Shirley's party advice part 6 - don't be afraid to interrupt us!

[Tinkerisdead]

Okay, this is shirley's party advice part 6. Shirley ducked out a while ago and you'll notice us chatting about all kinds of stuff whilst we wait for party planners to barge in.

So, don't lurk, jump in and chat. We'll give you any advice on parties from costumes to cakes....

How cute is this

Need to get on with DD's bedroom make over and make this to go on her bed :)

But it doesn't have a dragon on....

It could do....

Ok, DW, I will attempt puffins on Thursday and hope they are dry enough to paint by Saturday. Fortunately I don't think it will need to travel as they are coming to us.

The extruder has arrived. Judging by the tiny holes this may take a while!!

Im gonna cheat with a cake mix for the actual baking.

Does it only have one disk ? Mine had at least 2 sizes of 'hair'

Yeah they have tons of disks but the holes look like they are gonna make fine fine spaghetti which may take a while making a big monster?

Mine has a moderate spaghetti and also a single strand hole as well as the fine spaghetti (which is good for hair on figures but no good for monster hair IMO)

So if you made say a 20cm sandwich tin cake which would you use to create a muppet looking monster? And im debating whether to pump out lots of shorter chunks or huge long wiggly spaghetti and cut it to size/layer it on

I think I would use the single hole, for the shaggy rug look, but maybe the medium one if you want a sleeker monster? Personally I find it easier to attach it as I go along rather than handling it too much - you can always give him a haircut (with scissors rather than knife) afterwards.

If i use a single hole its gonna take years cos i want that multiple layer look. My bloomin' nozzle hasnt arrived so i cant do buttercream even if i want to.

Medium one, then. Can you colour the crumb coat buttercream so that if any bits do show through it won't be so noticeable?

Let's face it, it is going to take a long time whichever way you do it. It will be worth it, though.

Bingo stingo this woman has used fondant but shes used a potato ricer. Thats the look i want and my gun's spaghetti looks like its gonna make too fine a fur.

She makes strips of fringing and then attaches them . That seems uneccesarily complicated to me - I would just apply hair direct to monster (except that she is doing stripy monster, which is harder). The potato ricer is a good call for mass production of hair, though.

Why not get a playdoh extruder thingy from Craftplay? It'd be dirt cheap and might get a similar effect. I bought a set of 4 for next to nothing when in there once

I've got a mouli you could borrow but I'm not sure it'd be thick enough for what you want and the way it forces the food through might mean that your hair would break apart easily.

Because i just spent money on this gun damn it!

I think i have a playdoh thing with bigger holes. Humph i wanna use my new gadget but i think its too fine for the scale of monster. And my friend is making her cake tomorrow..with my kit. I want my kit sob.

Do you actually own a potato ricer, DW?

I was thinking (in the 4 hours in which I was trying to sleep last night before a very scary presentation this morning) that if you do, you could get approximate hairy coverage on your monster using that, and then give him a 'top knot' or complete top coat if you get carried away of thicker strands with the extruder?

No i used to but i chucked it.

Mil offered me one a couple of months back and i laughed at her as she cant cook a potato let alone rice one. Its almost an hour to hers and i always ice a cake board but my friend has my smoother!

I'll make the actual cake and crumb coat it, then move on to the fondant worries not to mention cracking open the cake pop maker.

Maybe the friend who has your smoother has a potato ricer you could borrow?

Board - ice it anyway in green fondant and texture it into grass with a (clean) scrubbing brush - much more appropriate for a monster than perfect smoothness anyway. Any major flaws can be disguised with strategically placed rocks later.

Or, I'll bring you my smoother when I come over on Saturday?

I don't have a ricer but you're welcome to try the mouli...

Arghhhh why didnt i read your board tip earlier stealth!

The monster is half made. Cake pops need dipping/decorating im nervous about those. Stealths extruder is making some nice hair/fur not quite ricer chunkiness but its good and not as time consuming as i feared but because its so fine i iced the whole cake but thinly and sticking the fur to that.

I put him on a chopping board because its you know, only dh, and you can see the cake card cos once i thought its only dh then i let things go but ive enjoyed making this one the most purely because there's no pressure for it to be perfect.

Thanks for the offer of tool blathers. Isnt it weird that a stranger from the internet ends up at my childs school fair. If dh is with me he'll be like this if i say this is blathers you know my party friend lol.

That's me. A stranger from the internet

I should be there at 12-ish. I'm Parkrun-ning before I come up.

Did you both have fun?

I have broken a puffin and undercooked a rock. Not a great afternoon.

It was a very quick catch up. We talk so much on here, there's not a lot to say

Sorry to hear about the the busted bird :(

'twas my fault. I dropped him trying to paint the underside of his wings. Replacement puffin (it had to be the flying one, so no chance of repair) is now drying and cake number 2 is in the oven.