sugar magic: lesson 40

It's actually taken me awhile to finish putting together the showcard that we were making in our last term of Sugar Magic Classes. I'd gotten all the flowers done and the showcard itself was also done, it was just a matter of putting the two together. After almost a month since class finished for the year, I managed to find some time this week to do the last bits.

The finished product.

Most of what you see is actually edible (although I don't think I'll be eating this one). The only things you can't eat are the wires which hold them together and the foliage that's been made out of stem tape.

I'm quite happy with how it all turned out. Still need to put a bit more work into getting the colouring of the flowers right.

Side view - the assembling of the showcard was a bit of a nightmare; notice how the back card has meant slightly? There's actually also a crack running through it. The fault is partly mine as I was meant to make pastillage for the showcard but as I was lazy, i just used normal modelling fondant. As big pieces of modelling fondant takes ages to dry plus we had some humid weather, when I went to assemble the showcard, it started to curve over and it was too late for me to fix by the time I realised.

J's been asking me how long it would take for me to make this one again. Well, it was 8 weeks worth of classes which may seem like a long time. Anyway, this time round, I've learnt not to fiddle with things when they are drying. The front of the showcard which you see was actually my second attempt - the first one just cracked into pieces as I moved it when it hadn't dried completely. Notice how there's also a texture going through the front of the showcard. Hadn't actually planned for this (it was the gelatine that didn't dissolve) but fortunately, ended up looking quite good on the finished product.