I was planning on spreading gelatin on a sheet of acetate and then cut them into tiles. My thought was that using the brownie pan would make them too thick. I am concerned that the edges will curl up. Do you think it will work this way?

Also to achieve the shading I was hoping to start with the light color, paint an area with it and then add more coloring as I reheat it. Do you think this will work?

You are spot on with the brownie pan - the edges curled from being too thick. I am not good at cutting straight - which is why I tried the brownie pan.

Your coloring idea should work. I can't wait to see how it turns out! Good luck!!~

Just thought I'd share some pics for a couple of sample cakes I did recently. Love this technique and found an interesting way of applying the Disco dust on the edges of the bow loops (which are difficult to see in the pics). Hope you all enjoy these!

Hum - for some reason a duplicate pic was added - sorry! Here's the pic of the cake. To apply the disco dust quickly to the edges of the bow loops I spread piping gel onto a paper plate. Dippled the edges in the gel and then dipped them onto another plate which was covered with the dusts. This is the quickest method I know of to cover 18-20 loops in a couple of minutes.

Just one more - the dragonfly. Unfortunatelly you can't see the Disco Dust on the edges but it's very pretty. I am over the top with this technique - have made over 40 sheets of the gelatin on a Silpat which I really love. Have every color of sheet imaginable for any occasion that arises.

cookie4.. your bow... dragon fly and butterflie is beautiful. thanks for the hint on the gel and disco dust. got all these supplies.. got to play with them now.. hope mine is as pretty as yours..

Very pretty! I have to upload my pix to this thread soon -- I had a class with Michaelle and we did a gorgeous poinsettia and holly arrangement.

oooh Cookie, I can't decide which I like better they are all stunning.

love the dots on the dragonfly and love, love the butterfly. great idea to do the body white. It looks so much more delicate that the black I did.

I agree, this is one of the most fun technique I've seen in a while

BEAUTIFUL!!! I have done that technique too - but I did it on a very humid day and it colapsed my bow. I am glad to know it DOES work! I will try it again. (the piping gel on the edges)

Thanks for a GREAT new idea and 27 pages of reading last night!

I tried this last night with Kosher gelatine (made with fish bones) to see whether this would work, and it did! YAY! So, thanks all again, I am going to invest in some textured mats!

If you were to recommend 3 flower/butterfly mats (I can't afford more than that), which would you recommend?
I was thinking the butterfly one, one flower & one leaf?

Decorateme: I purchased the two butterfly mats (the one with the large butterfly on it and dragonflys) and the other mat with three sizes of butterfly's on it. I also purchased the mat that has the vertical lines on it, however I am having difficulty getting the Knox gelatin to release from this matt. It releases with no problem on the butterflies/dragonflys.

I use the back side of a silpat which gives a very nice pattern.

May I ask where you purchased the Kosher gelatin and what brand it is? When my gelatin mixtures get old (either in the refrigerator or on the counter)they grow mold and the smell is disgusting - there is no denying what the product is made of at this stage.

wow! They look so pretty. Have just joined this site, based in UK so may be asking for explanation of some of your terms and products at some point! Had a quick peep at the gallery of cakes on here ...wonderful designs, simply stunning cakes. I'm just learning, have made cakes for family and friends, not commercial - not yet anyway!
I also chat on the British Sugarcraft Guild forum so if you havent already, go take a look-see. Its great to see what different people are doing and various trends and to gleen inspiration and great to chat with people who are as daft as I am about cakes, making cakes, decorating cakes, thinking of the next one etc etc.....lol

oh how weird....am I not allowed to use the word er s u g a r c r a f t ?
erm what about the BSG ?

sugar and craft ?

Cookie4: I live in Israel so I get it in the regular supermarket. In the US, a lot of supermarkets have Kosher sections and you would find it there. My gelatin smells a little, but not awful.

Leahk and Loucinda, Did you paint the back of the brownie squares or in the hollows? I was thinking of a patchwork quilt effect and was hoping the brownie squares worked too.

I haven't done them yet- I want to try it for a cake on Sunday, so I'll do it at some point before then.
I'm planning on painting the silpat and then just cutting squares.
How should I "glue" them to the cake? Would it be better for the cake to be covered in buttercream or fondant?

I used the hollows - did not work out well.

Fondant or buttercream?? I think either one would work.....your color is going to be distorted some by whatever you use to "glue" the pieces on with. Make sure you have an even coat of whatever so you don't see a round "blob" through the gelatin.....(hope that makes sense)

Vampyra, that word is blocked because of a lawsuit from a particular website.

Welcome to the site! We have quite a few ladies and gents from overseas. Feel free to ask for any explanations.

thanks 7yyrt....thought that might be the reason.....sorry, I was just being silly!! nyhoo, what is the picture you have for your logo? It reminded me of a character from an old Dr. Who programme. It looks rather strange.

