I had a difficult time when I took the Wilton classes because my instructor didn't know how to teach me left handed. I only had a hard time on the flowers made on the nail. I would have a migrane by the end of the class trying to understand everything and translate it to the left hand. Luckily I don't get many orders for buttercream flowers, but just wondered if anyone else had this problem?

I, too, am left-handed but I don't remember having too much difficulty with roses--but that was over 20 years ago, so my memory is a little foggy. LOL!!! I know I practiced alot. And whenever I have leftover BC--I make roses and freeze them for future cakes. of course, I have to stand in front of the freezer when I get ready to use them, but it sure is a time-sver.

Practice makes perfect, but also remember only God can make a perfect rose. It's those little imperfections that make each rose unique--in real life and in BC. Ha! Ha!

I know that I get my left handers to stand in front of me when I demo something as they will be mimicking what I do. I have also started trying to demo left handed for my lefy handed students. The end product may not be as nice, but the student does get to see the technique in their own "language". They appreciate my effort at least.

Mac is right though, practice is the key.

I'm left-handed too, and I just learned how to do the roses about six months ago. I didn't really have a problem with them. My problems were with the borders. I still can't figure out how to do the rope border left-handed. They kept tellign me "write an 'S'." But when I did, it never looked right. It's easy for me to figure out left-handed ways with flowers and such, but the borders give me a real problem.

I can do the flowers now.... lots of practice, but they are far from perfect. Like I said, I don't get many orders for them, but it bugs me that I can't do them as well as others. My poor Wilton teacher..... bless her heart. Little German woman named Uta. She tried so hard to help me!

Wow--Misdawn
Cake decorating, same town and both left-handed.
BTW--I'm teaching a class on decorating gingerbread houses with kids at the Cook's Nook On the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. Stop by.
Well, they are pre-baked and pre-assembled so I 'm just helping with the decorating.

We had the opposite problem, LOL! Our instructor is left handed, and all the students in the class are right handed.

She stood facing us, and when she did something, we made sure to do it the same way, like looking in a mirror, and that really helped.

Laura.

Hi Misdawn,

Have you tried doing the rope border going from left to right? I find quite a bit of my left-handed students find doing borders in the direction in which they write easier than going from right to left. Of course, you'll have to use your right hand and hold the bag of the bag at the 3 o'clock position, but you might find it easier than trying to to go left.

Hey Mac...what time are the classes? I'll try my best to get in there. I'd like to meet you.

WOW Im so glad this came up !!

I am also left handed and I had such a hard time in course ll with all the flowers ....

The rose I got and yes I had to work at it but I still want to master the other flowers !!

Hooray for lefties...I am a lefty too! When doing borders it took a while for me to learn that I need to go from right to left. Ever since I figured that out, I haven't had any issues. As for the flowers, it just takes a lot of practice!

The rope border has always fuddled me.

I feel your pain!!!

I too struggled with the left handed issue. Growing up it was always a major pain when I wanted to learn to do different things like knit, crochet...etc. My older sister would teach herself how to do it left handed and then teach me to do it. When I was in class it dawned on me if she could learn how to do it the otherway arround why not me?? so I started doing alot of things right handed ... the rose wasn't as big an issue but some of other flowers were ..so now I do left handed for the things I can and right handed for the others ... I also think that practice does make perfect so just keep trying ... there is a video on the wilton website that demonstrates maybe watching that a few times could also help ... here is the address

http://www.wilton.com/decorating/basic/rose_video_56.cfm

good luck!

The borders are the one thing I really like they look different !

I made a purple spider cake for the Fall Carnival and I love the way the borders came out !!

I kept looking at it and thinking WOW did I do that ....I was really amazed on how it came out !! I liked that spider cake the most out of all my cakes so far

Your border looks great! See...I wish I could do that. Mine doesn't even resemble a rope border. I don't know what it is....it's awful, that's what it is.

It's all in the hook..."hooking" that icing upwards is critical to making a successful rope border. If you just draw an "s" motion without ever lifting up the tip, it looks like a braid...no matter what direction you're going.

It's strange. I mean, I understand what everyone says when they are explaining how to do it. I just can't seem to get my hands to understand. Oh well... guess I just gotta practice more.

I am also an lefty and had some trouble on the ribbon, and a few flowers. Thankfully, we are not alone

I'm also left handed, luckily my instructor was left handed, so i was doing ok...I know when I was doing my roses, i had a hard time doing them, still do, but I'm going to practice......

Is there any tips for lefties???? just wondering????

Thanks
Betty

Loveabledes, yes there are several tips just for lefties! You can buy them in a set of 3 at Michael's. It's funny, I learned how to do a few of the flowers with the righty tips, then discovered the lefty tips and tried to use them- couldn't do it to save my soul!! LOL So, I'm back to using my righty tips.
I had a great Wilton instructor, she was a righty, but coordinated enough that she could show me how to do stuff with her left hand as well.

I wasn't as good with the lefty tips either. They must have been invented by a right-handed person!

ok, thanks, maybe they help me...although my roses i made on monday looked like they should of been in the garbage...but practice will help me, I hope.....lol


Thanks
Betty

I am left handed and an instructor. It was a little confusing learning but you have to remember that if your sitting there comparing your end result with your "neighbor student" and she right handed, it's going to look different but not necessarily wrong. Just like borders, you can tell if the cake was done by a lefty or righty by the direction of the border. The books and practice boards (thankyou) are now set up for both handed people. It helps. I have received the left handed tips at a seminar but have not really put them to the test yet. I have never had a student complain about me being left handed I really try to make everyone as confident as I can, I have erb palsy in my right arm so I have tried to learn right handed but NOWAY can I do it.

Here are a couple of lefty tips from Wilton:
http://www.wilton.com/store/site/product.cfm?id=57E7E67C-802D-F658-0CA7D72481A96D16

I end up doing everything clockwise as far as borders. Is that the lefty way? My right hand is basically useless!

Leftys work from right to left. When you are turning your flower nail, say for the rose, holding the nail in your right hand, you turn it clockwise. Just remember to turn it "out" to your fingertip. That about sums it.

I'm left-handed too, and I am a total rose failure. I've accepted it and moved on with my life.

I was doing a cake with what I thought was a rope border until my instructor came and looked at it. She was like-that is not a rope border, but it looks more like a rope than the actual rope border does. I don't do ropes in an s shape. I can't even begin to explain how I do them, but you can see an example in my photos with the large basket cake.

I never could get the hang of doing roses on a flower nail. I tried for years. But I tried the roses on a stick and did it THE FIRST TIME! I can't imagine doing roses any other way now.

I too am a lefty I got the hang of the roses, I don't do them like I was taught but I was determined to learn them so I sat down one night with a nail and icing and played with them until they looked like roses.

My problem is in the ruffle type borders, I can't get the hang of them to save my soul. Mine end up looking like a mess of globbed up icing. I just haven't figured out yet how to translate them from right to left.