The Wedding Cake

So here it is. It is marshmallow fondant with ganache accents and real flowers. I'm not perfectly happy with all the swirls. They could have been better, but for the most part, I'm happy with the cake. It looked nice on the stand and the bride and groom loved it.

I don't know if I'll ever get asked to do another one. This was a freebie for a friend. it was fun to do once, though. I doubt I'll ever feel like I need to do cakes for pay. It was a bit stressful and not something I would want to do on a daily basis.

I'm glad to expand my cake skills. It was fun to work with fondant and piping ganache. Those were things I hadn't done before.

New Territory--Marshmallow Fondant

A friend of mine has asked me to make her wedding cake for her. This is a new one for me. Around here, wedding cakes will consist of the main, three layer cake and two or three full sheet cakes. I've done the sheet cakes for three weddings now. Let me tell you, adding filling in a single layer of a full sheet cake is a interesting experience. I've never done a main cake before. I've also never worked with fondant before.

The bride wants a three tier cake with white fondant decorated with chocolate ganache swirls and fresh flowers. I have no experience in making something like that so I've decided that what I need is some practice before the big day. Yesterday seemed to be a good day for a practice cake because my oldest was coming home from her big trip. I baked a strawberry cake and hunted up a marshmallow fondant recipe.

Lesson one: check package sizes before making fondant. Big marshmallows are now being sold in 10.5 oz packages and small marshmallows are still being sold in 16 oz. I subbed a bag of big ones for small ones and ended up almost messing up my fondant beyond repair. It still ended up being very stiff and difficult to roll out.

Lesson two: make ganache well ahead of time to be sure it's the proper temperature for piping and make sure it's all the same temp. The cold spots/hot spots thing kept screwing up my piping. And of course I need practice shaping the swirls.

I tried making a fondant rose. It's ok. It needs work, but luckily I don't need to know how to make roses for the wedding cake.

A close up of the chocolate shell border on the bottom. This will be the decoration at the between the layers.

Pattern Alteration

My oldest is leaving for Chicago tomorrow. She's going to spend a week with a cousin, her grandmother, and an aunt and uncle. She's thrilled beyond belief and has spent the summer earning money to go.

I've done some prep work myself. I decided she needed another pair of shorts. Last summer I made her a pair out of this pattern:

The walking shorts length with the little fake pocket tabs and the cuff. She likes them well enough but there were a few things she wanted done differently with the next pair. Like pockets. Do you see any pockets on those shorts? yeah, me neither. There are the patch pockets on the capris, but when was the last time you saw a teen aged girl in shorts with patch pockets like that on front? The shorts needed a scoop pocket.

Like this:

Cute huh? well that cute took me over an hour to put together. First I had to dig up a pattern with a scoop pocket because I had no idea how to make one. Then that pattern was to big for my girl plus the scoop was more of a slant, more old lady slacks than cute girl shorts, which makes all kinds of sense because that's the pattern with the pockets was for grown up slacks. So I traced the actual front piece of the shorts to create the pocket and yolk, then I traced the scoop off a pair of jeans I liked the scoop shape on, then I made the front pocket piece then I cut the scoop out of the actual front leg piece, then I put the whole thing together. It took some mental calisthenics to make it work. But I'm happy with the results.

Then after all that I decided the shorts needed some back pockets too. I thought to myself welted pockets would be cute, then I thought, "Self, how does one make a welted pocket?" This is when Google comes in handy. I learned you make one like this.

So I made two.

Then I added darts in back to stop gapposis.

Then she decided she didn't want cuffs so I had to cut them shorter.

Then we thought the legs would be cuter if they were skinnier. But it couldn't just come in more all the way around. Nope. I had to take apart the leg and pull in more off the back to keep the leg from pulling weird. Then I had to resew the right leg about four times to get it right. Then I had to try and make the left leg match. That only took twice.

Then I hemmed them with a cute 2 1/2" hem. I love the deep hem with a straight stitch. It just adds a nice little detail to the leg.

Then I discovered I had screwed something up with the waistband or the fly or something and there was no overlap at the waistband. Since I had ripped out about fifty things already, I said screw it, and made a little tab to be my overlap for me. Then I sewed it to the wrong side and had to rip it off and resew it anyway.

whew.

Next time I'm going to take the 20 minute drive to the fabric store and get the pattern we want in the first place. ;)

It was a pretty good lesson about working with patterns and changing silhouettes and adding pockets, though.

A different kind of paper craft

It's more like paper sculpture.


I recently discovered the paper craft area at Canon.com. I just had to make something. Since my parents had actually visited Himeji Castle in Japan, I chose to build it. It took about 30 sheets of cover stock paper, lots of ink, and over 20 hours of my time to build.

It's intensely detailed as you can see.
With lots of cutting and folding and gluing involved.
I love the little courtyard here.
And a close up of the tower.
and more courtyard. Isn't that insane? so tiny and yet so perfectly scaled.

this was my first project from Canon and I learned quite a bit doing it. The pattern recommends using glue stick, but I have learned from years of long experience that if you want your paper project to last, don't use glue stick. I used basic white glue applied with the pointy end of a bamboo skewer. Definitely use sharp scissors with a very pointy tip. And be absolutely sure you've got the folds perfect. Mine aren't quite and that's why my towers are a little to closely related to Pisa.

I gave this project to my mom for her birthday. I know. Crazy. It's been awhile since I cursed her with something handmade though, so I figured she could deal with it. She liked it. She even found a space for it in her knick knack cabinet just like she would have if I were ten. Yeah mom.

I've already started on another castle. It's a little easier, so it should only take about 15 hours to put together. I have no clue what I'm going to do with it, but it's a fun way to keep my hands busy while I watch a movie.

