So...i Took This Craftsy Class...

Decorating By sixinarow Updated 15 Aug 2013 , 3:41am by helloIamSM

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sixinarow Posted 7 Aug 2013 , 3:07am
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And well...let just say, I should not ever paint on a cake with food coloring again.

Not good people. AND...it's a dummy so I can't even drown my sorrows in sugar. *sigh* 

My red is turning brown, my black is turning purple...is there a tip for keeping black food coloring from fading when you paint with it? I didn't even thin it with vodka and it's fading as it dries.

19 replies
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liz at sugar Posted 7 Aug 2013 , 5:09pm
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AWhat brand of colors did you use? I signed up for that class but haven't watched it yet.

Liz

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CakeRae80 Posted 7 Aug 2013 , 6:12pm
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Someone just told me about these classes, are they good?  By that I mean are they easy to follow and explain everything in detail?  Just wondering if they're worth the money before spending it.  I love to learn new things all the time.  I usually find tutorials online and watch them, so my thought is if I can find tutorials on some of the things they teach, why pay the money for their class.  Am I way off on this???

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jennicake Posted 7 Aug 2013 , 6:17pm
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There are at least 2 of them that are free, if you want to try it out and see if the format works for you!  One is basic buttercream techniques and the other is hand painted cakes.  The hand painted cakes one is well worth it... I honestly would have paid for that one.  

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melmar02 Posted 7 Aug 2013 , 6:21pm
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ASo sorry you had issues. I am curious about thee brand you used too. I haven't taken the class, but I have painted on fondant. I used americolor gels and thinned with vodka, and it turned out great. I did only use green though. It's the watermelon cake in my photos. I'm trying to paint wood floor next week, and I'm really looking forward to it.

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bikemom3 Posted 7 Aug 2013 , 7:19pm
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ASorry you had problems! I'm also curious as to what brand colors you used. Also what color was your fondant.i've painted on several cakes and cookies( pics in my gallery) with no issues. If I can help in any way just let' me know. Was the red you used a burgundy red or true red? If it was a burgundy that might account for the brown undertones. Some blacks do have purple undertones....Americolor's black is usually the truest color. Don't give up! You can do it!

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Claire138 Posted 7 Aug 2013 , 7:30pm
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I've bought a few craftsy classes and apart from one which I didn't think was worth the money although it was a good class - I love the other classes. Very informative. I'm a visual person so have a hard time just working from memory or working out how to do things just by looking at them and honestly the classes I bought are worth the money. You can usually get them at a good price - I recently bought the exotic sugar orchids one for less than €10 - I wasn't sure when I would need this class for but figured for such a good price it would be worth it and now that I'm making a 2 tier wedding cake for a friend as a gift I'm using the class and making the orchids (it's a gift so I can make what I want), the directions are very easy to follow & you can pause and go back to anything you need to see again and of course the lessons are yours for life. Another excellent class is the handbag one, I've used the techniques on other stuff I've made too.

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sixinarow Posted 7 Aug 2013 , 8:28pm
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I was pleased with the actual Craftsy class, (the Handpainted cakes free class) thought it was well done, easy to follow and detailed. I'm having huge issues with bleeding colors. I used Pettinice white fondant on my dummy, covered and let set a day, like they recommended. I used Americolor Super Red and Americolor black for my colors, with Americolor white to lighten shades.

I started painting, the colors went on great, but as they dried, it was like they were absorbing into the fondant, the red fading to brown and the black fading to purple. I went over them a few times to see if I just needed to layer more color, each time again, the colors looked vibrant right at first but changed as they dried. I did a couple different things on different areas of the cake, using vodka thinned paints on some and just the gel colors on others. It ended up not making a difference, they all changed colors and bled into each other, even though the first layer was dry before I applied the second layer.

This morning, the outlines were totally blurred, where they were clean last night. I don't know what happened, besides maybe the fondant not being dry enough to handle dark colors. For the class, they used pastel colors..being a rebel (or stooopid) I decided to use my own color scheme and design. It's a shame, I liked what it looked like at the beginning, but it scares the tar out of me if I ever do a client cake that it might bleed and distort overnight...thumbsdown.gif

Any tips, info, opinions on what might have happened would be appreciated!!!

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sixinarow Posted 7 Aug 2013 , 8:32pm
post #9 of 20
Quote:
Originally Posted by bikemom3 

Sorry you had problems! I'm also curious as to what brand colors you used. Also what color was your fondant.i've painted on several cakes and cookies( pics in my gallery) with no issues. If I can help in any way just let' me know. Was the red you used a burgundy red or true red? If it was a burgundy that might account for the brown undertones. Some blacks do have purple undertones....Americolor's black is usually the truest color. Don't give up! You can do it!

