left view. This shows the detail over the front door.

Finished house, front right view. This shows the detail on the veranda.

Finished house, front view. Light can pass through the windows.

Thank you to everyone who follows along every year. While there are some late nights in December, it’s always fun to create something that people enjoy!

General Randomness

The Canucks Preview for the Casual Fan

October 11, 2016October 11, 2016
by brucen

tryamkin

As the success of the Canucks comes and goes, so do the fans. For the casual fan that’s still on board, you may not recognize the team, and for good reason. Initially billed as a retooling, this is a full rebuild. Remember the 2011 run to the Stanley Cup final? Only 6 of those Canucks are still around: Alexandre Burrows, Alex Edler, Jannik Hansen, Chris Tanev, and Henrik and Daniel Sedin.

This will be the second year in a row that there is no goaltending controversy. Miller is the starting goalie and Markstrom is a backup that is more than capable. What’s more is that the plan for the future is clear: Markstrom may be the starter next year but the future is Thatcher Demko.

On defence, Edler and Tanev now make up the Canucks shutdown top pairing. Both can move the puck, and both are solid in their own end. The Canucks added size and toughness on defence by acquiring big defenceman Erik Gudbranson from Florida for Jared McCann which solidifies the second pairing behind the shutdown top pair of Edler and Tanev. Gudbranson is a former 3rd overall pick from the 2010 draft, and he’s a big, right shot, stay-at-home type. His style should make a good fit with the freewheeling left shot of Ben Hutton. Luca Sbisa should be a lock as the fifth defenceman, but the sixth man spot is anyone’s guess. The Canucks know what they have with Alex Biega, but also love the raw potential of Nikita Tryamkin, who is 6’7″ and 228 pounds.

The Sedins are destined to retire as Canucks. Hansen and Burrows are the other forwards that remain from the 2011 run to the final. They are both versatile, both can still skate, both can play up and down the lineup, and in any situation.

The Canucks lost Radim Vrbata during free agency, but the twins received scoring help in the form of Loui Eriksson. The hope is that with a healthy Brandon Sutter the Sedins will get some second line scoring support, leaving Bo Horvat to continue his development on the third line, along with linemates Sven Baertchi and Jake Virtanen. The 4th line would feature Mikael Granlund and Derek Dorsett. Emerson Etem has not had a great training camp, and after a standout MVP season in Swedish Hockey League, Anton Rodin could also make the roster.

Canucks

What To Expect When You’re Expecting Hockey

October 29, 2015
by brucen

A coworker asked me today if this will be a good year for the Canucks. I didn’t have a simple answer for him.

Predicting this year’s Canucks is akin to predicting the behavior of children. As a parent, sometimes you’re shocked at your kid’s actions. Sometimes, you swell with pride. And other times you are moved to tears. But most of the time you’re just hanging on for dear life as it is a hundred mile-an-hour whirlwind of all the emotions.

With the infusion of youth on the Canucks roster, we’re going to bear witness to some horrible mistakes, and some brilliant displays of hockey. There will be nights where you will be soul searching, questioning your fan status, and there will be nights that make you glad you didn’t jump off the bandwagon.

There have been a number of rookies that have come and gone in the Canucks short history. There have been only a few Canucks campaigns that have had memorable rookie seasons, and even fewer that featured more than one or two rookies at a time. This season’s version of the team features sniper Jared McCann, speedy defenceman Ben Hutton, and local talent Jake Virtanen, all of whom are entering their first NHL season. Add sophomore Bo Horvat. Young prospect Sven Baertchi. Add recent call-up Brendan Gaunce. Even Luca Sbisa was born in 1990 (yes, younger than Chris Tanev).

Player	Position	Birth Date	Age
Jake Virtanen	RW	August 17, 1996	19
Jared McCann	C	May 31, 1996	19
Bo Horvat	C	April 5, 1995	20
Brendan Gaunce	C	March 25, 1994	21
Ben Hutton	D	April 20, 1993	22
Sven Baertschi	LW	October 5, 1992	23
Luca Sbisa	D	January 30, 1990	25

All of a sudden that tired old Canucks team is full of young players and a couple actual teenagers, complete with erratic behavior that will give the most die-hard fan a few more grey hairs.