Step by Step: Spray painted salt and pepper set

A while back I stumbled across a post on a favorite blog that gave a how to I just had to try: spray painted salt and pepper mill. My only salt and pepper shaker is a set from my parents. They got them as a wedding gift several decades ago. The finish had become that grungy mess that old wood finish acquires around too much oil and kitchen grease. They were neither stylish nor kitschy. That blog post inspired me though. I decided that a bit of elbow grease and a little paint and I'd have a set I'd be proud to display on the table.

1. I cleaned the grime off with a terry cloth and straight white vinegar. I did not water that stuff down, it went on full blast and dissolved the dirt with no real problems at all. Then I lightly sanded them down, just to get a good surface for the paint. I didn't fill in the old dents and dings. Partly because I was feeling lazy and wanted this to be a quick project and partly because I wanted a little of the history of the set to show when i was done.

2. I taped off the sections of the salt and pepper that I did not want to be painted. You really have to be careful at this stage because you don't want the paint near your food. Make sure you also stuff something in the holes in the top of the lids. cotton, rolls of tape, whatever you can find that you are sure you can get out again. .
3. Start spraying. Follow the instructions on the paint can, meaning, do lots of light coats not just a couple of thick ones. Keep the pace steady and the distance even. You might want to also use an old cardboard box on it's side as a spray box to keep the paint contained. I also like to spray paint out on the lawn. Anything that gets out of the box is mowed off in a week or so. Oh and be careful when doing the tops. Mine aren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination.

For paint I used Krylon Enamel in Chinese Red. It came out perfectly. Gloriously bright with lovely blue undertones in the gloss.
I love them! I'm really happy with this project. If you don't have a set of turned wood salt and pepper shakers around the house, look around at flea markets and thrift stores. They should be cheap but you can make them look like you bought them at a high end specialty shop.

Step By Step: Adding a Seperate Bottom to a Bag

There are lots of different ways to construct a bag, one piece or several pieces, it all depends on how you want the bag to look when you are done. Sometimes, either for aesthetics or for functionality, you need a completely separate bottom on a bag. Sewing that rectangle on can be a swear worthy proposition without one simple technique.

Stat with five pieces, two sides, front, back, and bottom. The bottom on this bag is a long rectangle, but this technique would work with any shape including ovals and circles.
Match a side to the front and pin. When sewing, do not start at the edge of the fabric. Start sewing one seam allowance from the edge. I tend to sew my bags with 5/8" seam allowances because I learned to sew on clothing and any other seam allowance just feels weird. It can be hard to guess where 5/8" falls from the top edge of the fabric so I use a pivot technique to find it. In the following pictures, side B is the bottom edge and side A is the side edge.

I place the fabric in the machine so the needle is 5/8" from the edge of side B using my seam guide on the machine itself. I guess the distance to the edge of side A hoping I'm close to 5/8". Then with the needle down and without sewing, I pivot the fabric like so:
Side A is the side I intended to sew. If the edge of side A is not lined up with the seam guide on the machine, I back the needle out and carefully adjust to maintain the 5/8" distance from side B. Then I sew the seam, making sure I reinforce my stitching at the beginning of the seam. For me, this means reverse stitching back to the beginning of the seam and then sewing forward.

Your seam should look like this:

notice how there is that 5/8" that isn't sewn at the end of the seam there? Now you sew the other three sides leaving that 5/8" gap every time.

Then you are ready to pin on the bottom piece. This is where all that careful stitching really makes the difference. When you go to pin the bottom in, the corners sides will match up with no wrestling because the corners of the fabric can separate allowing the purse sides to turn at 90 degrees to each other.
Like this. See how I can match up the long edge and the short edge just folds neatly out of the way? When you sew the bottom seam, start and finish the width of the seam allowance from the edges again. Notice how in the next photo the stitching is rectangular. It never runs to an edge. Like this:
Now you just trim the seam allowance and flip it inside out. Sew the lining exactly the same way, but leave a gap in the stitching on one long edge to turn the bag through. When you are done your bag will have a structured defined shape. Like this:



And that's it. Simple, huh?

A structured version of an unstructured bag

This is my newest purse. I love the fabric! I picked up half a yard in the remnants bin at JoAnn. Then of course I had to go back and buy lining. I found some adorable polka dots that were designed to go with the outer fabric. The shape is a modification of the reversible gingham purse. I kept the pleats and top curve exactly the same but gave it a square base. It's also got a titch more width than the other one. Changing the front was a piece of cake, but the sides proved a bit more difficult. I held the whole thing up for over a week while I stressed over the perfect curve into the square ring. Then I went and sewed it at a very quick clip and the perfect curve doesn't exist on the purse anyway.

The previous two sentences say more about my personality than anything else I've ever written on my blogs.

I love the size and the handle length. I've gone a bit short with straps lately and it's nice to have a purse that hangs at my hip again. The size is perfect for fitting in all the crap I like to carry around in my purse these days. I used to be a minimalist, wallet and keys. Then I discovered all the lovely inconsequential stuff that makes life easier: safety pins, hand loition, sun glasses, note pads, lip glosses (in the plural), etc. Of course, once you start carrying all that stuff around, your purse can be quite a mess.

Unless you do this:

Pockets! I love, love, love interior pockets in a purse. They make me happy. I have pen pockets and sunglasses pockets and key pockets, and lip gloss pockets (in the plural), and note pad pockets, and if I had a cell phone I'd have a pocket for that too. The only thing hanging out without a pocket is my wallet and hand lotion. I love not digging.

Today while walking out of Walmart, I was able to reach in my purse and pull out my sunglasses without even looking at the purse. Then when I got to my car, I reached in and grabbed my keys, again without looking. There can be no higher praise for a purse than that.