Yep, they are the same. You can make all kinds of things out of them. If you look the the galllery you will see it used many times. Also if you take a wilton class, I think it is 2 they teach you lots of cool flowers with it. Or you can just get the book at the store and teach yourself. Most of them are fairly easy to self teach. It is all about the consistancy though. And make sure you keep it covered when you are not using it, even if you are decorating cover what is in the bowl with a damp cloth. Also you need to whip it back up if you store it and go back to use it again, it will not work right if you dont, nice thing is it stores well for quite a while.
Sorry got babbling, Good luck, it is fun for sure. I have used it lots of times. I even made turkey tails for my cupcakes out of it. You can get really creative with it, you will never want to buy in the store again.
