Sugar Ruffles - Wedding Cake and Sugar Flower Blog

Iridescent Anthurium Sugar Flower Tutorial

December 31, 2020 Leave a Comment

Today I’m sharing our brand new iridescent anthurium sugar flower tutorial. A FREE step by step video tutorial on how to use petal and lustre dusts to create a iridescent effect on sugar anthurium flowers.

Also know as unicorn anthuriums, these are such a fun flower to make and colour. I first saw these flowers popping up on lots of floral designers instagram and just knew I needed to make a sugar flower version. They look so shimmery under lights! I’m going to show you how to create this really pretty effect using petal and lustre dusts.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn :

-1-
How to transform your sugar anthuriums using petal and lustre dusts
to create a unique and fun style

-2-
Step by Step
How to create an iridescent effect

-3-
Tips and techniques
to transform the way you use petal dusts to colour your sugar flowers

Click here to watch it now!

This Tutorial is a Must See if…

You’re excited to learn more about using petal and lustre dusts and you want to make something really fun and unique!

I hope you enjoy the tutorial. If you have a go at making these make sure you tag me @sugarruffles. I’d love to see them!

#MeetTheMaker

November 16, 2020 Leave a Comment

Earlier this month I took part in the #meetthemaker challenge over on instagram. A 6 day challenge designed to tell you a bit about the story of my business, with a new prompt each day.

Say Hello

The first prompt in the #meetthemakerweek challenge was ‘Say Hello’. So I’m saying hello and telling you a little about me and my business ‘Sugar Ruffles’.

I’m Charlotte, and it’s 10 years this week since I first started my wedding cake business! I still remember getting my first enquiry from my very first customer, the day after I launched my website. I couldn’t quite believe it was actually happening!

Before I started my business I was a primary school teacher and originally started my business as ‘Charlotte’s Cupcakes’ mainly making cupcakes, cake pops and celebration cakes, before moving into wedding cakes, once I found a love for sugar flowers. Then I rebranded as Sugar Ruffles and have specialised in creating sugar flower wedding cakes ever since. 🌸

It has been a huge learning curve for me over the last 10 years. (You can see my very first sugar rose and the progression through to some of my most recent roses below) but I have loved finding my own style and continuing to develop my skills.

I’m a huge Disney fan, so when I’m not making wedding cakes my favourite thing to do is visit Disney World with my family. But like most people, any holidays have been postponed for the foreseeable future, so I’ll be watching the Christmas parade on Youtube this year instead of in person. 🎄

2020 has been a very different year for everyone, and the impact on the wedding industry has been huge. (more on that in tomorrows challenge prompt!), but I have loved having some extra time available to launch my new online course, ‘Sugar Rose Artistry’ and membership ‘Sugar Flower Artistry’. It has been a lot of fun teaching again and very rewarding seeing all the amazing progress my students have been making.

Pivot

The next prompt in the #meetthemakerweek challenge was ‘Pivot’. This is something that so many businesses have had to do this year. I know we have! We started this year with over 100 wedding cake bookings for 2020, but have ended up with only 5 wedding cakes! It has been really difficult time for both couples and wedding suppliers.

But, thankfully the majority of people have postponed, rather than cancelled weddings and I’m really looking forward to the time we can get back to weddings again!

So, to pivot the business during this time I decided to move forward the launch of my first online course. I had originally planned to create and launch this next year. But during the first lockdown I had time to create and recorded everything and we launched our 8 week online course ‘Sugar Rose Artistry- A masterclass in creating and colouring sugar roses and the art of creating sugar flowers’ in August.

We have just finished the course with our first group of students and we’ve had such amazing results! Here are some of our Sugar Rose Artistry students beautiful sugar roses!

I’m going to be offering this course again early next year and we have quite a few people already on the waiting list! You can sign up for the waiting list over at sugarroseartistry.com/join if you’re interested in joining us next year. We also have created the Sugar Flower Artistry- membership where we are teaching a different sugar flower each month to our members.

