Does anyone know any good books or videos for starters in cake decorating? Every book I've looked in has for right handed people only. I even took a class in cake decorating and I couldn't do it. Any information would help. Thanks!

There really isn't anything out there I know of. What you do is go in the opposite direction of what they're telling you. The Wilton yearbooks have a middle section with directions for some basic stuff, they do let you know how to hold your bag if you're a leftie.

google "left handed cake decorating" all kinds of stuff comes up.

I'm a lefty -- I just sort of started ignoring the dircetions, one I got the general idea.

I'm happy to help if I can...what specific questions do you have?

I too had trouble looking at the instructions made my righties and doing it with my left hand. What has happened is that I now do things right-handed. It ended up being just easier to learn that way, and now it feels totally natural. I'm not sure I could do anything but basic piping now with my left hand if you paid me to!

I just do everything the opposite way. The only time I have problems are certain tips that are made for right-handed people (curves a certain way, etc.) I even had to learn to crochet doing the opposite of what they are showing in examples.

Well, it's just a little of everything. I'm ok at making borders, but flowers are SO tricky! I tried making violets with the cake decorator, and I was turning it the way she said but the flower came out like I was turning the wrong way. This summer I plan on practicing as much as possible, I just want to make sure I'm doing it right.

I bought the lefty tips from wilton, I think the violet is one of them. It really makes a difference.

I'm a lefty to! I have just had to teach myself. I haven't taken any classes. Just do your best! We lefties are very capable of doing anything a right handed person does. They are the ones doing it backwards!

Anna

I've had people at the check out say horrible things to me when they see me sign the slip and realize that I am left handed. They act like I have some horrible disability or something!!!!!! I hit them with the fact that I am an artist and sell my paintings and now have my own cake business and am doing just FINE! I can't believe the ignorance of some people! Anyway, we lefties have to stick together! Hang in there girl!

Anna

hi my name is michelle and i'm a leftie in a right handed world lol unfortunatly i learned/taught myself to do decorating pretty much right handed-along with a lot of other things. it just make it easier. it just takes a bit more practice and sometimes realizing(?) i'm doing it backwards and trying again. i figure if it looks good i must be doing it right or left haha!

I know, i get the same reaction like I was born with two heads or something! When they ask me a stupid question like "how are you able to do things" I tell them that I use both my hands like every person out there! Duh!

My name is Jane, and I am a lefty!
I can't believe it's the year 2008, and people still gawk when they find out - I use my left hand sometimes instead of my right one!!! OMG!

The only thing I had trouble with (well, so far) was the rosebud. I really have to pay attention to that one. For everything else, I find that if I ignore instruction, and just do it, it works out better. Does that make any sense??LOL!

Great thread! Interestingly enough, I am on the opposite end of this dilemma. I am a left-handed cake decorating instructor. Obviously, I have to teach many more right-handed students than left-handed ones. I really didn't have much trouble learning the techniques from a right-handed instructor, but I often find myself confusing my students while trying to "transpose" the techniques in my head. I keep telling myself that I just need to practice the course techniques with my right hand so that I can better instruct right-handed students.

In any case, if I were in WV, I would gladly show you the lefty approach!

aww! Thanks! Someone once told me that I should just learn to do it with my right hand and that it would be easier, but I don't believe that. I'm too left handed dominant. You'd have to tie it down in order for me to use my right hand. People also kinda freak out when they see me working with my left hand. I had to do an Internship once at the VA hospital in their kitchen and the guy I was working with watched me like a hawk when I was using my knives. He said he was afraid I would cut myself because it looked like I was cutting backwards.

Yes we Lefties have to stick together!

When I took my decorating class, my instructor just had me do everything backwards. It took a while, especially for the Flowers.

I find it incredible that you lefties get comments from people on being left handed. Both my husband and I are right handed but both of our children are lefties. It makes me shudder to think they will encounter such idiotic comments from people.

Wow! mbelgard, your MIL sounds just like mine! She thinks everything in my kitchen is backwards and she used to give me a hard time because I set the silverware backwards on the table, as well. (It was how my left-handed mother had taught me.)

