Ok ok i know this has been covered many times and i have read all the tutorials there are but.....(dont you just hate teh but) i am making my first one this week. I bought the premade gumpaste today at ACMOORE (YEA coupons) and plan to make the loops Wednesday for assembly on Friday. This is the BIG bow that looks like the ones you put on top of a car NOT the two loop one.
Ok so first is 2 days enough time for it to dry? Second, i need all the advice you can give me PLEASE anything will help. And third, how long do i make each strip for going on top of an 8" square?
Oh and i plan on using white candy melts to "glue" the loops together.
Thanks in advance.
-Tricia
The bows i made in my photos were from the premade gumpaste only. I made the loops before I decorated my cake by the time I was done decorating the cakes then i assembled my bow. Gumpaste alone will dry pretty fast so you should be able to make all of your parts one night, assemble the next night then add to the cake when ready.
HTH
I just made one of those bows to go on a cake that I have due Saturday. Initially I made the strips 8" long and when I assembled it, it looked terrible (the loops were too long!) I re-made the bow using 6" X 3/4" strips and it is much better and the total bow measures 6" across. I made 21 loops. I also had trouble assembling the bow using 'glue' (I used royal icing), so when I made the second bow, I stuck the pointed ends of the loops into a small ball(table tennis ball sized) of gumpaste. Just made sure the gumpaste ball was soft and kneaded well, put edible glue on the ends of the loops and stuck them in. I also found this helped me position them exactly where I wanted them as the loops didn't have to sit on the ones below.
Another advantage with this is that I didn't have to worry about trying to match the colour of the royal to the loops, just used the same gumpaste I made the loops with!
I put 8 loops around for the bottom row, then just built it up from there with the other loops, making sure I had no gaps that showed the ball in the centre.
Sorry this is so long, but I hope it helps you! I wasted a lot of time making this bow and I have 5 cakes due in the next week! I tried to attach a pic of my bow for you to see, but it's too big!
Kelly
Thanks everyone.
Leily: your "blue present" cake with the white bow is exactly what im trying to make. Did you use luster dust? I was thinking about going to acmoore and trying that new pearl dust in silver for a white bow. Would that look ok?
Kelly75 thanks for the dimentions. I hope i can get it done on time.
Here's a turotial...
http://www.cakeboss.com/FondantBowTutorial.aspx
I have made several bows, and my only words of wisdom I have to add to what has already been said is to make your loops different lengths and widths. I usually start with the base being the larger,wider loops. I make them decrease in size slightly as they reach the top. Also I assemble in a 6 inch cake pan so I know I have a round, even bow. I use candy melts as the glue and inbetween each layer of loops I set it in the freezer for a few seconds just to get the candy melts to set before I start the next layer.
Ok SO as usual I rambled! 
Hope it helps
When I made mine, I used the cake pan the same size as the cake I was making,turned it upside down, then just cut one strip and folded it over like the loop would be, to get the right size. Then I cut more strips the same size and some shorter.
I don't know if I'm making sense or not...
I usually make my bows for a 6-8 inch cake. If a 6 it covers the whole top. If a 8 I have some space around it. Sometimes I will use a flower former (the middle one) turned upside down on the fondant and then run a pizza cutter along both sides to cut my strip out. (Does that make sense?) Then I make them slightly smaller for the next row. I make my tails on the loops kind of long. That way the top ones will reach down into the bow and touch the candy melts. If they are to long you can always break off what you don't need but you can't make it longer if it is to short.
Nothing the folks at CC can't help you with 
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%