New for Christmas

We have a brand new free tutorial available! All about how to use petal and lustre dusts to create an iridescent effect on sugar anthurium flowers. This is such a lovely unique flower to make and perfect for the next #meetthemakerweek challenge prompt ‘New for Christmas’

I hope you enjoy the tutorial! Make sure to tag me if you have a go at using this technique, I’d love to see how you use it in your flowers or cake designs. You can watch then free tutorial here sugarflowerartistry.com/free

Silver lining

The next prompt in the #meetthemaker challenge was ‘silver-lining’

One of the silver-linings of this year has definitely been having more time to work on my online sugar flower classes. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while, and its been so much fun! Even though I really had to get out of my comfort zone to actually get on video! I think I must have re-recorded my first video about 10 times!

My favourite sugar flowers to make are roses and I’ve had a lot of requests for Rose tutorials, so this became the starting point for my first online course ‘Sugar Rose Artistry’. I really wanted to incorporate a module on pricing into the course too because I know so many people struggle with pricing. This is something that I really struggled with when I first started, I didn’t even know where to begin! But now after 10 years in business, I’ve developed a system to price my sugar flowers, and now I finally feel confident with pricing my flowers. In ‘The Art of Pricing Sugar Flowers’ I’m sharing my step by step system with you, so that you can work out a price for each and every sugar flower you make and start to feel more confident with pricing your work too.

I’ve also been able to start my Sugar Flowers Artistry Membership where I’m teaching a brand new sugar flower each month for my members. This month we are focusing on sugar flower foundations and are putting together our sugar flower essentials kit and making filler flowers including blossoms, billy buttons and Veronica flowers. We also have two petal dusting projects as well as an overview of all the elements and principles of sugar flower design. Enrolment for this is currently open, so come and take a look if you’re interested in joining us at sugarflowerartistry.com/join

2020 has definitely been a different year with so many wedding postponements, but there have been lots of positives too!

Community over Competition

I was so happy when I saw the next prompt for the #meetthemaker challenge ‘community over competition’. This was exactly what I had in mind when creating the sugar flower artistry community. I wanted it to be a really supportive space, where we celebrate all achievements along the way, no matter how small.

It makes me so sad to see beginners in cake groups saying that they don’t want to share photos of there work because it’s not good enough. But I can completely relate!

When I first started, I shared ALL my cake pictures and flowers on my blog and over in a Flickr cake group. I was a complete beginner, but I didn’t worry about sharing my work, I was really proud of everything I was creating. But then as I began to share my work on social media, I fell into the trap of comparing my work to others and started to hold back on what I was posting, always feeling like it was not good enough.

It’s so important to remember that everyone is at a different stage in their journey and to celebrate all the progress you’re making along the way. “Don’t compare your beginning to someone’s else’s middle.” -Jon Acuff 💕

Shop Small

The final prompt in the #meetthemaker challenge was Shop Small.

Make sure you take a look at some of the amazing makers who have been taking part in the #meetthemakerweek challenge. So many lovely and unique ideas for Christmas presents from lots of creative small businesses!

At the moment we have our Sugar Flower Artistry membership open for enrolment, which would make a great gift for anyone who loves sugar flowers (or perfect as a special treat for yourself! )

Or if you’re looking for a fun project, you can try our free iridescent anthrurium sugar flower tutorial. You can also sign up for our free sugar rose workshop coming up in January or join the waiting list for our 8-week Sugar Rose Artistry online course starting at the end of January. I’ll be sending out an exclusive special offer for everyone who has signed up on the waiting list. You’ll find all the links for these in our profile.

It’s been really fun taking part in the challenge. Thank you to everyone who has liked and commented on my posts over on instagram and thank you @joannehawker for organising it!

