If I haven’t already said before (hahaha) Fall/Autumn is my absolute favourite time of year. I can’t tell if it’s the warm colours or just the fact that the evenings draw in earlier, cue candles and blankets. It is so cosy and makes me feel amazing. Summer and I do not gel, for personal reasons and for piping. It’s a nightmare isn’t it in the summer? It’s not until you get to Autumn that you realise how much easier piping is, when the weather is colder. Smooth petals, set quicker, no smudging onto the tissue paper.
On that note, I have a tip for you when it comes to the buttercream bleeding onto the tissue paper! For those that live in hotter climates, I take my hat off to you having to deal with this for most of the year, I don’t envy you at all. So, credit to one of my students, and I still don’t know who so I can’t @ them to credit them publically, but this is not my tip, I am not claiming to be the one that came up with this.
When you wrap your bouquets and you lay out the cellophane then the tissue paper you then add another layer of cellophane! ‘GAME CHANGER’ don’t get me wrong it’s a pain in the arse trying to make the cellophane lay on top of the tissue paper as it’s static but it’s worth it. You then don’t have that fear like I used to when you wake up in the morning dreading what happened to your bouquet overnight. LOL you can just wrap happily knowing that the bouquet is perfectly imperfect.
As you’ve probably seen I am pumpkin mad….. I came up with these a couple of years ago and I absolutely love them. Remember, you can pipe them in different colours, because if you search on Google you can see naturally they come in a variety of colours. Not just orange. Lots of you are asking how I get that two-toning on my pumpkins. I only ever two-tone one way now.
TWO TONING
Pop your tip in your piping bag snip the end… then squirt a small amount of gel colouring straight into the piping bag. Rub the piping bag between your hands so you make the gel colouring completely cover the piping bag. Then add your coloured buttercream… It’s such a faff trying to add coloured buttercream, so give this a try, if you see any of my cupcake bouquets and see two toning this is how I do it.
On that note, I have also had so many messages asking me how I piped the mini pumpkins (making them like little gourds)?
If you look at the nozzle I use for my large pumpkins, look at the end of it. What is the opening? It’s a round nozzle, so what do you think I use for the minis? A smaller round nozzle. I try and encourage all of my students to think logically which is not meant to sound patronising at all. I’m always trying to push my students to think. This rule applies to most of my flowers, I say most because it doesn’t apply to all. For example, you use the same nozzle for my Delicate Petal Rose as you do for my Delicate Petal Mini Roses. A Large Petal Rose uses a 125, Small Mini Roses use a 104. Again, look at the shape of the nozzle. They are both exactly the same opening, just a smaller version.
For the mini pumpkins, you can use any nozzle that is a small round opening. So, it can be an 8,10,12 any of these. I still used a 352 for the leaves, just don’t squeeze as hard and you end up with a smaller leaf. So far as the swirly parts, again you can use any, 1,2,3,4 whichever you like because, again they are just round openings.
Colours for autumn, burnt oranges, wine red, plum, brown, mustard yellow and yellows.
To achieve mustard yellow, I use my Lemon or Progel Lemon then add a tiny amount of brown this just tones down the vibrancy of the yellow which can be quite neon.
To achieve Burnt Orange, I personally use my pumpkin colour and line the piping bag with either Progel Strawberry or Progel Wine Red; it makes such a stunning colour.
For the leaves, line your piping bag with my plum or wine red colour and then add green buttercream, which makes such stunning leaves. You can do this with brown, too if you want a more autumnal shade.
I hope this helps you all? Be adventurous and have a play with different coloured pumpkins “gourds” you can make them stripy too. Playing is fun remember.
Lots of love,
Jane x
How about these BEAUTIFUL Autumn/Fall Inspiration images by my super-talented students?
How beautiful is their work! WOW!