I love your hummingbird cookies!! Beautiful! What was your procedure that you used..how long did you let the base coat set..ect. I would LOVE some tips!!

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Dayti Posted 8 Aug 2013 , 12:16am
post #10 of 20
Quote:
Originally Posted by CakeRae80 

Someone just told me about these classes, are they good?  By that I mean are they easy to follow and explain everything in detail?  Just wondering if they're worth the money before spending it.  I love to learn new things all the time.  I usually find tutorials online and watch them, so my thought is if I can find tutorials on some of the things they teach, why pay the money for their class.  Am I way off on this???

Costumeczar has reviews of Craftsy classes on her blog if you want to see what she thinks of them: http://acaketorememberva.blogspot.com.

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still_learning Posted 8 Aug 2013 , 12:44am
post #11 of 20

AI don't have advice but wanted to say that I had the same problem with Americolor Super Red drying brown. I used it to paint on Royal Icing. Like you it looked great at first and just got muddy brown looking as it dried. I would also like to know if anyone has better luck with other brands or even with Americolor. I used vodka to thin the colors. Thanks!

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bikemom3 Posted 8 Aug 2013 , 1:16am
post #12 of 20

AI used Americolor on all my painted cakes and cookies. I'm pretty sure I used super red on my"Harry Potter" cake (I've slept since then lol!) and didn't notice it turning brown. Is the whole area turning brown? Could you post a picture? As far as colors bleeding into each other - how wet is your brush?do you have shortening on your fondant? I've found that if your brush is too loaded with diluted color it tends to act like watercolor paint. If you are doing one area of color let it dry a bit before adding next color. I try to use "the less is more" idea when painting. You can always add more but it's really hard to get rid of color. You can also use our gels full strength. Which is what I did for my tattoo cake. I painted the black tribal tattoo band with almost full strength black Americolor.

Make some flat fondant tiles and play around. I'm sure your painting looks great....we're all always our own worst critics

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sixinarow Posted 8 Aug 2013 , 1:25am
post #13 of 20

All the red turned brown...similar to what still learning said, just a muddy brown color. At first I thought maybe the black outline was bleeding into the red, so I freehanded some red flowers without any black just to see how it would dry and it did the same thing. I used full strength black, without any vodka added in, but it still turned purple. I wonder if like you said, my brush was too wet.

I tore the fondant off this morning and washed my styrofoam, so I can't post a picture. Thanks for the advice, I'm wondering if my fondant wasn't dry enough. Pettinice stays soft for a while, so I'm wondering if that could have been a factor. I'll recover a few days icon_wink.gif and try again with pastel colors first just to see if that makes a difference.

Thank you!

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DeniseNH Posted 8 Aug 2013 , 1:27am
post #14 of 20

Most are off the chart awesome like Marina's and Joshua John Russells.  Won't miss any of theirs.  The little bits you can get for free on the net are good if you have one or two quick questions but when you finish a Craftsy Class you KNOW you can do this on your own and you can't wait to start.  Plus you can ask questions and get immediate responses.

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bikemom3 Posted 8 Aug 2013 , 2:11am
post #15 of 20

APost pics of your painted cake when you finish! I think you're right about the fondant. I usually use satin ice and have no issues Good luck! Look forward to seeing your masterpiece!

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KarenK55 Posted 8 Aug 2013 , 1:32pm
post #16 of 20

Just a note - sorry I wish I could help you with you gel colors but not quite at that level yet.  However, I have taken classes on the Craftsy website and they are wonderful.  For a reasonable price you can sit in the luxury of your home or office and watch the tutorial.  Once you purchase the class you have it all the time and can refer back to it whenever you need to.  It is a great tool in my opinion.   Wish you well on your project . Deep breathes and like bikemom3 stated, 'Don't give up'. 

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LassieSaves Posted 14 Aug 2013 , 11:53pm
post #17 of 20

I haven't tried that particular class but read the blog spot review, which is really helpful too!  I'm a Pretty Witty Cakes member (which is great) and buy stuff from Craftsy and other places if there's something I really want to make.

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Cricket1960 Posted 15 Aug 2013 , 1:27am
post #18 of 20

AWhenever I paint on fondant I use Americolor airbrush colors..never had a problem with bleeding or fading.

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sixinarow Posted 15 Aug 2013 , 2:21am
post #19 of 20

Hmmm..I might have to look into the airbrush colors for round 2. icon_wink.gif

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helloIamSM Posted 15 Aug 2013 , 3:41am
post #20 of 20

sorry to hear that :(

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