Sugar Flower Inspiration

September 18, 2020 Leave a Comment

Today we’re going to be talking about sugar flower inspiration. I’m going to be sharing some of the different ways I find inspiration for my sugar flowers and cake designs and we’ll also be chatting to sugar flower artists Maggie Austin, Arati Mirji and Jacqueline Butler about the inspiration behind their beautiful work.

About 8 years ago I was interviewed by a cake magazine and asked about where I find inspiration. I spoke about finding inspiration from nature, a clients wedding vision, fashion etc. and I finished the interview by saying and Pinterest of course, because I love Pinterest! I mean, who doesn’t!

I had only been making cakes for about 2 years, so I was really excited when the magazine came out. But that same day an article was released in which a very well respected designer talked about inspiration and how they took inspiration for their work from art, architecture and fashion, and that a true artist would never use Pinterest as a source of inspiration.

Well, immediately my heart sank. I had just said that I loved using Pinterest for inspiration! I felt so embarrassed. Who was I to talk about inspiration? I obviously didn’t know what I was talking about.

But the truth is, inspiration is such a personal thing. Looking back now, I know that Inspiration can come from anywhere and no one can tell you what’s right and wrong when it comes to what inspires YOU. So many different things have inspired my cake designs and sugar flowers over the years. And yes, by the way, I do still love Pinterest!

Everyone finds inspiration for their designs in different ways but the most important thing is to keep working, creating and moving forward and never let other people’s opinions hold you back.

“Inspiration does exist but it must find you working” Pablo Picasso

So today I’m sharing some of my favourite sources of inspiration with you. I have also asked some amazing sugar flower artists to share where they find there inspiration, so we can get an insight into their design process. It’s really interesting to see how everyone approaches things differently. We’ll be hearing from sugar flower artists Maggie Austin, Arati Mirji and Jacqueline Butler all about their sources of inspiration.

Let’s start with some of my favourite sources of inspiration for my cake designs and sugar flower work.

Nature

Getting hold of real flowers is an amazing starting point, because you can really study in detail the structure of the flower, as well as the colouring, and then use all this information when creating your sugar flowers.

Floral designers.

I love to look at the work of floral designers to gather inspiration, especially for sugar flower arrangements. Floral designers are experts in the elements and principles of flower arranging, so you can learn so much from studying their work. Here are some of my favourite floral designers to follow on instagram for inspiration.

First up is Floral Artist & five time Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medalist @josephmassie who posts gorgeous sculptural floral arrangements.

Next up is @london_blooms. Katya posts photo diary of her London garden and posts the most beautiful monthly botanical style posters

I absolutely love watching Nicoles IGTVs @textureflorals where she show all the flowers she is using that week in her arrangements. She talks about her colour palettes and how the flowers she has selected all work with each other. So inspiring!

@wedluxe provides ‘inspiration through a global lens of fashion, art, and design’. Floral designers are showcased from around the world, along with amazing luxury weddings, so it’s a must follow account for inspiration.

I love the unique colours and the beautiful arrangements that include lots of anthuriums at @dk_flowers_house. I’m busy making some sugar anthuriums at the moment, so I’m getting a lot of inspirations for how I could arrange them on a cake from looking at their gorgeous arrangements.

Sugar Flowers- Anthuriums by Sugar Ruffles

Clients

When a bride and groom come to me for for a wedding cake consultation they usually have a clear vision for their wedding in mind; the overall feel and look they are hoping to achieve. But are not always sure how this will translate into the wedding cake. So designing their cake is all about pulling together their vision and inspirations for their wedding into a beautiful cake design. I always ask clients to bring along any elements they would like incorporated into their cake design, such as colour palettes and swatches, fabric swatches, images of flowers etc. so then we can use all this as inspiration when designing their cake.

Seasons

The seasons also provide a lot of inspiration for my sugar flowers and cake decorating work. Everything from seasonal flowers, to colour palettes inspired by the changing seasons provide great starting points for new designs.

and Pinterest of course!

