Daisies

I recently saw a Debbie Brown cake which had a little clump of daisies on top. I thought they were a really cute addition, so I thought I'd have a go at putting together a little set to go with the toadstool cake I'm making for this weekend.

I still need to put some blades of grass around the bottom, but I think they'll make a nice addition to the toadstool scene. I cooked the cakes this evening and they are currently cooling - I can't wait to crack on and start decorating!

Finally - I Finished a Fairy!

It's taken me a while to fit it in around my other commitments, but tonight I finally managed to finish the fairy I have been working on for a friend's toadstool cake. I was terrified her head would come off as I was putting the hair on!

I am a big fan of Lorraine McKay - she produces the most amazing figures! I would love to attend one of her workshops but in the meantime, I made do with her "Heads Up" e-tutorial, which was very helpful - although I know I need to have lots more practice (I found the mouth particularly difficult....so it's rather fortuitous that she's looking downwards towards the butterfly) I think it's a half decent start.

I thought it would be really nice to do something a little different for her wings. I was fascinated by a technique developed by Diane Simmons which uses gelatin to create beautiful flowers and butterflies - ably demonstrated by Cindy'sConfections. I haven't been able to track down a source in the UK for the veining sheets, so improvised with an all-in-one veiner and cutter. It was only partially successful (luckily I managed to salvage usable wings), so needs further practice!   

Zara's Barbie Birthday Cake - the finished article

I realised this morning that there was no obvious place to put the candles on the cake - so hastily made two flowers to place either side of it, with the idea that the candles could be stuck into the middle. I simply used a five petal cutter and stuck two layers of "petals" together with a ball of green paste in the middle for the candle to stick in to - it was quite effective.

At the party, I was quite amused to find that the question most people asked me was whether or not she had legs...apparently some children are horrified when doll picks are used as there is no lower body!

Zara's Barbie Birthday Cake

I just finished her tonight, for a friend's daughter's birthday party tomorrow.

The idea for the design of her dress was loosely based on a fuchsia flower - we have a large bush just outside the window.

Gumpaste Feet

Applying the principles I'd learnt making the hands, I did a similar thing with the feet - starting large, to build confidence, and gradually getting smaller:

I found this set of photos on Flickr quite useful, thanks go to MissCakeable! 

Gumpaste Hands

I wasn't very happy with how the hands and feet were looking on the fairy body so, rather than move on to completing it with the head, I decided to do tutorials on hands and feet to get some practice at making something that looks a little more realistic.
I started with hands and began working on quite a large scale, gradually making them smaller and smaller as I became more confident I wasn't going to pull the fingers off as I was elongating them! It actually turned out easier to do the smaller ones than the large ones in the end.

Lorraine McKay's video tutorial on making hands with modelling sugarpaste is very clear and gives invaluable guidance!

Fairies & Toadstools

A friend has asked me to make a toadstool cake for her daughter's birthday. No self-respecting toadstool is complete without a resident fairy, so I started work last night in putting one together. I had the idea that she would be dressed in quite a draped kind of dress, but I wasn't happy with the way things were turning out and decided to abandon her like this:

Tonight I thought I'd try again and give her a petal type dress. I decided to give her a bit of a cape and overall I am much happier with this body. I need some practice on making the hands more delicate, but I was finding it difficult to work on this scale. I'll let it dry over night and then work on the head tomorrow.

Flowerpaste II

The flowerpaste was a great success! It rolls paper-thin with no problems at all and is great for making delicate flowers such as this carnation.

Thanks to Cake by Cath for this great tutorial on making carnations! 

Flowerpaste

I recently made my first ever sugarpaste flowers and was quite surprised when I went to buy the flowerpaste to discover how expensive it is. This led me to search out recipes for DIY flowerpaste. I came across this recipe on Helen Dissell & Gill Pope's site which I have tried out tonight. In place of copha I used pure coconut oil, and in place of Tylose powder I used gum tragacanth. I've left it to rest and will see tomorrow if I can get some decent flowers out of it.