A Great Way To Challenge Your Piping Skills
Decorating By tesso Updated 9 Nov 2010 , 11:17am by tokazodo
I have been practicing my piping and flo skills. And I thought you guys might be interested in how.
Coloring books!! yah!! Rip a page out tape it to a place mat and practice outlining the picture by following the lines. It is much harder than you realize. And you will learn to have a steady line (and a sore hand if you practice too long 
) Then I decided to practice my flo icing techniques. Making them more uniform in looks, not so thin/thick in places and how to re-fill in some areas. Well I just filled in all the piped lines from the page.
One page and got to practice two cake skills. 
Tesso,
That's a great idea, some of those coloring book pages are really intricate! Have you seen the kelidascope ones? They'd drive you crazy in a hurry. 
I use coloring books for quilting/applique patterns and fondant cut-outs, too. And they're good for frozen buttercream transfers, and chocolate plaques, too.
slappin' myself in the head. 
It is a really great way to practice, and I have used it for transfers. I made a Spiderman transfer for my son's birthday cake last year out of royal icing, using a page from his coloring book and plastic wrap.
http://letsgetcaking.blogspot.com/search/label/spiderman
What a fantastic idea!!! But my question is, how do you transfer it once it's dry without breaking it?
Scarlets-cakes,
The transfers are pretty sturdy once they're dry. I have had a couple break when there were thin parts (like a spider's legs). It's a good idea to make an extra. Also, you should let large transfers dry for at least 48 hours to ensure they are completely set before removing the plastic wrap. Here's a link to a great tutorial I found here on CC:
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=648450&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=15
Just scroll down a little and you'll see the tutorial by Cakehelp.
Have fun!
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