Hi, I'm trying to figure out the best way to accomplish the look of the bottom tier tree stump. In the description it says airbrushed royal icing. My questions are how to do the top of it? Upside down icing method? If so, wouldn't royal icing crack when you flip the cake over?

   One more question. Best way to get the shading/highlights on the "bark" - Airbrush, then lighter petal dust??

I asked the original decorator, but they haven't responed :( Thanks for any and all suggestions

Can you share a link?  I don't know which cake you are describing.

Whoopsy. Sorry

http://cakecentral.com/g/i/2263079/a/2264079/bottom-tier-is-done-with-royal-to-mimic-tree-bark-given-depth-with-airbrushing-gum-paste-leaves-and-tiny-birds-photo-by-mark-davidson/#order=1&albumId=2264079&nextId=2263082&prevId=false&imageId=2263079&imageESOId=163644&fullUrl=%2Fg%2Fi%2F2263079%2Fa%2F2264079%2Fbottom-tier-is-done-with-royal-to-mimic-tree-bark-amp-given-depth-with-airbrushing-gum-paste-leaves-and-tiny-birds-photo-by-mark-davidson%2F%2F&fullSrc=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn001.cakecentral.com%2F9%2F90%2F900x900px-LL-90fe9668_gallery7513331328561838.jpeg&thumbSrc=http%3A%2F%2Fcdn001.cakecentral.com%2F9%2F90%2F50x50px-ZC-90fe9668_gallery7513331328561838.jpeg&description=Bottom+tier+is+done+with+royal+to+mimic+tree+bark+%26amp%3B+given+depth+with+airbrushing.+Gum+paste+leaves+and+tiny+birds.+(photo+by+Mark+Davidson)&original=http%3A%2F%2Fcakecentral.com%2Fimage%2Fid%2F163644&setName=&urlSlug=bottom-tier-is-done-with-royal-to-mimic-tree-bark-amp-given-depth-with-airbrushing-gum-paste-leaves-and-tiny-birds-photo-by-mark-davidson

AIs the bottom tier cake or is it for decorating and support? If its not an actual cake then I would ice it with royal icing, but make sure the Icing is a brownish color so you can go to airbush it. Once you have the tier iced, you can make the bark ripple effect with an off-set spatula. I'm not to familiar with airbrushing,but I would use the airbrush to highlight the accents of the waves you made with the offset spatula and highlight is to resemble the picture.. I hope that helped! Goodluck

Thank you so much......I'm also wondering how to make the top of the bottom tier.

AI would also do that out of royal icing and airbrush the lines finely on, but make sure to have a ruler or something handy to get the lines looking even on the rims. Maybe fondant also as that would be easier to add the lines on! Goodluck:)