Cake School - Week 3

This week at Cake School, we learned how to make calices (singular: calyx) - the little green leaves from which the rose bud .... well ... buds... - and leaves of various sizes. Adding calices to my roses from last week certainly resulted in more life-like, botanically correct flowers...


I can't wait to see what they look like with the leaves added to them! The leaves were fun to make, if a little bit tedious. I especially liked pressing them in the 'veiner', which looked and felt like a dentist's mould of some sort and added all the necessary life-like character to each leaf. 

Our homework is to complete five sets of leaves consisting of one large and two small leaves and to wrap the stems of all of our leaves and roses in green floral tape. I'm also aiming to make a few more full blown roses and another few four-petal flowers to replace the ones that broke after class the first night. After that, I feel sure I'll be ready to accept commissions for ornate, flower bedecked cakes.... (having spent a small fortune on all the supplies, such commissions will be a necessity!) 

 xx Tina

 P.S. You might notice that my blog looks a little bit different today. That's because I've shifted the layout a bit - with instructions from the ever knowledgeable Judith - in order to provide more space for bigger photos. I think (hope!) this will add to the blog's visual appeal, but definitely let me know what you think!

Comments

  1. Canadian Abroad28 September 2012 at 18:43

    The blog looks good. The cake decorations even better. Looks like you really have the hang of it!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sarah28 September 2012 at 21:55

    I love the bigger pics. They really make all the difference. Your calices are beautiful - adding to my vocab every day! Can't wait to see the progress of your bouquet.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fabulous Fabric-y Fun this Saturday

Image
Not quite what you had in mind?! Read on...  Thursdays are prime-time thinking-ahead days for me. Already thoroughly sick of the workweek by about Tuesday, I yearn for Thursdays as a kind of sign that I can now legitimately begin planning my weekend festivities. In that vein, here’s a suggestion for this coming Saturday: the Quilting Exhibition & Open Day at Christian Fellowship Church (CFC) , Belmont Road, Belfast. The brainchild of Judith of Just Jude , the Quilting Exhibition & Open Day is designed to showcase some of the wonderful work the students in Judith’s Rags to Bags sewing classes , which also take place in CFC, have been producing. It’s on from 10am to 3 pm, and entry is free, with complimentary tea and coffee on offer (always a bonus, especially if the weather is anything like it is today!) There’ll also be various stalls selling cakes, fabrics, and crafts as well as loads of information about Judith’s classes and local charity quilting groups...
Read more

Almost there!

Image
Well, after devoting much of my weekend to it, my Double Irish Chains quilt is all but finished. Phew! All I have to do, as you can see from the pic below, is hand sew the binding - the perfect project for those lazy days of my New Hampshire holiday next week. A rare spot of sunshine demanded that I take this photo in the front 'garden'. There were a few miscalculations along the way, as well as a couple of unfortunate fabric mis-cuts due to sheer exhaustion, but eventually, I got there. I briefly contemplated free machine quilting when I'd gotten the quilt sandwich put together, but I quickly ruled that out in respect for my sanity. Instead, I followed the chains themselves, quilting diagonal lines in an unobtrusive cream thread. The effect, I think, is perfect, as the diagonals emphasise and draw attention to the chains while still giving the eye a little something to work with in the large cream-coloured patches of fabric. A glimpse of the back   For the ...
Read more

A Humble Crumble

Image
Although we only have a tiny front garden about the size of our couch, my hubby has managed to cultivate a veritable green grocer's selection of fruit, veg, herbs and flowers. Beware if you ever come to visit .... despite the postage-stamp size (and shape) of the 'garden' - really just a collection of assorted tubs, buckets, pots, and troughs in which nestle, among other things, carrots, leeks, and courgettes - hubby will insist on giving you a full tour. Ooh-ing and aah-ing will be expected, and uninterested parties will be treated with distinct disdain. Even I, more familiar than most with the wonderful fecundity that is our front garden, am treated to  near daily updates of what's going on with the leeks, or the peas, or the strawberries, or.... well, you get the point. Home grown strawberries Not having a green thumb myself, I'm far more interested in harvesting and eating the fruits of hubby's labours (literally). This year, there was a bumper crop of...
Read more