Good evening,

I'm looking for 20 or 22 gauge colored wires (blue, pink, violet, red, black, silver, gold). I've found 12 different shades of blue, red, pink, violet and other colors of 20 gauge wire on the UK e-bay but it was the last item and they are no more available.

Also looking for good quality painting brushes. I have many of them but they usually don't last more than one or two months. Can anybody recommend suppliers of these items? Thank you in advance!

I think I remember seeing colored wires at Lindy's Cakes and SugarCity. HTH.

For the paint brushes.... what are brand are you using now? And what are you painting with/on?

I have different brushes for each application - my favorite are artist quality synthetic art brushes for controlled paint work...

Thanks both for your replies!

kathyw: I've checked the sites, they are really interesting. Unfortunately as in other on-line cakedeco shops, the colored wires go only upto 24 - 26 gauge and it's still too thin (I've already bought them). Of course I've found other 'must haves' on the sites you mentioned - cakedeco curse stroke again.

Lisa: I don't know what brand they are - most of them. I've bought them from on-line cakedeco shop which repackes them and sells under their name. They are probably the best - IMO they are synthetic. But they don't last a lot. Others are Culpitt (pony hair) and don't like them a lot. I mostly paint on fondant and GP - vodka-gel color mix or apply edible food colors, luster dusts, glitter.

Yeah.... if the hairs of your brush look like a bottle brush, you're not going to have any control.

A good place to start is a "one-stroke" brush kit from some place like Michaels.

I tend to favor Simmons and Royal Langnickel...

Not trying to self-promote (too much), here's a link to my How-To on Cocoa Butter painting that goes over brushes in more detail: http://chefrubber.com/index.php?page=cru

Royal Langnickel seem quite good and I can order them from the UK. Thanks a lot for the tip! The books are great, everything is explained really well. Wafer paper molding and sculpting would be interesting techniques to try. I will probably order all three books if they ship abroad. Thanks again.

Paula,

I'm very glad the How-To's were helpful.
They are handouts my husband and I wrote and photographed for my classes - so, sadly, no book yet!

Lisa