I signed up for stringwork classes. Stringwork is the one thing I can say in icing that I haven't even seen up close. I'd seen it done on Foodnetwork and it looks hella impressive so I decided thats what I wanted to do.
However, since I hadnt decided for sure that I wanted to be here this weekend for the mere fact that i am still unemployed and the classes cost so much,so I never really prepped. Like yehhhh I totally didnt get dummy cakes nor cover them and let them dry. I went to the vendors fair thinking hey they gotta sell those there right?? Yeh thats a big NO. I got there and I was like CRAP. Where the heck am I going to find dummy cakes at 10 pm.
SIDE NOTE: I did pick up some spiffy moulds for like 2 dollars a pop. There was like a mob over these moulds though, like wow. Old cake ladies get MEAN when you come between them and their "flag resting on pole" mould. I can only imagine what it was like when the good stuff was there. I came through when it had already been picked over so all that was left was "turkeys" and "turtles". I did find some angels and put them down thinking there was no way i was gonna sit and wait in the long line for thi....and before I could finish the thought, a crazed cake lady came in and swooped up my angel mould.Learned my lesson and I got my butt in that line though. The good thing was when people got to the cashier and realised they had too many ( as in like 50) and threw back a couple. I managed to end up with a baby, a cat and dog, a bear on a blanket, two love bears and a rose. I have no clue what they look like cuz the moulds are pretty weird lookin....you kinda jus have to go off of what the label on the back says "disco flamingo? ok then!"..
So I left the vendors fair and started to freak. Id read stories where people don't like going to these cake classes because the older hands like to show people up and act like if you don't own a bakery you are like non existent. So yeh, what a great time to show up with NOTHING right?I pulled out my TomTom and tried to find a craft store. Nothing. then my tomtom decided it had enough of me and died. By this time I had driven too far to remember where I had turned but I knew I wasnt very far. I ended up in the airport, Terminal A to be exact. And I turned around looking for the hotel, cursing my GPS all the way. And then I saw WalMart...now this doesnt seem exciting to you, I know, but I was willing to use anything that remotely looked like a cake and cover it in fondant ( I even did a double take on a spool of yarn) This had to be Godsent, because this walmart had a cake decorating SECTION. I have not been in a walmart that had as many legit supplies as this one had....I picked up fondant, piping gel, spatulas, a rolling pin and a map (cuz I did have to find my way back after all). Then it occured to me to use a cake pan as a dummy cake. that way I dont waste my money, cuz I always need pans.
So I walk out of Walmart, pretty pleased with my purchases, except for my $10 map, only to turn on my car and have my GPS startup like nothing was wrong. sigh......does Walmart take map returns?
As of right now.... I'm in the car currently because I just finished my Commercial Australian Stringwork class. I was told that it's commercial because it uses shortcuts that you can't use in a cake show (whomp whomp). Apparently Australian stringwork almost always involves curtainwork and the look of embroidery somehow.....today we used stencils to mimic embroidery and we were told that you could use a toothpick to stipple the stencil to look as though it had been sewn using needle and thread. Well that's nifty. The curtain work is just gorgeous when it's done on large cakes, and it looks really really difficult. It took some getting used to and I don't think if I hadn't been doing this for like 6 months now Iwould have been able to even get one string done but I managed to do two shelves when class ended. I was pretty proud of myself because while i didn't have the largest cake, mine looked pretty darn good for a first try. i wish I had better pictures.
Oriental Stringwork class was a BLAST. Nerve wracking as it involves literally turning fully decorated cakes UPSIDE DOWN. The teacher, Geraldine Randlesome made my heart sing. She loves what she does, and she does it so well.....her passion for it shows in everything she did. No shortcuts with her...she was very old school. She was quite the character, and holy crap! she was intimidatingly good with stringwork. She would pipe strings that just seemed to float on top of each other and she would do it so fast, it was like lightning. Her husband Alan made sure to tell me to not feel like it's a race, it took Geraldine decades to get as good as she is. I took lots of breaks and made sure to take advice. I was super proud of myself afterwards too. I was one of the best pipers (lol) in the class. I mean I can't say I was awesome and that the curve was set very high, but it made me feel good, that I've only officially been at this for about 7 months and I was holding my own. One lady, showed me a couple cakes she had done. She was self taught and her piping left a much to be desired. Her fondant was lovely though and she told me she made a wedding cake for US400$ the other day. Quite a steal as far as wedding cakes go, but she was self taught!! and she was a noob like me!! SERIOUSLY I need to start charging people. There's just a part of me that feels bad for charging people for something I love to do. But I've lost my job so I have to be realistic and charging what the cakes are worth.
Anyway, so Geraldine didn't seem to mind my fondant covered cake pans, and I was actually told by others in the class that it was a really good idea for just practice, so I didn't feel too bad.
Oriental Stringwork class was a BLAST. Nerve wracking as it involves literally turning fully decorated cakes UPSIDE DOWN. The teacher, Geraldine Randlesome made my heart sing. She loves what she does, and she does it so well.....her passion for it shows in everything she did. No shortcuts with her...she was very old school. She was quite the character, and holy crap! she was intimidatingly good with stringwork. She would pipe strings that just seemed to float on top of each other and she would do it so fast, it was like lightning. Her husband Alan made sure to tell me to not feel like it's a race, it took Geraldine decades to get as good as she is. I took lots of breaks and made sure to take advice. I was super proud of myself afterwards too. I was one of the best pipers (lol) in the class. I mean I can't say I was awesome and that the curve was set very high, but it made me feel good, that I've only officially been at this for about 7 months and I was holding my own. One lady, showed me a couple cakes she had done. She was self taught and her piping left a much to be desired. Her fondant was lovely though and she told me she made a wedding cake for US400$ the other day. Quite a steal as far as wedding cakes go, but she was self taught!! and she was a noob like me!! SERIOUSLY I need to start charging people. There's just a part of me that feels bad for charging people for something I love to do. But I've lost my job so I have to be realistic and charging what the cakes are worth.
Anyway, so Geraldine didn't seem to mind my fondant covered cake pans, and I was actually told by others in the class that it was a really good idea for just practice, so I didn't feel too bad....I felt pretty inventive :)
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