I never really thought about how I do everything backwards than everyone else, until recently (good point about the spatulas, btw.) when my decorating students were commenting on how they always had to retwist their bags after I demo with their icing. It had not occurred to me that I might twist differently!

An interesting tidbit about me- all of the women in my family (my mom, my sister, and I, and all three of mine and my sister's older daughters- the jury is still out on my 7 month old) are left-handed...and all of the men are right-handed. Strange, huh?

Fellow leftie here too! I self-taught myself and I'm kinda a mix between left and right! I was taught mostly to try and learn things right handed and so most of what I do is even backwards for fellow lefties!

I also sew and my grandmother always buys me left-handed scissors but I can't use them because I had to learn to sew right handed and bless her heart, she never remembers that. Oh well my daughter uses them. She's left handed also and I never made her have to learn things right handed and now it's too funny, I have a hard time trying to teach her how to cook, decorate cakes or sew! LOL

Just follow the steps but in a way that fits for you and do alot of practice. Remember, those of us that are left-handed use the right side of our brain and therefore we are in our right minds!!! LOL

Yup! Sorry to say it still happens all the time! As soon as you have to sign something and you take the pen in your left hand their eyes pop out and say omg! you're left handed?!? Ummm....yeah. sometimes they just say wow and other times they might make their comments. =\\

This is all just too funny!!!!!!!!!!
I'm a rightie, but my grandma always told me that lefties are a lot more smarter than righties!
She said that their brains are much better than the brains of righties!
So, don't worry you're all geniuses according to my grandma!
And mind you, she was a very intelligent woman, even though she herself was a rightie! Go figure.........

Oh yeah! and I think lefties are very cool, I always wish I was one.

Hello fellow lefties! I'm actually a Wilton Instructor and I can use both hands, I write left handed but do pretty much everything else right handed. So come to Virginia Beach and I'll be your instructor!!!!

If you all have the practice boards from Wilton they show both the left handed way and the right handed way, they are on each sheet and they look like little clocks, so a 4:30 righty position is actually a 7:30 lefty position. I can do both, if my left hand gets tired I switch to my right hand. Not sure if I qualify as a genius, probably just wacky!! ha ha

I was one of those kids that the teacher would put the crayon/pencil in my right hand so I guess I just learned both ways. One thing I absolutely CANNOT do is write on a cake, I buy the letter presses, I never know which hand to use to write on the cake, same with a chalk board, I always had issues!!!!

But try checking the practice boards and see if that helps. Maybe I should create some instructions for lefties, like icing the cake, shells (which way to start them!!) etc.....

good luck to you all

ginger

sadly out of my 3 birth children only one is a lefty and boy is she just a quirky as me-must be that side of the brain!! i was the only one in my immediate family and my stepfather was very old generation and because he'd always "suggest" that i do this or that with my right hand i find i can use both easily-and used to impress my friends by writting righthanded (boy did that take a lot of practicelol) now i too find that if my hand gets tired i can switch-it really helps out-how does everyone else manage?

I to am a lefty and I decorate left handed. I took one class and the instructor taught me by sitting in front of me that way eveything looked normal. My mother taught me to crochet that way. I can't do anything with my right hand. I wish I was closer to you I would be glad to help you with your decorating hassels. After a lot of practice everythinng I do to a cake now is left handed and it comes out looking pretty darn good if I do say so. LOL. (A little look at the past) my first grade teacher told my mom I would not be the one to turn my hand when I wrote like a lot of left handers, and she worked with me until I write with my hand straight and not turned. Special lady to me even to this day. Lefties are the greatest!!!!!!!

Wow there are a lot of u lefties here! I say with my left thumb firmly jammed in my mouth LOL! I'm a leftie and yup when i work with a knife I get many side glances that indicate they are worried that I may chop my right one off!! LOL When i went to culinary school the first thing i did at orientation was let the instructor know that i was a leftie so sweet man that he was he showed me how to do everything in the mirror over his work station.
I laughed at the teachers who used to try to get me to be right handed cause as my doctors used to tell Me "if you nearly losing your left arm as a baby doesn't induce right handedness nothing will!" And he was so right