Sugar Art

I have come to the end of my course on sugar flowers, and I thought you would like to see my bouquet.

It turned out very well! I had to take a DIY approach to completing this project. My local craft store did not cary hydrangea petal cutters, so I had to make my own from recyclable tin baking pans. With my food gel colors in storage I wound up coloring the gum paste with turmeric, cinnamon, and cloves. Without a petal or leaf veiner I had to sculpt the subtle details onto my petals and leaves, but I had fun doing it and I was very pleased with my detail on the flowers.

I'm really excited to do this again in the future, gum paste was an exciting new medium to work with. Next I think I'm going to do some experimenting with marshmallow fondant, I've read that it's superior to traditional fondant. 

Hand Crafted Sugar Flowers

I thought this class might be a waste of my money. Why? Because I knew the supplies were going to be hard to get, and I was apprehensive about taking the time to carefully watch and practice the tutorial videos. I'm in the middle of relocating to a new city where I know absolutely no one, finding an apartment, and a job.

Sure, it's an online course and I can watch the pre-recorded lectures at my convenience. I could wait two years if I wanted, before actually taking a whack at it. But my brother is getting married this December, and I'm doing their cakes. And so help me, I really want to be able to decorate them with beautiful hand crafted sugar flowers.

Carefully sculpted flowers drying with the support of an egg carton.

But things took an unexpected turn last week. We finally found our new place and signed a lease, and with my job applications all sent out, suddenly I was looking at a whole week of potentially free time. I had to do some creative thinking to make it work in my little extended stay hotel room kitchenette, but once things got going it really wasn't hard at all.

I'm thrilled that I was able to start my course so early, and I'm really pleased with the work I've done so far. I shouldn't be surprised, I'm pretty good at sculpting things.

Fun fact: My gel color pastes are in storage right now, so I mixed 1/8 teaspoon of turmeric with 1/8 teaspoon vegetable shortening. Mix well and kneed into 1/2 lb of gum paste for this cheerful light yellow. I actually like the small saffron colored flecks in the gum paste, the subtle variety makes for a natural looking pedal.

Are you interested in taking this course too? Find it at Craftsy.com

Demo Reel 2012

It's high time I give you an updated demo reel. Here you go:

It's a Hobby

I sew in my free time, I get a kick out of it. And until recently I hadn't gotten any of it online, but now I'm starting to post my creations on BurdaStyle.com. Check it out if you want to know what I'm up to!

http://www.burdastyle.com/profiles/prettylissy/my_studio

Doodle Round-Up

Well, it's that time again! Time for a round up of my favorite recent doodles and watercolor sketches, right out of my sketchbooks and onto my blog for your viewing pleasure. Isn't this fun?