Ok, this is very important for me. This is my first "real" customer. My boss's mother-in-law asked me to make a birthday cake for her daughter. She wants "a teapot cake with tulips."
Bear with me...I'm getting to my question. 
First let me explain my plan, and then I am hoping that my CC family can offer tips, advice, and suggestions, as well as point out flaws in my plan. So here goes....
My design is simple. I plan to do a 2-layer 10" round cake as the 'table'. By 2 layers I mean 2 cakes baked in a 10" x 2" round pan. Next, I will use the Wilton ball pan to construct my teapot. This is the basic cake part of my design. I would like to ice the table in BC but don't really know what color to use. For decorations, I plan to use MMF to make a tablecloth for the 10" cake. I plan to use textured papertowels to make texture on the MMF so that it will look like fabric. (I don't have a textured rolling pin or impression mat.) I also plan to use MMF to make the handle and spout for the teapot. The teapot will be ivory, and I hope to do brushed embroidery on the teapot so that it looks like ivy wrapping around the teapot. (This will match her daughter's kitchen.) And finally, I need to make two tulips out of MMF. I have no idea how to do this.
There. Now does anyone have any tips or ideas or suggestions for me? Please help. This customer is a minister's wife, and he preaches in the largest church in the community, as well as traveling to other churches in East Texas. If I do well enough, this customer has the potential to bring me many, many, many more customers. Any advice is appreciated.
TIA
Oops! I forgot to add that the table will be filled with lime green filling (key lime pie flavored.) The teapot will also be filled with this. Should I dowell this cake? I just thought og that. Also, I have the cakes baked. They are in the freezer now. I will take them out at lunch and carve the ball into the teapot. The filling is prepared, and tonight I will make and color my frosting and MMF. Tomorrw, I plan to begin construction and decorations with the final cake being ready sometime Saturday morning.
You could either use a small tulip cookie cutter or there is a tulip cutout in the wilton gumpaste kit.
I'm anxious to see the finished product.
well, first of all, I say DO use dowl rods. Its better to be safe than sorry. Also, just out of cureosity, are you going to use MMF for the teapot? That would probably look best. Also remember to do the spout pointing up. Several other people have made great teapots on this site that looked strange because the spout pointed down.
As for the color of the table, I'm not really sure, could you ask what her favorite color is?
For the tulips, are they suposed to be 3D or 2D? 2D would be pretty easy, just draw or print a patern. for 3D I'd jsut use about 5 petals and stick them together in the right shape and dry them using an egg cup or something similar as a mold.
Good luck!! 
I have considered using MMF for the teapot. I agree that it would look better, but I don't know how to cover the ball shaped cake in MMF without any seams or wrinkles. Got any ideas?
Also, thanks for the tip on the spot. I never thought about it, but now that I go back and look at some of the pictures, you are definitely right. They do look better with the spout pointed up. I gotta remember that. The tulips are supposed to be 3D. I don't have any flower cutters or formers though, so I am prbably just going to have to guess the shape of each petal. I'm kinda flying blind on this one!!!
If you have access to a library or even a bookstore, Colette Peters has templates of various flowers in one of her books. Not sure which one. I do remember seeing a tulip template though...
I would use gumpaste for the flowers. It'll dry faster, and you'll be able to make the petals thinner and more life-like!
Good luck with the cake! I can't wait to see it! I'm thinking of using it for my girls' b-day party theme next year! 
HTH
Mirjana
Teapot cakes are fun, but tricky. Here are my suggestions: use a small circle for support for the tea pot and construct it separate from the "table" Dowell the table to support the teapot, dowel the teapot to keep it together. Put the ball together with the seam horizontal, so the top and bottom won't separate. The bottom of the pot doesn't have to stay rounded, so I would cut off a bit, so that it can sit fairly flat. that will help with the fondant eges.
If all else fails with the fondant on the pot, just pull it off and use a crusting buttercream to get a smooth cover.
For the spout, fondant is heavy and doesn't dry very hard in a day, so I suggest you add some gum paste to allow it to dry harder.
good luck
I know you have a plan for the teapot but I wanted to make sure you saw this article. It looks pretty simple to make this teapot.
http://brightideas.com/birthdays/themes/teaparty/cakestreats/c_1368_1.jsp
My mother-in-law collects teapots, so this is a great idea for a cake for her. Thanks!! Also, I found this info from Wilton, hope this helps.
http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/pans/teaparty.htm
Well, as for the tulips, I'm not quite sure about the shape either, but I found this that might help at least a little. http://www.wilton.com/recipes/recipesandprojects/misc/tulip.cfm#
When it comes to covering the teapot with MMF, I'd suggest using the pans (upside-down mad covered w/ plastic wrap and corn starch or powdered sugar) to shape fondant half balls and then slip them on the assembled ball cake. I did something similar when I made my Bump cake (its in my photos). That way you get the rounded shape pretty easily without wrinkles, and you would only have one seam that you could probably hide. I would probably put the seam vertically (even though the cake halves would be horizontal) and place the spout and handle over them (which might look fairly realistic anyway), but depending on the ivy (?) decorations you could put the fondant seam horizontal and totally cover the seam with the ivy. Either way I would defiantly assemble the ball cake first and dowel rod it for stability. Good luck!
Here is another pic of tulips on a cake.... http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=coppermine&file=displayimage&album=6&pos=356
i LOVE those tulips in the link from the wilton site. does anyone know how to make them??
Try this link:
http://www.womansday.com/article.asp?pl=§ion_id=47&article_id=5570&page_number=1
The recipe for these is made with marshmallow cream however I think from step 3 onwards is what you are really interested in. There is no reason that these same tulips could not be made from MMF or fondant, just maybe add some Gum Tex to them to harden them up.
HTH!
Good luck and be sure to post pics!
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