thank you all for your lovely comments.

I used the mold from cake connection and black fondant.

I used a tiny drop of americolor blue after it was liquified (I never had any foam to spoon off). After they had dried, I went over some parts of the wings with a pink color pen (the wilton one)

When I made the dragon fly, I did a little of the gelatin between the 2 wings so it was really one piece and then used piping gel to attach the body over this spot. Hope that makes sense.

Finallly, I brushed a tiny bit of piping gel around the edges and then dipped in pixie dust. That added a nice touch.

OK, Here is my first bow.

I learned to make sure it's all even cause some parts were thinner than others and they "folded" rather than made nice loops.

Basically this is so simple and cheap, I was thinking they would make a nice bow for a gift box.

Whatta you all think?

Nannie you did a great job!! I see you used the tip about using scrapbooking scissors for the edges -- very nice!!

I thought I would try to make the gelatin butterfly but wonder if a candy mold would hold the temperature or would the mold just melt? Would the gelatin peel off the candy mold like it would the veining sheet? Are there any other methods to use the gelatin on? Could I just spread it out on wax paper and then cut out a shape of a butterfly or other object?

I don't think a candy mold would work, this technique requires the gelatin be really thin - and if you used a candy mold, I don't think you could get it as thin as it needs to be for the effect.

I know others have used the silicone mats to make the bows, I am not sure it would release from wax paper - you would have to try it to see. I really prefer the gelatin mats for the butterflies and dragonflies, they add texture to the wings....they look more realistic!

Nannie - you are a pro already at this!! I love your bow too!! I have made quite a few of them up and I keep them in styrofoam sandwich containers that I got from GFS.

Hi Loucinda. You are right. The candy molds don't work. I tried it last week. I order the book but didn't order the sheets. Once I realized that the candy molds didn't work I ordered the sheets..LOLOL... I did the butterflies in solid colors and it looks great.

I want to do the bow but the sheet for the bow didn't come with the package. what do you use for the bows?

They sell different sheets for the bows - she has a set of them you can either buy the whole set or buy them individually. I have all of them! For the big bows I have done, I have to make 2 sheets of the same texture. Once you make one you will not ever want to do another fondant bow again!

I had a candy mold of toast and butter which was a thin mold and the butterflys turned out fine. They had a nice bumpy texture from the toast mold. I am not sure how to get the effect of different colors on the butterflys though. Do you brush on different colors at the same time or after they are dry? I did put some fine sugar on them and it adhered with just a drop of water rubbed on them.

Thanks for posting such a lovely technique! Can't wait to try it!

Just be careful when coloring them - if you use too much liquid, the gelatin will dissolve. The best things to use are the edible markers and airbrush paint thinned with something with a high alcohol content. (everclear works really well) I had trouble with the piping gel on the bow edges, it "weighed" them down for lack of a better description.....just use a tiny bit - too much it affects the bow.

hey, all

I recall information about storing the already melted gelatin. I know not to put in fridge or cover (mold?) but what else can you do?

I just wanted to save some overnight and incase I needed it.



Thanks

You can put it in a ziploc bag - but you will need to use it within a day or so, no matter what you do, it will grow mold VERY quickly.

so just pour it into the bag.

NO Nannie!! You let it set up in a bowl first, then just "peel" it out of the bowl and put it in the ziploc bag!

D'oh

ok,

Here is my weekend project: "Dragonflies, Butterflies and Bows"

Inspired by Bob's butterfly cake.

It's the dummy cake from ICES that I just reused.

What fun this is

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1438963

I assume once the gelatin hardens it doesn't get mold otherwise you wouldn't be able to place it on a cake. Do you mean put the unused gelatin in a ziplock bag so it doesn't harden? Please explain. I hope you don't have to throw away the beautiful butterflys in a day or two.

How are you attaching the wings to the fondant body?

PartyCake: from what I understand, once hardened they last a long time (and no mold) The intructors had been carrying around a demo cake with all the flowers, bows etc and they said it had lasted months.

I put my completed pieces in a box and we'll see.

tiggy2: they give 2 methods, one is to do each wing separatly and attach with piping gel. I found that way too fiddlie for me.

The other method was to put a little stripe of gelatin between the wings when you're "painting" them on the sheet and then treat it as one piece. Then, again, use piping gel to attach the body. Just seemed stronger.

Wow Nannie, you did a GREAT job on that cake!!! LOVE those butterflies!!

OK - once the gelatin has set on the mats, it is good to go. I have bows and butterflies from 4 months ago that are just fine, they were not even affected by the humidiity here. No growing anything....nada. Perfect bows and butterflies!

Now, if you have the gelatin that is just set up (in the bowl) and you want to save it and reheat it to make more it WILL grow mold in just a day or so in that form. I don't know why but it does.

Thanks, that makes more sense now. I tried to make some without a mold but they didn't turn out half as nice as the ones I have seen posted here. I assume you could use the veining sheets over and over. If so, I am going to order. Do you tint the gelatin in seperate bowls and paint on the veining sheets or are the different colors on each butterfly applied by food markers?

yes, you reuse the sheets altho I think someone did a bow on a silpat
and it turned out nicely.

I've both tinted the gelatin a color and left it clear and then filled in the lines with food safe marker.

You can also color with sugar free jello. Gotta try that

hope this helps

You can color the gelatin before you put it on the mats - use airbrush colors it works better. You can also add disco dust to the liquid gelatin too, it will make them sparkle! If you use a sheen color, they will be opaque versus transparent.

Has anyone put these on buttercream? Do they start to melt like royal icing does? I love this method, and would love to be able to use them on a crusting buttercream. I know someone has already said that they think it should work, but has anyone actually tried it? Thanks for sharing all of this. I'm fascinated and can't wait to try it!

I did and no problem.

They were on the cake for about 4-6 hours with no affect

Here is a cake that has a BIG gelatin bow on that I did - it works fine. IF you are wanting to put one on a cake that isn't crusting buttercream, just make a gumpaste or fondant plaque to set it on - that way it won't come in contact.

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1374341

I would like to try and make gelatin "tiles" for a cakes- like these (hers are sugar):
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1418422
How should I cover the cake- buttercream or fondant? How do I attach the tiles?

If making the tiles works out for you let me know. I tried to do that very same thing (used the wilton brownie pan too) and it did not work out. I didn't try a second time.