When I start a new sugar flower project I always set up a new Pinterest board to collect inspiration. I have boards set up for each individual flower I make and I pin images of many variations of each flower, so that I can study the colouring in detail. I also love to pin flowers arrangements and look at the different elements of flower arranging that have been used by the floral designer, as well as colour combinations. You can follow all my Pinterest boards here if you’d like to see what I have been pinning and what has been inspiring me lately.

Acclaimed Sugar Flower artist Arati Mirji has kindly shared the inspiration behind her beautiful sugar flowers with us and is giving us a little glimpse into her design process.

Where do I get inspiration for my creations?

From Nature of course! 😊

I very strongly believe that if one wants to create life like flowers or flowers as close to nature as possible; then the ideal way to go about it would be to try and get the actual flower and then try and copy it.

There is a wealth of information one can extract by observing a real flower with regard to –

How the petals and leaves are arranged;

Proportion of the center to the petals,

Size of the petals and leaves;

Coloring;

How the flowers and leaves are distributed on a twig and so much more!

I’m always on the look out for new and unusual flowers/ foliage that will excite and challenge me.

However, it is not always possible to have the actual flowers in front of us to create; and the next best option would be the internet. I try and get various pictures of the flower I want to create from different angles to guide me. I’m a huge fan of still life paintings and still life photography -both old and contemporary. Pinterest is a very good place to find inspiration.

Internationally acclaimed cake designer and sugar flower artist Maggie Austin has kindly shared some her thoughts on inspirations with us, as well as some great advice on embracing the imperfections.

I find inspiration everywhere. And I love the word “find” because there is an element of surprise in the discovery. If you look for it, it hides! Instead, I try to simply be open to the flow of visual information in the world around me. Walking my dog Bessie around the wetland preserve near our house or sanding down an ancient fireplace mantle or sitting on the porch during a rainstorm, watching the hydrangeas sag and drip; it all expands my visual vocabulary.

I work with students of all levels of experience and success often takes the shape of initial failure. A torn petal seems tragic at first! But then, your mind’s eye recalls that real petals do tear. Little bugs munch on them, the wind blows them around, and they finally turn brown and drop off. The flowers we make in workshops reflect our passions and our flaws. My students hear me say, “Embrace the imperfections” because flaws are so incredibly beautiful.

Jacqueline Butler, the artist and creative director behind Petalsweet Cakes shares some details about where she finds inspiration for her sugar flowers.

In my neighborhood! There are a lot of beautiful trails near my home where I run and walk regularly. I’m definitely inspired by all the wildflowers, trees, leaves, shrub roses and bougainvillea that grow along my favorite routes. The colors don’t change too much due to our lack of real seasons (I live in Southern California), but the tradeoff is pretty things are blooming all year round.

Online! I follow florists and flower farms on social media, and search for specific flowers on Pinterest. All are great resources for seasonal flowers, beautiful color palettes, and unique arrangements. I might see flowers together that I never thought of mixing, or a flower styled in a way that gives me an idea for how to shape my petals in a different way. Several of my favorites to follow online are Floret (@floretflower) and Grace Rose Farm (@gracerosefarm)!

Books, magazines and catalogs! Gardening and flower books are always a great resource for sugar flowers. There are so many stunning books available now, written by some of the wonderful florists I follow online. The books feature so many gorgeous photos, it’s hard to not want to make everything you see. Home décor magazines and catalogs often feature gorgeous arrangements, or other textiles like clothing, linens, and tile, that can inspire a color palette or cake design. I frequently cut photos out of catalogs and pin them to an inspiration board!

And finally, Design Seeds (@designseeds) on Instagram or their website! Not for flowers, but for incredible color palettes. If you have a base color you are starting with and need some supporting shades, or have no idea where to start, you will definitely find plenty of inspiration there!

Thank you so much to Arati, Maggie and Jacqueline for sharing the inspiration behind all your gorgeous work with us here at Sugar Ruffles Blog.