If you can be patient, sometimes that youthful exuberance will surprise you and make you glad you were there to see it. First seasons. First goals. First home ice wins.

First cup? There’s a first time for everything.

Baseball

White Rock U9 Tadpole All-Stars – Andrews Invitational Tournament…

July 29, 2015July 29, 2015
by brucen

The 2015 White Rock U9 Tadpole All-Stars won the Andrews Invitational championship, going a perfect 15-0 in tournament play this summer. For these kids, this is the first season where they pitch to batters, and hit from other pitchers.

Andrews Invitational Tournament Recap

Game 1 featured great hitting throughout the lineup and some solid defense. Vasya Seymour got things started with a triple in the 1st inning, scoring lead off hitter Matthew Ng, while speedster Max Ross busted out of a slump going 2-for-2. The play of the game was a highlight reel sno-cone catch by Ben Friedel in right field, who then threw out a runner at 2nd for a double play, earning him Game MVP honours. In games 2 and 3, White Rock kept the bats going and ground out a couple sloppy wins, taking both games 22-11 and earning a spot in the semi-final.

In the semi-final game, White Rock allowed 3 runs in the top of the 1st inning, but roared back to score 4 in the bottom, and kept the bats going on their way to a 15-4 win. Ben McKinnon went 2 for 3, with 3 RBI in the game. Sam Persaud had one heck of a 5th inning, tracking a long fly into foul ground at left field in the top half, then picking up 2 RBI with a clutch base hit that ended the game in the bottom half, earning his team a spot in the tournament final.

White Rock prevailed 3-2 over Ladner in a tight final game, which featured the return of great team pitching, and some remarkable team defensive play. Briggham Kokotailo set the tone for the pitchers, striking out the Ladner side in the top of the 1st. Vasya Seymour went 2-for-2, scoring once, and also pitched a scoreless inning. Ben McKinnon struck out one, and walked the bases loaded. Just when it looked like Ladner would get on the board, Ben Pulfer snagged a hard line drive at 2B, then flipped the ball to 1st for a smart double-play to end the threat. Pulfer also pitched a scoreless inning to earn himself Game MVP honours. Zak Burden and Sam Persaud each pitched a solid inning, allowing 1 run each.

The Boys of Summer – I never will forget those nights / I wonder if it was a dream

Personally, the last 5 weeks have been a blur. Many times I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be at work the next morning or at the ball park. The team played a total of 26 games, and practiced on most of the other nights. Some personal highlights of the season for me:

The dedication of all of the families to the team. One of our practices was scheduled for the Monday after a tournament; the coaches decided to call it “optional”. Every single player showed up. It turned out to be a 3 hour long batting practice session, with many of the dads shagging fly balls and grounders, trying to show the kids “how it’s done”.
The willingness of siblings to help. All of the players have siblings, but 3 in particular – Evan Ng, Liz Kokotailo, and Madelyn McKinnon went above and beyond. I half expected to hear Evan wailing about being boredddddd, but instead he took on the role of team scorekeeper and statistician. He might be halfway to a degree in sabermetrics. After Coach Randy was on the injured reserve, Liz and Madelyn helped to keep the practices and pregame warmups going with their live arms.
There is crying in baseball. And it usually occurs when kids don’t get on base. The hilarious part of it is that all the kids were really good at getting on base. In those moments when the tears flowed, the kids were so good to each other, picking their teammates up when they were feeling down, and helping each other get back on the field and play their best.

It has been one heck of a season for all of us. As I write this, there is a hole in my heart that is roughly the size of a baseball. I’ve received emails and texts from the other coaches already, talking about being bored, and of course, watching baseball. Because after coaching baseball for 30 straight days, you take a break from that by watching more ball.

Thanks to everyone involved for all the wonderful memories. Here’s to many more hazy summers filled with baseball dreams.