Heehee, militant Canucks, can you imagine, haha!
When I visited Calgary, I got to meet Kiddiekakes and went to see her favourite store, PM Hobby. Wow, they have a lot of stuff! Check out any kitchen or restaurant supply stores you have in your areas, they usually have some neat stuff. Especially the stores that supply commercial establishments. If your local community college offers baking courses and such, contact them and see if they can order things for you too.
Heehee, at one time, you couldn't get Wilton products even unless you ordered from their yearbook. So we have come a long way, just not far enough, haha! There are cake sites in England that you can order from and they are actually faster than many Canuck and American sites.
Heehee, now you know how our Canadian military feels, working with outdated equipment, if any. It makes you more resourceful, trust me, haha!
I took to using car mats to make impressions on fondant so I could space out my Swiss dots. Used stencils from paint and wallpaper stores. All sorts of things.
When I first came on the Wilton site, there were hardly any Canucks, at least hardly anyone that admitted being a Canuck. Now there are lots of us everywhere. At first we got ignored on a lot of the sites, now only a few sites behave like that, not this one! Heck, there is even a site owned by a Canuck.
Is there is Jo-Ann's fabrics where any of you live? It is an American operation, I believe there is now one in Toronto. Anyway, some of the stores carry Wilton stuff and they have fabulous materials and craft supplies, especially at their Superstores. I have been to one in Syracuse New York.
Some Homeoutfitters and HomeSense and even some Loblaw's stores carry some Wilton products.
Some Dollar Stores carry stuff that is useful too, I like the Dollaramma stores. I can get organza favour bags for weddings dirt cheap. Craft stores have a lot of useful items too, in the clay molding areas etc. There are impression mats that can be used for fondant in those sections too.
Go to building supply stores like Rona or Home Depot to get plywood bases for heavier cakes cut. Also, plexiglass for buttercream transfers. Masonite for smaller cakes. You can get woodgraining tools that were meant to put fake wood grains on furniture, they work great on buttercream and fondant and such.
Paint and wallpaper stores carry "Mylar" at better prices than the craft stores. You can use Mylar to make stencils and also for making cake collars for when you are making a chocolate sleeve around the sides of a cake.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes
I actually just sent Bakerycrafts an email but I think they just deal with businesses and not just little ole me! I work part time for a local Dairy Queen decoratig the cakes, so I'm going to see if my boss ever orders from there. If so, maybe he could get what I'm looking for. We'll see! We don't have bulk barn, just Michaels and 2 small cake dec shops that are waaaay out of date on the latest! I've learned so much on my own now through books and the internet and boards that I've outgrown them! sigh
