Hi there,

I am REALLY needing to improve my bow making skills. I have looked at the tutorial here but just can't seem to get them right.

Doe anyone have any help for this gal who should is struggling with this?

Maybe the instructions contained in the link in my sig will help. See below --

Not sure what kind of bow you are trying, but if it's a loopy one...

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-582750.html

I made on my blog a tut for a bow. It's in german, but the pictures are detailed and you should go without english discription.
On the right side of the blog is the google translator....

http://tortentante.blogspot.com/2009/08/anleitung-fur-eine-schleife-aus-fondant.html

The important step is allow the loops to dry over night.


Sorry for my bad english!

For a regular bow, Edna's tutorial is very good!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOTdwsbgDV8&feature=channel_page

DianeLM, have you posted pics in another topic? My trouble comes with "gluing" the bows together. I seem to have a crater in the center where the ends of the loops go. I try building up the chocolate, but it runs & looks messy (non-cakers would never notice). but how do you build up the center so your center top loops aren't looking like they are sinking? Mine haven't looked like that, but I have sooooo much chocolate in the center b/c of building it up & it makes the bow sooooo heavy that I feel i have to use dowels to support it. Do you make the top loops longer so they'll fit down in the "hole"?

I hope that makes sense.

Dandelion, I don't have pictures yet, but I know exactly what you're talking about.

Having a huge hole in the center is not a problem as long as each consecutive layer of loops is placed closer and closer to the center. That way, by the time you need to stand loops up to fill in the center, there will be either a very small hole or no hole at all.

I try to leave enough of a 'tail' on the loops to fill in the hole as I'm building the bow.

I actually make my top loops SHORTER because they don't need to start way down at the base of a hole.

I hope that all made sense!

It does. So when you pinch your loops together you just make sure you the piece you pinch is longer?

Sometimes I have to take a small pair of scissors to trim my pinched edges because they're TOO long.

I try to pinch together a good 1/2 to 3/4 inch tail on each loop. The loops fit together so much nicer this way. It's basically just gluing tails together, not the actual loopy part of the loop.

Geez, pictures would really help... That will be my project for the coming week.

It clarifies my question. If I hadn't made them maybe it would, but it helps me a lot! Thanks

Using the loopy bow technique I posted above, you don't need chocolate at all (or any "glue"). That's what I found so easy about it.