Cake! magazine by Australian Cake Decorating Network Februrary 2019 Cake! Magazine | Page 50

Sugarcraft Guild a few pictures of my
work. One of the ladies invited me to
conduct a demonstration at her home,
and shortly after this I was invited to
attend their teacher training course. I
was accredited by the BSG soon after
as a certified teacher.
I started teaching internationally, and
it became quite apparent that I could
make a living from the demand for
classes. I haven’t looked back, I enjoy
cooking, but my passion is the art of
recreating something out of sugar. I love
what I do.
You began as a self-taught artist,
but do you find yourself training with
others in the industry these days?
I started making sugar flowers 37
years ago, and all I have done is
practice practice and practice a little
bit more. Go ahead and take lessons
from a different spectrum of teachers,
then mould yourself with a style all
of your own. We all learn from our
mistakes. If the flowers we made in
the beginning were perfect then there
wouldn’t be any room for improvement.
I want to get to a stage where I can’t
tell the difference between a real rose
and a sugar rose. I have a long way to
go.
I love to share my techniques. This is
why I am a teacher - I want to share all
that I know. When I teach, I don’t hold
back any techniques that would make
my flower better than the students’,
no! I love to see the sheer joy on their
faces when they achieve results like
mine - it makes me so proud.
I have started to attend other teachers’
classes, purely to see their style of
teaching as I find this fascinating.
Every day we learn something new. I
love the feeling when I haven’t made a
and suggest using in the book. For
example, my brand of flower paste,
edible dust colours and range of tools.
What’s next for Sugar Flower Studio?
certain flower for a while, then realise
a totally new way of making it. It’s a
revelation and quite often you will see
me literally with tears of joy rolling
down my cheeks! I love my art.
Your signature style is to produce
botanically correct florals. Do you ever
create ‘fantasy’ flowers or is it important
for you to stay true to your style?
I am continually expanding my range
of botanically correct silicone veiners
and cutters. I love making new moulds.
It’s so rewarding after the countless
hours of hard and tedious work to
see the end product, then using it to
recreate Mother Nature herself. I adore
the process and feel extremely proud
so far of what I have managed to
recreate in silicone.
What are your three favourite tools for
creating sugar flowers?
I would say that in some classes I
need to alter the formation of a flower,
for example a peony. It’s impossible
to recreate exactly the structure of
the real plant species in the allocated
course time; however I do explain
and cover the procedure in the
masterclasses if students were going
to recreate that particular flower for a
competition piece. Firstly, always use botanically correct
veiners to achieve the best and most
natural results. Secondly, my thumbs!
People who have attended my courses
will know why thumbs are so important!
I advise to use corn floured thumbs
and fingers to go around the edges of
any leaf or petal to thin the paste first
before using a ball tool. And lastly,
I always use a large metal ball tool,
as this helps stretch the flower paste
without adding so many ruffles.
Tell us about the design process for
your range of botanically correct
cutters and veiners. Do you have any advice for decorators
wanting to improve on their sugar
flower skills?
When I decide on a new species of
plant to replicate as a two-part mould,
it needs to pass a rigorous grading
process first. I choose each petal,
leaf, bud, flower centre, fruit, nut,
bark or shell with the utmost care
and specification. Qualities I look for
in each specimen are the contours,
shape, vein structure and size
gradients.
Both the Sugar Flower Studio range
by Robert Haynes and Simply
Nature Botanically Correct Products
range (which can be found at
www.SugarDelites.com) are made
using exactly the same procedures
and highest food grade platinum-
based silicone.
Do you have plans to publish a book in
the future?
I must admit, one day there will be a
book. I had a thought last year that it
would be sensible to write and publish
a book, when all of my key products
are available for me to cross reference
• A
 lways knead your flower paste
and get it really warm to help the
length of time you can work with it
• C
 ut your floral wire at an angle -
this helps to insert the wire much
better into the flower paste.
• R
 epeat, repeat, repeat. It will get
better and better the more you
practice.