hello,

i am going to attempt my first loop bows tonight and i have looked at the tutorial on here which i am going to follow. my question is how many loops do i need to make? i am doing a cake which will look like 2 presents stacked on on top of the other and both will have bows. the smaller of the cakes which will have the full bow is a 5" square. the bottom cake, a 12" will have a bow which will be at the side of the smaller cake, kind of like half a bow (i hope this makes sense!)

i dont want to make too few loops as i am really on a time restriction with this one and dont have time to make extra loops! this cake is for a party tomorrow night so i am a tad stressed lol....

any advise you could give would be great!

thanks!

For the full bow, I would make about 15 loops.

Take a look at my instructions http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-629785-loopy.html

Depending on the width of the strips, I estimate a minimum of 15-20 loops, so I'd make about 25-30. I like to have a variety of loops to choose from.

i tried to make a loop bow a couple of weeks ago following the tutorial i found here. i think i made about 20 loops. well....i was not successful, and what i learned was - next time i will make varying sizes of loops, not all one size. i hope you are successful, good luck!

I don't really count when I make them though I'd probably say I have over 30 loops for a smallish bow. I do make them in different lengths. The bottom loops are cut longer, the middle a little shorter, and the top ones really short. I like a variety to pick from so I can place them together so they fit well and I don't have big gaps.

I'd rather also have too many of them than not enough. Sometimes you may break a loop or need one just a little smaller.

I've got a box of loops that are left over from other cakes. Maybe one day I'll make a multicolored bow.

I don't really count when I make them though I'd probably say I have over 30 loops for a smallish bow. I do make them in different lengths. The bottom loops are cut longer, the middle a little shorter, and the top ones really short. I like a variety to pick from so I can place them together so they fit well and I don't have big gaps.

I'd rather also have too many of them than not enough. Sometimes you may break a loop or need one just a little smaller.

I've got a box of loops that are left over from other cakes. Maybe one day I'll make a multicolored bow.

I just made one not to long ago and I would guess that I used about 20 loops... so I Would make about 30.... and definitly in varying sizes.

I used the tutorial from here to make the bow on my avatar cake. It said to let the loops dry for 24 hrs then paint them if you want and assemble. I let them dry for 36 hrs, then painted, let dry for about 1 hr and assembled. I then let the bow dry for almost 2 days b/c I wanted to make sure the RI that I assembled with was dry.
Anyways, all the loops on the bottom of the bow collapsed b/c they weren't dry enough before I assembled them.
So just a warning to let the loops dry for longer than it says in the tutorial, and I would paint them first before they're dry, b/c I think that had softened the loops as well. good luck!
Oh, and I made 30 loops and used them all.
Oh and one more thing, I know it seems like common sense, but make sure you tint your icing or candy melts the colour of the bow b/c you can see it in some places, so if it was a different colour it would look funny.

I have made a few bows and I would suggest making about 25 - 30 loops each. I know you said time was an issue, but it takes less time to make the extra bows than it does freaking out because you just broke your last one and your bow is not full enough.

You will definately need different sizes. I always see to need extra small loops because they are great for filling in the gaps in the end.

Because of your time issue, you may be tempted to make the loops extra thin so they dry faster ---DON'T DO IT!!!! Learn from my mistake, they will only break.

Good luck!

thanks for your advice everyone!

i wound up making 30 loops and did use them all! i do now understand about the drying time due to having a couple of breakages in the bottom row of loops! still i think i just about managed to get away with it as its not looking too bad! its not perfect but hey the next one will be cus i'll know not to leave bows til the last minute! lesson well and truely learnt lol.

thanks again everyone, your fab