P.S If you’d like to be notified of our blog posts and upcoming sugar flower online workshops and tutorials you can sign up for our newsletter here. You can also check out our FREE sugar flower tutorial bundle here.

Sugar Flower Making Essentials

August 6, 2020 Leave a Comment

When I was just starting out in my cake business and I was a brand new cake maker, I thought that I needed every single piece of equipment to help me make beautiful sugar flowers. I could see all the amazing products available and thought I needed them all! Can you relate! ?

If you’ve been making sugar flowers a while you know how tempting it is to buy ALL the new sugar flower equipment! I fell into the trap of thinking that if I had all the new products that it would help me to make beautiful sugar flowers. If you’ve been there, you’ll know that gut wrenching feeling when you’ve spent hours on a sugar flower cake but you haven’t made any, or very little, money because you spent so much money on equipment that you didn’t really need.

So, I started concentrating on the sugar flower ESSENTIALS and then seeing how I could use the equipment I already had in multiple ways, instead of buying ALL the new equipment for every single new flower I made. This helped me to start making more money on my sugar flower cakes, and if you’re anything like me, making cakes with lots of beautiful sugar flowers and actually making some money from doing it, is the dream!

But, it can be overwhelming trying to figure out exactly what the essentials are. So I’ve put together a list of sugar flower making essentials. So you’ll know exactly what you’ll need to be able to create beautiful sugar flowers for your cake projects without breaking the bank.

So, let’s have a look at what to include in your sugar flower essentials starter kit.

1. FLORIST WIRE AND TAPE

Florist wires come in a variety of different thicknesses, known as the gauges. The two basic colours are green and white and are usually paper covered.18g is the thickest wire graduating down to 30g which is the finest.

Florist tape is used to tape wires together and cover the stem of rose. It sticks to itself but little else and comes in a range of colours. Hamilworth is my brand of choice for florist tape and florist wires and I use green and white wires for sugar flowers most often.

2. CELPADS

A firm foam mat is used for thinning and cupping petals and for ruffling edges. CelPads are my brand of choice for foam pads. I definitely recommend purchasing one solid foam pad and then one foam pad with holes so that you can create ‘mexican hat’ petals, using the holes.

3. CELBOARD

A Celboard is a hard board that has grooves in it. This board is used to create a central vein in petals and leaves in which florist wire can be inserted. It can also be turned over and used as a surface to roll out flower paste and cut out petals and leaves with cutters.

4. MODELlING TOOLS

For making sugar flowers you will need a a celpin or rolling pin (for rolling out flower paste and thinning the edges of petals), a ball tool (for thinning petal edges and creating ruffles), and a dresden tool (for adding texture and separating petals). You can use the larger end of a cell-pin in the same way as a ball tool.

5: POLY BUDS AND CENTRES:

It is important when you are making sugar flower for cakes, to make sure that your flowers aren’t too heavy for your cake. Otherwise when you add them to the cake they will pull on the icing on the cake and may leave gaping holes. To help eliminate any excess weight when making sugar flowers, I recommend using poly-bud centres for your roses and polystyrene balls of different sizes for the centres of any larger/heavier sugar flowers.

6. VEINERS AND CUTTERS

Cutters are used to cut out petal and leaf shapes and veiners are used to give flower petals and leaves realistic texture. My preferred veiners are by Sugar Art Studio, but there are lots of lovely petal and leaf veiners on the market. You can also buy multi-purpose cutters and veiners which are useful when you’re just starting out. You can then start to add specific flower cutter and veiners to your collection once you know which are the flowers you like to make the most.

7. STAMEN:

Many flowers need stamen to create a realistic look. There are a wide variety of pre-made stamen for sugar flowers available to buy.

8: FLOWER FORMERS:

Flower formers are used to shape and dry leaves and petals. For rose petals I recommend using desert spoons and for leaves I use bumpy foam. You can also use apple trays for shaping many types of larger petals, such as peony petals.

