California baker creates life-size Han Solo out of bread

Lovingly crafted details show Star Wars character's anguished face and hands straining to reach out through 'carbonite'

Pan Solo, a replica of Han Solo frozen in carbonite, made entirely of bread at One House Bakery in Benicia, California. AFP

A family takes photos with the sculpture, now on display outside of the bakery north of San Francisco. AFP

Mother and daughter team Catherine and Hannalee Pervan spent more than 100 hours manually creating the life-sized dough replica of Han Solo. AFP

Catherine Pervan describes how she and her daughter made Pan Solo. AFP

The two worked at night, after the day’s business was done. AFP

Catherine and Hannalee stand for a photo in front of their creation. AFP

The lovingly crafted details show Han Solo’s anguished face and his hands straining to reach out. AFP

The hands are incredibly detailed. AFP

Pan Solo is the bakery’s entry in the annual Downtown Benicia Main Street Scarecrow Contest. AFP

Loc Vo poses for a photograph with Pan Solo. AP

The creators used a Harrison Ford mask to create a mold for the face but everything else was sculpted by hand. AP

Michelle Heberling, of Benicia, takes a photograph of her son Wesley with the sculpture. AP

Pan Solo took six weeks to make and is made out of Levain dough. AP

Han Solo may be a hunk. But “Pan Solo” is a hunk of bread.

That’s what a bakery in the San Francisco Bay Area has called its 1.8-metre bread sculpture of the Star Wars character as he appeared after being frozen in carbonite in The Empire Strikes Back.

Hannalee Pervan and her mother, Catherine Pervan, co-owners of One House Bakery in Benicia, California, spent weeks moulding, baking and assembling the life-size sculpture using wood and two types of dough, including a type of yeast-free dough with a higher sugar content that will last longer.

The two worked at night, after the day’s business was done. The lovingly crafted details show Han Solo’s anguished face and his hands straining to reach out.

The younger Ms Pervan said she might have got a bit obsessed.

“Mum made me leave it because I was obsessing over the lips,” she told The New York Times. “She was like, ‘You need to walk away.’”

Creating Pan Solo was particularly meaningful, she told the paper, because she contracted Covid-19 in January 2021 and lost much of her senses of smell and taste.

“So just to find joy in a different part of food is really important,” she said.

The sculpture is now on display outside of the bakery, located about a half-hour’s drive north of San Francisco.

Pan Solo is the bakery’s entry in the annual Downtown Benicia Main Street Scarecrow Contest. The public will get to vote on their favourites from among more than two dozen creations entered by local businesses.

The Pervans, who are big science-fiction and fantasy fans, entered another Star Wars-themed creation in 2020 featuring the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda.

Unfortunately, Pan Solo won’t last forever: the dough eventually will be composted, not eaten.

So as a wise Jedi might warn: don’t use the forks, Luke.

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