Leah,
The SPS people should be paying you commissions! You deserve it! 
Thanks for sharing Leah! You are a world of help and support to us cake newbies!
Thank you so much Leah!!! The directions are wonderful... you're the best!
Glad to hear you're back home.
I am sure that I have made this harder that it really needs to be but,
I have a couple of questions:
I ordered the legs you specified in the tutorial. It came with the ridged grecian columns and the 2" columns with notches on the bottom lip. Which do I use? I looks like you are using only the grecian ones....but what are the others for?
And second. I use 1/2 foam core for the base of my layers. Do you think that it matters if I use that? I know the center notch won't go all the way through, but it should lodge in there well enough right?
Also, do you push the plate all the way down before you put the next layer on OR do you leave it up a bit so it will be push down by the weight of the cake?
Thanks so much for your time and help.
Julia
I ordered the legs you specified in the tutorial. It came with the ridged grecian columns and the 2" columns with notches on the bottom lip. Which do I use? I looks like you are using only the grecian ones....but what are the others for?
I honestly don't have a clue what you've got, unless you ordered the multi-piece legs. Those are generally for cakes with separations or, I suppose, really tall cakes. I use the GC-4s. They come in a bag of 12 pieces, each one 4" in length.
And second. I use 1/2 foam core for the base of my layers. Do you think that it matters if I use that? I know the center notch won't go all the way through, but it should lodge in there well enough right?
Well, since the legs only give you 4" of height, and you're devoting 1/2" of that to foamcore, your cake could only be 3.5" tall. Remember with SPS your cardboard is sitting on a sturdy plastic plate. Really, truly, a regular cake carboard will be fine. The extra sturdiness you wanted when using dowels, and your decision to use the foamcore, just isn't needed with SPS. You've already got the sturdiness of the plasticplate and leg assembly. That thing isn't going anywhere. You just don't need the foamcore.
Also, do you push the plate all the way down before you put the next layer on OR do you leave it up a bit so it will be push down by the weight of the cake?
I do push the plate and leg assembly all the way in, but that's jsut personal choice. No real reason, and either way should be fine.
thanks a mil... hope things look up for you soon Leah, I know the feeling, we were Katrina run aways!
Hey leah, I guess I must be dense this week. If I use the foam core instead of the cardboard, why would I lose .5 inch? The columns don't actually go into the cardboard right? They just rest on the board below. So I think the cake would be 4.5" right? That is what I was going for...the extra height without extra cake....
Thank you so much. Julia
Hi Everyone! Leahs asked me to let everyone know (especially my fellow ontarians and canadians) that a bakery supplier in toronto called L&M bakery supplies can order the bakery craft SPS products and they ship accross canada.
I placed my order for 3 round and 3 square and 24 pillars and the price was approx $30 CDN. They have to order it in. It took a couple weeks to get to T.O. and then she shipped it to me overnight. You can go to L&M to pick up your order if you are local enough but their hours are only 9-4:30 monday to friday.
They were really nice to deal with. I would recommend ordering from them if you are in canada and and want to avoid giant minimum international orders or hate paying duties when getting stuff in from the US. Just remember it does take about 3 weeks to get to you.
well, that was a big "duh."
Yes, of course the SPS legs rest on top of the cardboard/foamcore. It occured to me a couple of hours after I posted that, that it was wrong. Yes, your cake woud still be 4" tall, but appear to be 4.5" tall due to the foamcore.
sorry.
Would very much love to read this, but I get "file is damaged and can't be repaired" message. Can anyone help me? (of course I'm windows stupid but I think I did everything right)
Me. too!
thanks, this is great! The only thing that worries me is that I never seem to get a 4 inch cake 
!
I had another "duh" tonight as I was gathering up SPS supplies. If your tiers are 5" tall, then just use the multipiece legs, discarding all the extensions.
I don't think there's anything wrong with the file. I'm having a lot of issues downloading pictures from CC over the last couple of weeks. Right click and choose Open in New Window/Open in New Tab.
Okay, I have two questions, forgive me if they aren't the brightest questions.
1) Do the legs lock onto the lower plate or just rest on it?
2) do you get this back from customers, or is it just something they toss when done with it? Thanks!!
Keyshia
Leah, I just need to clarify something? This is NOT the same thing as the Wilton hidden pillars is it? I had the owner of a cake supply store tell me it was.
Also, I haven't tried torting yet, and different recipes I've tried come out different sizes once baked, so I was wondering if I can adjust with icing if they are a bit too short, or is that just a truly dumb question??! Thanks!
Leah, I just need to clarify something? This is NOT the same thing as the Wilton hidden pillars is it? I had the owner of a cake supply store tell me it was.
No, No a thousand times no!!
W's hidden pillars are all wiggly in the plate. SPS practically locks into place. In fact once you get the legs on the plate, you'll have a hard time pulling them opff the plate. You can build up with a little icing, or you can trim the legs, but the goal is to make your cake tier 4" tall.
Make SURE you order the GC-4S if you're planning a regular stacked cake with 4" tiers.
Order the multipiece legs if your cake has 5" tiers, or you are planning a cake with separations.
It's always good to have a package of the 9" pillars in the back of the closet, just in case you have to cut a different length.
And it's always a good idea to maximize your shipping costs. If you have cakes over the next few months, order all your supplies at once, since a lot of places have minimum shipping charges.
Just sayin'.
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