9. EDIBLE ITEMS:

You will need flower paste to make your sugar flowers. I highly recommend using Arati Mirji flower paste for your sugar flowers. Arati Mirji flower paste will hold its shape but remain flexible once dry. You want a paste that rolls out to be really thin and is smooth and easy to work with. Flower paste will need to be kneaded before using for optimal results. You will also need cornflour to dust your surface before rolling out your paste and an edible sugar glue.

10. PETAL DUSTS + FOOD COLOURING GELS

Petal dusts are used to add detailed colouring to your finished flowers and come in a wide range of colours. Food colouring gel pastes are used to colour flower paste. You can find my tutorial for how to organise your petal dusts here.

11. PAINTBRUSHES:

I recommend 3 main types of brushes for sugar flowers. A flat shader for highlighting veined areas, adding washes of colour and some finer details. A liner brush for getting in-between tight inner petals of sugar roses and a fluffy brush for removing excess dust and blending colours. You may also need some finer brushes for smaller sugar flowers.

12: MISCELLANEOUS TOOLS:

You will need wire cutters to cut your florist wires as well as some small scissors for adding details to your calyx and leaves. Small needle nose pliers can be used to bend wires as well as to help you when inserting and adjusting sugar flower arrangements on your cake

So, that’s all of the sugar flower essentials you will need to get started in making beautiful sugar flowers.

Make sure you’re signed up to our newsletter here, so you’ll be the first to here about our new blog posts and sugar flower tutorials.

Lovelace Rose Sugar Rose Workshop

August 4, 2020 Leave a Comment

Today I am sharing some details about my new FREE Lovelace Rose Sugar Rose Workshop

A FREE step by step video workshop on how to use petal dusts to Raise the Level of Artistry in your Sugar Roses

In this Workshop, you’ll learn :

-1-
How to transform your sugar roses using petal dusts
making the shift from creating standard sugar roses that look like everyone else’s,
to creating artistic sugar roses that will really stand out.

-2-
Step by Step
how to use petal dusts to colour a Lovelace sugar rose

-3-
Tips and techniques
to transform the way you use petal dusts to colour your sugar flowers

-4-
The little-known secret of how to clean your brushes as you work
so you’ll never need more than 3 brushes to dust your roses

Here’s a little sneak peek…

I’d love to invite you to my new FREE Lovelace rose workshop, A step by step video workshop on how to use petal dusts to Raise the Level of Artistry in your Sugar Roses.

I’ll also be telling you more about my brand new online sugar flower course Sugar Rose Artistry

Choose the time that works best for you here and please share with any of your friends that you think would love this.

I can’t wait to see you there!

How to mix the Perfect shade of Dusky Pink for Sugar Flowers

July 28, 2020 Leave a Comment

Today I’m sharing my new guide- ‘How to mix the Perfect shade of Dusky Pink for Sugar Flowers’.

Dusky pink is the most requested colour by my brides, when I’m making their wedding cakes, so I have made a lots of different shades of dusky pink over the years.

I use food colouring gels to colour my flower paste when making sugar flowers. By mixing different gel colours together you can make so many different shades!

Here is a little look a dusky pink memory lane sugar rose I have been working on. I coloured the flower paste dusky pink before adding petal dusts to create the finished rose.

In my free guide I’m going show you how to:

? use colour theory to help guide you when mixing colours for sugar flowers

? mix neutral colours with pink to create a variety of dusky pink colours.

? mix the exact dusky pink colour I use as a base for my Lovelace sugar roses

You can download your free copy here

How to mix the Perfect shade of Dusky Pink for Sugar Flowers

There are a few different ways to mix the perfect dusky pink. We’re going to explore the colours that we can create when we mix neutral colours with pink. Download your copy now to see all the different colours that you can easily create for your flower paste.