I came across this and Its basically what Im maybe looking for an idea for a wedding cake to do for my niece, but Im wondering how she got it on the cake? I mean it looks like a BC transfer...?

http://bitosweets.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/df62de87e51c6f5e113605ce8b56800b.jpg?w=300

Im not a fancy cake decorator, so I need BASICS!!!!

It looks like piped royal icing on wax paper then placed on a form to dry

I agree with sugaah.

I agree. It's royal icing piped on wax paper (plastic wrap would be better) then quickly wrapped around whatever size/shape you want that piece to fit on. For a wedding cake/round tiers you would place the freshly piped piece around the cake pan or a styro piece of the same size.

You're not a 'fancy' decorator It would not be hard to do but the finished pieces are very fragile so you would have to make many extras to allow for breakage.

Here's an alternate idea: Make ONE pattern - royal piped on wax paper - overpipe it 2 times for strength and use it as a press against b'cream icing, then pipe over the indented pattern in the icing.

Sugarveil... it's flexible.

The ingredients are readily available to make your own recipe.

I think I may have cracked the Sugarveil recipeMaybe
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-32371-.html

Gummy Spider Webs with marshmallows
http://cakecentral.com/recipes/7283/gummy-spider-webs-with-marshmallows

As kakeladi mentions when using royal icing, the finished pieces are very fragile so you would have to make many extras to allow for breakage.

I agree. Who wants to make MANY extras, especially when the design shown is one continual design that is tightly formed and wraps completely around the cylinder shape. Not only would it be difficult to remove from the paper in one piece without breaking, but think how much more difficult it would be to slide the piece down over the cake without scraping the icing off. Youd need to adjust your form to accommodate for the icing (or fondant) thickness by making it a bit larger, and if its slightly bigger than needed to enable it to slide over the cake, then the RI would break while pressing it to make a complete connection with the cake that isnt the exact size.

Other than using a flexible medium, Kakeladis alternate idea appears to be an excellent option to achieve a continual effect without breakage.

I tried a RI crown for the first time a few weeks ago. I used a template I found her on this site. I made 3 of them just in case 2 of them broke I'd still have one. My hand was killing me from all the piping. They are fragile, but so beautiful.

Here's a link to a picture of how that cake turned out.

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2001717

I used a simple clay extruder and gumpaste for my tiarra. (in my pics) I found it work great and I could apply it to wax paper with a light shortening on it wrapped around the canister. It also works well to just apply to the cake. It saved my hand it looked just as good as RI

I had instructions included with that image 2txmedics. They're also within a thread on CC. I was trying piped gumpaste...diluting gumpaste to the point of being able to pipe it out like ri. I did pipe it out onto parchment. It remained flexible long enough to pipe them all out before attaching them to the outside of 2 liter soda bottles. As the experiment ended, the tiaras were not as strong as I'd hoped. I may have gotten better results had I left them on the bottles for a week or more...I dunno though.

A buttercream transfer can be done with a raised effect in pretty much the same way kakeladi described above for ri...simply freeze and apply the pieces individually-

........the design shown is one continual design that is tightly formed and wraps completely around the cylinder shape. Not only would it be difficult to remove from the paper in one piece without breaking, but think how much more difficult it would be to slide the piece down over the cake without scraping the icing off. ...........

I don't agree that the finished pieces wrap completely around the tiers. They are not that big/long. Making 4 or 5 to be spaced around a tier would make a beautiful cake and not have to be slid over it. As for making extras, if the lace is overpiped they will not be all that fragile so maybe 3 extras probably would be enough - depending on how many you are using altogether.
Here's a cake I did last summer. I made only one extra main piece and about 4 extra birds (they were much more fragile). I used some of the extra birds, but the main piece was fine.
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1417054
Piping on plastic wrap instead of wax paper make it *much* easier to remove the pieces w/o breaking.

That was my experiment...my image...from my blog. I was experimenting with piped gumpaste and a tiara pattern to see if they'd be as strong as gp but as easy as ri to pipe.

A side design could definitely be piped in royal icing and left to dry. Then, applied to an iced cake. Piped in sections and allowed to dry on the side of a dummy or pan or cylinder of the same size as the cake to which they're to be affixed.