Learning Sugarcraft: Week 1

Part of my 21st birthday pressies was an unsuspecting looking envelope, containing a slip of paper with details of a cake decoration course on. My dearest mum had booked me and her (she knows I don't like going new places alone, and is always happy to try something new!) on the initial flower arranging course. The first night was last Wednesday, and I was really nervous - would everyone else be better than us? What if they're all horrible? What if I can't do it?!

My fears were completely unfounded, as everyone, teacher included, was lovely and really helpful. Me and my mum felt a little amateur as some of the other ladies are serious bakers - One had a toolbox full of stuff! - and have been on other courses, but we soon settled into it and everyone was understanding of the different abilities. We started with a wildflower, who's name I have forgotten, but one that was simply lovely to make and nice to look at too.

I started initially by colouring my flower paste darker than needed, the ideal was a nice pastel colour and as you can see, my red is not a nice pastel pink but a rather dark red! The blue came out lighter but again, not as light and natural as it should have been. My mums are a lot closer to the 'actual' colour they're meant to be - but as pointed out, nature is full of variety and when making sugar flowers, we're not looking for complete unity but a little bit of variation!

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking, as I think that's all I can say! Next time we're doing honeysuckle which looks more intricate :) And finally we're doing poppies - my mums favourite flower and one that means a lot to me for various personal reasons. Eventually when I've remembered how to make them and had another few goes (note to self'; must buy some flower paste!) I'll write up a short tutorial on this weeks flowers.