Thank you for your welcome...I am looking forward to seeing all the beautiful creations. I really love these gelatine butterflies/dragonflies. They look so delicate and pretty. When Im feeling better (got swine flu folks!) I will have to have a go at making some. Someone mentioned the idea of stained glass windows, how great for a christmas cake. I also thought of something which you might think a bit odd, but what about fish scales!
I also wondered if it was possible to make a small dome shape with the getaline to make a "snowglobe" on a xmas cake but think maybe gravity would have an adverse effect. Thought of painting the gelatine onto a small pyrex bowl to see if it works.

I don't think it would work as a globe, maybe a geodesic dome?

My avatar is my favorite cake so far, Auntie Griselda. If you want to see her larger, just click on my photo button.

serendipity smiled at me!

i wanted to make butterflies for my daughter's upcoming birthday cake and had been trying various methods.
i was stoked to find this thread while cruising cc.
i read all 28 pages, have a gelatin glops all over my kitchen (got some on the heating pad too) and have just ordered the butterfly molds & book.
who knew that knox made such a fun-packed product!?!

CDL -welcome to CC - and be sure to post pics of your finished product!!

thanks cindy ! you've helped me hugely!

i was wondering if anyone has tried gelatin on acetate.

i put a sheet on the heating pad and painted freehand kind of like watercolor.

it pops off easily and looks like it has great potential.

i've been playing around so much and having a great time. i was supposed to be working on year-to-date financials (i have a family business) and they are still not done. maybe i could make a pie chart with gelatin in primary colors!

I want to say that everyone has made such beautiful things in this thread! Excellent inspiration!

I too have been playing with the gelatin a bit and have the following to add:

I bought my daughter a few sets of plastic bracelets last year for Christmas. They came packaged in an oversized christmas ball that has a seam down the middle. (When it is opened it is two bowl-like halves.) I did try painting the two halves with gelatin and then gluing them together with more gelatin and it worked. There is however a messy seam, but that could easily be covered with a decorative ribbon of fondant, gumpaste or more gelatin. My advice to you if you are going to try this is to paint on the OUTSIDE of the ball. If you paint on the inside it tends to shrivel up as it dries and then the two sides won't match up when you glue them together. I don't have any pictures as it was trial and error just to see if it would work but I hope this will give someone a direction to try it.

I did discover that you can coat just about anything with plastic wrap and paint on the gelatin and it will retain the shape when it dries. The only problem is that it will retain the folds and creases in the plastic wrap so you would have to deal with that if you want it smooth. I want to show you guys a picture of a cake that I used the molding process on but I don't want to offend anyone as it is in the naughty cakes section of this site. If anyone is interested the picture is in my cakes and you should find it easily. I will say that I used a bud vase with a ceramic apple (don't laugh, it's all I could find laying around that was that right size! lol) taped to the top, covered in saran wrap and painted several coats on as I wanted it to be a thicker consistency. I just explain how I did it in case anyone wants to try something similar. I have thought of painting on nail polish bottles for shot glasses or similar shaped items, marbles for bubbles (could cut a small slit to get the gelatin off then glue back together with more gelatin, if you put the cut side down you would never know) or even little items like buttons, coins, etc. As long as you wash any items really good, I think it would be fine to use just about anything since no one is really going to eat this stuff.

I hope you guys keep coming up with more awesome ideas. I would love to see them!

DecorateMe: Thank you for the tip on the Kosher gelatin. I tried to use my old gelatin but the odor was offensive. I will look for the Kosher gelatin in my local spermarket imports section as you suggested.

JimandMollie: Thank you for sharing your ideas. And, as luck has it, I was just looking at some glass doorknobs at Hobby Lobby and remembered than Bronwen Webber used them to make sugar bubbles. In our humid Texas weather I just don't think they would work. Your idea of using the gelatin to create the glass bubbles out of doorknobs sounds great. I think I'll have to try these and add some Disco Dust in the gelatin before painting on to add that shimmer.

At the Houston Cake Club Day of Sharing last Sunday one of our members made a pair of eye glasses and used the gelatin for the lenses - it was very impressive.

OK, so I read all 28 pages & was sold on trying these. I just the veining sheets in the mail today & can't wait to try them. Here's my question - I know I can color the warm gelatine & do them that way, but some are really pretty on here that look like they're clear with some color painted on. Was it painted on with colored gelatin after the clear went on or was it painted with dust after drying? Anyone with suggestions on how to do multi-colored would be really appreciated!

Hi Kellie0406: My gelatin pieces are colored in the mixing stage, however the clear butterflies and dragonflies are clear. They are tipped in piping gel and dipped in Disco Dust from Cake Connection.

I found that you can also paint your butterflies in anycolor and dot with an accent color while both colors are still in the liquid state. Does that make any sense. In otherwords you can do a colorflow technique using the gelatin - very pretty! Good luck.

Can someone makes this into a sticky? PLEASE!