Crossing New Borders

I recently decided it was time to cross over into new borders. As I said in my last post, I had been watching some videos and reading some instructions for making flowers and borders. The borders weren't quite as fun to practice as the flowers, but I now have more options for the next time I make a cake.

The first border I tried was made up of little rosettes, side by side. It was fairly simple, because it was the same motion as a regular size rosette, you just have to keep the shape a lot tighter, and you only make one loop around the center.

Then I tried a rope border, which I really liked, but I think it would take a lot of frosting to go around a whole cake. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. You just start with the bag at a 45 degree angle, apply a little pressure, and at the same time start moving the tip in a circle in the air, so it looks like a bunch of rings stacked up next to each other.

Little rosettes border (left), rope border (right).

The video I watched to create the rope border is a little different than the Wilton instructions, so I think I will try that one next time and see which one is easier.

The next day I was practicing leaves, and had the idea to use the leaf tip to try a rope border, to see how that would look.

Rope border with a leaf tip

I really liked the way it turned out. Hopefully it will make a nice complement to one of my future cakes. 

The next border I tried was the reverse shell. Basically you start with the bag at 45 degree angle, and you make a bit of a question mark shape. Then you start at the end of the question mark shape, and you do make the opposite shape, almost like a "c" with a tail.

Reverse shell border

After that I decided to try some garlands that I saw in a YouTube video from Global Sugar Art. You use a rose petal tip, and start with the bag at a 45 degree angle and the thin end of the tip closest to you. Then you apply a little pressure, and move the tip up and down, not changing the angle, and as you move the tip up and down, make a wide "u" shape. Then I added a rope border on top of the ruffles. You actually pipe these around the sides of a cake, right next to each other, so it's more of a decoration than a border.

Ruffled garland (top), ruffled garland with rope border on top of it (bottom)

Of all of these borders, I had the most fun making the ruffles with the rope border, because I liked how much dimension and color it had. Unfortunately I'm not as big of a fan of how it looks on a cake. It's a little too frilly for me. Maybe I can come up with something similar, that I can use as an actual border, instead of side decorations. Either way it was worth the effort to venture across these new borders, and I look forward to putting my creativity skills to use and coming up with my own unique designs.