Hey Guys,

I am just getting into cake making. I dont sell my cakes to the public its more of a hobby for fun and every once in a while when a friend or family member wants a cake I will just charge them a small fee for my labor/time and the ingredients i need to make the actual cake. I wanted to know if anyone knows where to get cake decoration tools, funky letters, cutting tools, fondant tools, rolling pins, decoration tools...etc. for a reasonable price. I would liek to have all the different tools but I dont want to spend hundreds of dollars since I dont really make any money from cake making but i do like to practice my skills and new techniques.

Well. unfortunately it is an expensive hobby. With that being said if you have a Hobby Lobby or a Micheal's store near you, you can sign up on their websites and they will send your coupons in you e-mail. Both stores carry A Lot of Wilton products.

www.globalsugarart.com

good prices, good customer service, quick and reasonably priced shipping. Some of the best gumpaste and fondant prices around plus they have a huge selection of everything you can think of.

Ebay has some sellers selling off their stuff. Lucky for me the expensive stuff I inherited, and as I've sold cakes, I've bought more But on ebay sometimes you can find really good ideas. Or if you have bakery supply store near you. But yes coupons at Hobby Lobby or Michaels would be great too!

online, GSA and www.countrykitchensa.com are two good sources.

Another suggestion is to purchase things cautiously. Don't go out and just buy like mad. It is really easy to get carried away and spend a ton on things you really may not use. Pick up a few things here and there as you develop your skills and decide what you really like to do. For example it is really tempting to buy a bunch of the fondant things cause they are so popular. However I decided to wait on those things while I worked on my BC skills and now have decided I really don't want to spread into fondant after all. Some of the things can me home made or other things used instead. For example baking strips can be made from an old terry towel, use a flower nail instead of a baking core, get some basic icng colors and mix together to make variations instead of buying 32 different colors, using a kitchen cupboard turntable, etc. Also, search cake central and find out other ccers thoughts on items before you purchase. For example the Wilton tilting turntable and icing sculptor get mostly poor reviews from cakers who have purchased them. A good way to search is google the item followed by cake central. For example....baking strips cake central. Turns up better links than the search through cake central. Denette