I'm making a RUSH graduation cake for this weekend. By rush I mean she ordered it 1/2 an hour ago for Sunday. She saw my work, and has chosen a fairly easy cake out of my portfolio.

I have to make Blue and Silver tassles for the cap part of the cake. The last time I did them in BC, but silver won't look silver in BC, so I was going to use fondant to make them.

I've never done tassles this way. I don't have a cookie press, although it might be worth the money to purchase. Or the other idea was to pick up one of the old-fashioned play-doh fun factory toys that makes the "hair". Any suggestions?

The other question is: I plan to use silver luster dust on them. Do you think it would survive the cookie press operation or should I do that part after?

Any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated!
Kathy

I can't say I know what a cookie press is, but I would definitely do the lustre dust after. I've done tassles 2 ways. There's a $10.99 metal clay tool at Michael's. It is a pain in the but to push the clay through but it does have a 'hair' disk. You can then make a ball for the top, stick it to the long strings, then take a thin piece and wrap it around to hide the join. How I did them before I got the clay gun...roll a piece of fondant out fairly thin. Cut lines into it about as deep as you want your tassles. Kind of like fringe. Then roll it up and form the top (the uncut part) into the little rounded ball type part. Take a thin piece and hide the join...does this make any sense???

Yes, it does make sense. Thank you for your quick response! I hadn't even thought of checking Michael's.

I saw Duff use a clay extruder on his show, but they were kind of expensive online.

Thanks again! Great ideas!
Kathy

I used a garlic press. The trickiest part is adding more fondant before the previous runs out so you get a nice long tassel. It's really easy!

That's a good idea too! Thanks!

The clay gun from Michael's hurts my hand but does a nice job - especially for the price. Just be sure the fondant is nice and soft. Then press longer than you need and cut to size.

Definitely do the lustre/vodka paste AFTER the tassle is assembled.

Should the luster dust/vodka paste be relatively thin like paint or more like a paste? I haven't used that method before.

Didn't someone once say they used a Playdoh set for some of their decorating. They're around $5 at Dollar General

I have used a pastry cutter before to do a tassle and was surprised it worked so well. (Like what you use for cutting butter into flour for streusel) I rolled the MMF out thin and just rolled the pastry cutter over it a few times then rolled it up to make a bundle and attched it to the top of the cap. Similar to what someone posted earlier, but yet another option for you.

I have used a clay gun, but the last ones I did I used DNC yarn (2 in my pics) I even added a '2008' charm to give it a realistic look. Worked well and was super fast!

I did what pianocat did too - I used the floss. It's in both of my grad pics and the one in my Anchor grad pic I did the same thing and added a little 2008 charm - very easy and quick - you can get that floss in a zillion colors and mix them together if you need 2 different colors!

Good luck - I want a clay extruder too!! Just haven't taken the leap yet! I heard that if you have trouble pushing the fondant through the extruder to add some shortening to it and it will make it softer and easier to push through!

All these ideas are really great! I want to thank you all for your suggestions. I think, given the time constraints, and my lack of experience working with a clay gun, that I'll go the DNC floss route. It seems to really be the easiest, and I'm sure I have the colors I need in my cross stitch box!

You are all very sweet for all your help! Loved all your photos too!
Kathy

I wanted to let you know how the cake turned out. I ended up purchasing a blue tassle out of the scrapbooking section of our local craft store and making a silver one with the help of some hot glue.

Thank you for all your wonderful suggestions!

I have never had such a difficult time decorating a cake before. Funny thing is it was a relatively simple design. But I swear, the cake gods were laughing at me from the great beyond. The number 8 came out wonky, so I tried to fix it, and seeing that it was blue on white frosting you can guess what happened! That's right....I was down to no white frosting left and the blasted blue was feathering into the while. I ended up scraping all the way down to the cake and starting that area over! UGH!

Anyway, here's the finished product...I hope you like it!