hi...i need baking and decorating supplies but have no idea where to order them from? I don't live in States but have someone there that i can have the stuff shipped to who can,then, bring it over. Would be very greatful if people can guide me to the best places/sites/shops i can order from...things like speciality cookie cutters, gelatin sheets for making butterflies, americolors, edible writting pens, removable tart pans, ring moulds, peatal dusts,etc etc. Also, plz whats the difference between all the different kinds of dusts, and which is the best one for getting lustre/shine? Any help will be greatly appreciated,thanks

oh yes, and how to get that beautiful damask designs on the sides of the cake? is that stencilling,or transfer sheets? And also moulds..yes...what to use with moulds...is it mmf or chocolate? or does medium each is used with different moulds?????? SO CONFUSED!

Global Sugar Art is a very popular supplier:
http://www.globalsugarart.com/

I've never used a mold, but I believe they are for chocolate, gumpaste (stiffer than fondant), and pastillage (dries extremely hard). Maybe other stuff. I don't think mmf would be stiff enough to use a mold.

I am pretty sure that damask designs are done with stencils or designs cut out of thin gumpaste or fondant (such as with the Cricut cake machine).

I hope someone with more experience will help you.

i agree about global sugar art, and also amazon.com if you know specifically what you are looking for, MakeYourOwnMolds.com for molds and mold making supplies, you can find good stencils for damask patterns at designerstencils.com, or you can find almost anything at CKproducts.com if you have a business license-they are cheapest but don't sell to the general public.

MMF is too soft for molds, there are different molds for different mediums. White hard plastic can be used for isomalt, sugar, chocolate or fondant and gumpaste. Clear plastic is for chocolate or fondant and gumpaste. Sylicone can be used for isomalt- although the contact with hot isomalt and sylicone can cause bubbles in the isomalt- or it can be used for fondant and gumpaste. When using fondant or gumpaste in a hard mold, just be careful- it can be difficult to remove without damaging the fondant's shape. I use fondant usually for figures and such, gumpaste is usually used for things that need to be rolled very thin without tearing, such as flowers, ruffles, etc. It dries quicker and harder than fondant. modeling chocolate can be used in molds, however, from experience I wouldn't recommend using it for thick heavy things like figures because it takes a long time to dry and tends to sag, so it is more for small, light details and covering things like RKT. The biggest benefit of modeling chocolate is that it can be blended without a seam and it stays soft and plyable for longer than fondant or gumpaste. You can mix fondant and gumpaste, fondant and modeling chocolate, or modeling chocolate and gumpaste depending on the effect that you are going for.

Petal dust is just color and is good for making realistic color in flowers, skin, etc because you can control how much of what color is on any given part, so you control the intensity. I also mix it with vodka for painting details on fondant. For shine or luster, I would use luster dust which has a kind of pearl-y effect, or disco dust which has an intense "glitter" or diamond like shine. I stay away from things like "glitter dust" because I've noticed that they usually don't have much effect. HTH