More Homework

I made three more ‘practise’ roses last night. I used my smaller cutter for the ones I made in class, so I still had the three bigger cones left. If I was happy with the first roses I made, then I was STOKED with the second group! I’ve watched a few different instructional videos on You Tube for how to make sugar roses in the lead-up to doing this course, and they all had slightly different methods. For these three roses, I basically ‘went my own way’ using a bunch of different hints from different sources, and managed to turn out (in my opinion, at least) some pretty impressive looking roses. I just wish I could take a photo that would do them justice… somehow I think I’m going to have to dig out the tripod.

Marilyn thought my flower paste seemed a bit soft the other night, so I’ve been dusting with a LOT of cornflour so far. I’m happy enough now with my rose-making ability that I’m done practising, so I’ve kneaded some extra icing sugar and a little more cellogen into the rest of my paste to firm it up a bit, and the next roses I make will be destined to adorn my finished cake.

Leaves, on the other hand, still need some more work. I didn’t like the way we were shown in class compared to other methods I’ve seen, so I’m not trying them again until I go back to Cupid’s and get myself a grooved rolling pin. Last night I added some more green colouring to the rest of the rather wimpy green paste I ended up with in class (we were all just given a dab of colouring onto a ball of paste, and mine came out barely even noticeably green) to make the calyxes for these roses. I only have the basic Wilton gel colours so it’s a very ‘pure’ green and looks a bit silly, but I’m going to experiment with some colour mixing and use the rest of it to try some more leaves at a later date.