I Might Just Have Killed My Hands/wrist/fingers
Decorating By Gefion Updated 23 Jan 2007 , 8:17pm by yoktom
I was making a birthdaycake for my best friend... and then I got the BULGE! Not a big bulge, but on a clean white fondant cake it is veeeery visible. So what to do? I have never piped designs on a cake, and now I had to do cornelli on the sides of a full cake. And I did! I am so pleased, I have never even been able to pipe a simple scroll without the icing drooping.
But my hands! They are so sore, I can hardly type this. Please tell me this can be prevented, or I will have to retire early!
The picture is a close-up of my cornelli - not perfect, but it actually looks good on the cake. The whole cake is in my photos.
Wonderful job!
However, I think our hands are the first to go. I am still trying to recover from making 150 cake balls to give to the ICU and PCU nurses where my husband had his double by-pass 2 weeks ago. We had a follow up visit with the surgeon this morning and when he shook my hand the pain must have shown on my face. Not sure what I will do about it. It takes the week after piping cakes for the weekend for them to recover just to go about it again.
You should be proud of the lace. It is beautiful.
I woke with a sore hand after doing lots of piping this weekend so I can relate..think I am going to buy one of those hand/wrist supports
Just checked out the whole cake in your photos and it is just lovely!!! Fabulous recovery from the "bulge battle"...you can't tell at all in the pics and the cornelli lace is a lovely addition. 
I bet your friend loved her birthday cake!!
but I wanted to do a feminine design so he will have to cope!
Your cornelli lace looks great ! I hate when I get the "Bulge", I think I over fill my cakes because it seems to happen alot! I love using cornelli lace to cover it up.
As for the aching hands and fingers, well I'm not sure there is much you can do to prevent it. I usually sit down when I put cornelli lace , basketweave or pretty much any detail work on the sides of my cakes. It helps a little to be able to rest your arm/elbow on a counter or table.
I'm sure your friend loved her cake!
Jane,
That is lovely! I am with you on the wrists - between my 50+ hour work week (constantly on a pc) and my love of this stuff it can be dangerous. I have a wrist supporter, well a couple of them. I have to say that after a bunch of the cookie batches I have done, I know what you mean.
Beautiful job on the piping, you should be very proud of it. 
Beautiful job even at the sacrifice of your hands...lol. I went to my local Walgreens and the pharmacy ordered me Futuro support gloves. They keep some in stock but I needed the Large. They are $10 a glove but well worth the extra money. I still get a little soreness but nothing compared to when I didn't use them.
If you have sensitive hands now they will really be bad later. At night I can barely close my fist. They go to sleep with me and I can't get a tight grip on things and drop things because of the aparent nerve damage. I had been in heavy production for years decorating upto 30 cakes a day. My hands look 20 years older than my wrist and arm. Looks funny. I guess the skin has stretched from the tight grip.
Be careful with your hands.
mpc
You might also want to check how full your dec. bag is when you pipe. Make sure it is never more than 1/2 full, should actually be less than that even. the fuller it is the harder it is on your hands. I learned that the hard way. hpe this helps. by the way your cornelli is beautiful.
bad hands is a by product of this..my hand is so bad that I have neck aches!..my whole arm falls alseep and I have shooting pains in my forarm and elbow!
My family and roommate make fun of me because I too can't even close my hand...
but one soldiers through...
I know what you mean my wrist and hands ache horriably after awhile when i worked for the grocery stores we had to pump out 60 stock cakes a day plus cupcakes brownies eclairs and puff it ended up giving me carpel tunnel but i never could wear a wrist brace while decorating so i settle for wearing one at night if ive had a long of decorating I also agree with angle cakes i will sit and support my wrist when i have a lot of detail to do. but its worth it your cake looks great your lace is beautiful.
This is a common problem for decorators. Make sure your icing is not too thick and put less amounts in your pastry bag, you will have to fill it more often but its worth saving your hands. Another thing is 
to try to avoid the bulge is to dig out a little trench for your middle before you put in whatever it is going between your layers. Your lace looks great.
After just recovering from carpel tunnel surgery on my right hand, I can fully sympathise. The only thing I can suggest is to speak with your doc (or possibly and orthepedist) and ask about hand braces. You wear them at night, especially after a day of difficult work. It helps.
The other suggestion I have is to try making your bc a little softer than you normally would. I use 1/2 butter 1/2 shortning, and to cut down on the yellow color I beat the butter until it is white and fluffy - before I add the shortning. BC with butter in it, for some reason, is a lot easier and softer to work with.
Good luck either way! Beautiful cake, now that I have recovered from surgery I might tackle corneli lace...just don't tell my hand surgeon!
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