i have a fairly small portfolio of work, pretty much the pics you see on my profile, there are a few more but not dozens.....is this enough to get started or do i need to make some more dummies to show potential clients ? am having the wobbles that i am not really good enough and wondering whether to keep as a hobby till i have a more extensive portfolio ?

thanks for reading x
(am in uk by the way )

I think your cakes and cookies are awesome and you should def do it.
About needing more pics, I'm not completley sure

I have been on many websites and some only have a few pics to look at, so you may have plenty of each (cookies and cakes)

you have over a dozen of just cakes, so that is probably plenty.

If you are going to be doing wedding cakes though, you may need more pics of those....

thanks Veronica , i really appreciate your reply, i think you are right, some more wedding cakes needed, i am making another one in a few weeks and plan to make some dummies to build up the pics ! they cost money though so need to plan carefully to try to showcase a variety of styles i guess . . .

Buy some dummies, decorate them up, scrape it all off and use them again! Saves tons of money AND builds your portfolio.

i tried this before but couldnt get all the icing off, the polystyrene was coming away and it was a right mess, how do i reuse dummies please ?!

oh yes if you can just scrape it off that is the way to go

Just check your prices everywhere, some places I have found may have the sell price slightly higher but the shipping is ALOT cheaper and costs less in the end.

You can also do one dummy with fondant, then do very minimalist decorations on it--Nothing on the sides, just a small ribbon at the bases, some flowers on top. etc. Then take all of that off and decorate it differently, maybe a little more elaborately. Then take off as much as you can and keep going. You should be able to get 3 or 4 different looks out of one dummy that way!

Also remember that you can just decorate one side of the dummy and leave the other side blank. As long as you're photographing it from one side only nobody will be the wiser, and it will give you a clean surface to work on the other side.

veronica you got me confused here talking about shipping costs ?!?!?!

thanks for tips on dummies though, i had thought about that, various looks from one or 2 dummies, good plan

newmansmom thank you very much, the painted cake was done with melted cocoa butter and dust colours, a really lovely medium to use

I hear you can toss the cake dummies in the dishwasher, but I can't vouch for that...

I have two books I show brides: book of pics of cakes I've made, and a book of cakes I've printed off of the internet. What I tell them is:

"Making cakes is like any other craft, like knitting. If I can knit, then I can follow any pattern and make any sweater. (Touch the book of my cakes .... ) This books shows you I can knit. (Tough the book of internet pics..... ) This is the pattern book."

So if you dont' have a lot of pics yet, you can explain it this way. Just because you haven't actually made a particular cake yet, doesn't mean you can't!

indydebi, you have a marvellous way with words, what a perfect solution thank you. x

[quote="sugarsugargal"]indydebi, you have a marvellous way with words, what a perfect solution thank you. x

She really does, She is one Great lady

sugarsugargal -- I love the way you set up and arrange your backgrounds. The pictures look really nice -- not just straight on and ordinary.

PinkLisa thankyou ! thats a lovely comment x

What is that pink and green circle background made from?

Your work is clean and beautiful. You are very talented and should have no problem selling these works of art. Good luck and post your bakery pics once you're established!

I just looked through your pics sugarsugargal and I think everything is beautifully done. All your cakes, cupcakes and cookies are wonderful. If you plan on selling all of these I would think maybe to start have a half a dozen pictures of each. I know you have enough cookies and birthday cakes but you might want to do as everyone recommended and do a few more for the wedding and possibly cupcakes. I can't wait to see what you come up with.


Threads for cleaning dummies:
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-636634-dummies.html
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-636161-dummies.html
http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-645889-dummy.html+fondant

I also meant to say your cakes are very beautiful, go for it. You will do an amazing job

thanks to all for your amazing support, Pink Lisa the background you were asking about is some gift wrap glued onto a board simple ! thanks again to all of you xx

sugarsugargal, your work is absolutely gorgeous!! You have an amazing gift. All the best to you. You will do well.

I love Angelina Ballerina, how did you make those tiny flowers?

Echoo3 thank you so much, what a lovely message, the flowers were so simple, a blossom plunger i thnk it is called ? , you can get them online or many cake craft shops, you roll your fondant /gum paste and cut then press the plunger to place the flower on the cake

I thin your work is excellent as as good as any cake decorators I have seen in the UK. Plus a lot of the decorators that I have seen only really do occassion cakes so the fact that you are also able to offer a wider range of products like your fab cookies and cupcakes will allow you to get even more business and perhaps even grow a wedding order from the cake to also favour cookies too. I understand your nerves but they are unfounded. Are you taking a retail space or are you going to work from home?

Eilidh thank you so much for the encouragement, it really means a lot. I am going to be working from home as soon as we move into our new house, and then who knows, one day it would be wonderful to have a shop but that really is for a long time in the future . . . i need to build up a clientele as we are moving to a new area so i cant keep any of my current customers but we are moving to a more affluent area so hopefully i can charge what i should be charging finally

In that case I would go for it asap as you have no outlay beyond marketing and ingredients and other usable items! There are loads of free(ish) marketing things you can do too (I used to do marketing for Debenhams), e.g. comps in the local press etc... E x