New Technique For Icing Sheets

I have been working with icing sheets lately and have been having great success with them. Icing Images has a new chocolate sheet that cuts very easily. As you can see in this example, the designs are very intricate.

Working with these icing sheets was quite easy. I did not remove the icing sheet from the backing sheet that the icing sheet came on. I used the Silhouette, so I had to trim about 3/4" from the edge of the icing sheet so the rollers on the Silhouette would not go over the icing sheet. Use an xacto knife and a ruler to measure the distance from the edge. Lightly score the icing sheet and pull the cut piece away. It is important that the rollers clear the icing sheet. I taped the icing sheet to the Silhouette carrier sheet and loaded it into the Silhouette. You need to do a practice cut to get the blade depth set. The knife needs to barely stick out of the end of the blade housing. In the controller window I found that using the cardstock paper as my paper type was a good weight to choose. When my design was finished being cut out, I removed the excess with a long quilt pin. A T pin or corsage pin will also work. I would slide the pin just under the icing sheet to loosen it from its backing page. I also used the pin to pick out the excess pieces in the center of the design. Carefully remove your cut design from the backing paper.

Attaching the designs to a cake can be done in several ways, depending on the type of cake you have. If you want to put the designs on a buttercream cake, you may want to chill the cake so the icing will firm up. I put my designs on the side of the cake and use my fondant smoother to apply a bit of pressure to the design. This will help the design stick to the cake and the side of the cake will stay smooth.

If you are attaching the designs to a fondant cake I would suggest you use shortening. If you apply water to the back of the design, it could smear color on the cake. Shortening will not do this. Use a soft brush and lightly brush some shortening where the design will go. Remove the design from the backing page and carefully put it on the cake. Use a small (about 3/4") clean, soft brush to brush over the design on the cake. This will help it stick to the side. When all the designs are on the side of the cake, work in the excess shortening with the soft brush. This will keep the cake from having shiny spots and have a consistent look.

You can also apply shortening to the back of the cut out design and then apply it to the cake. Use the small soft brush to brush over the design to help it stick to the cake.

If you need to reposition the design, carefully remove it and then put it in the correct spot.

Print and Cut Up-Date

Print and Cut is one of my favorite features of the Silhouette. The software program that comes with the Silhouette is excellent for this application. In the past I taught that the icing sheet needs to be removed from its baking paper and then applied to a piece of cardstock paper using shortening as an adhesive. This has worked well and was not to difficult to do. When I discovered that I could cut very intricate designs with the Icing Image sheets without removing them from the backing paper, I decided to try the same technique for print and cut.

I am showing this process step by step using the Silhouette Studio program.

Open the Silhouette Studio program. Make sure that LETTER and PORTRAIT are selected.

Open the window for the registration marks and make sure that SHOW REG MARKS is checked.

You will need to make some changes to the right and left registration marks. Change the setting to 0.800 for both the right and left setting.

Go to FILE and open up a folder with the image you would like to print. Select and import the image.

Trace the outline. Now put your icing sheet into the printer and print the design. You will need to remove a small amount of the icing sheet from each side. Be sure you do not cut into the registration marks. Lightly cut away 5/8" from each side. If your registration marks printed in the correct spot, then you will have only removed enough of the icing sheets to miss the rollers.

                        

Open the SILHOUETTE CUT SETTINGS window. Select PRINT PAPER-light, speed and thickness both set to 10 and make sure CARRIER SHEET is checked. When all of the setting are correct click on SEND TO SILHOUETTE.



Your image is printed so this option can be skipped.

Follow the instructions and click on CONTINUE.

Click on DETECT REGISTRATION MARKS.

Click on CUT PAGE and the Silhouette will cut out your image. If you have followed these steps, set the blade to the correct depth then you should get a good, clean cut.

Carefully peal away the excess. You can store your design on the backing paper, or carefully remove it to apply to your cake. Gently brush some shortening to the back to stick to the side of your cake.

I have found that when I use icing sheets from Icing Images I do not need to change the regestration marks or trim the sides of the icing sheet. The rollers will go over the edge of the icing sheet with no problems. The image cuts perfectly and can be applied directly to the cake with a small brushing of shortening on the back of the image.

                         

LINDA MCCLURE PROMOTES CRICUT CAKE!!

Is this an April fools joke?

In December of 2009 I was asked by Provo Craft to come to Utah to film a promotion for the new Cricut Cake machine. I agreed because I was still hoping PC was going to be working with me to promote my new method of cake decorating. We filmed this segment at Carrie Biggers shop. I had spent time with her several weeks earlier teaching her and her staff this technique.

This was the first time I had seen the new machine and my first thought was "all they did was change the color!". There were very few improvements made, and the changes were the ones I suggested.

If you look at any official Provo Craft advertisement of the Cricut Cake you will see that I have been edited out. I am sure they wish they had never asked me to do this in the first place!

No, I do not endorse the Cricut Cake in any way. I cannot and will not recommend that machine to anyone who wants to use electronic cutters for cake decorating. They threw me under the bus and now claim I had nothing to do with inventing the technique of using electronic cutters for cake decorating. Now the goal of Provo Craft is to make sure you cannot use any other program like Make the Cut with the Cricut. If you get a Cricut you will have to buy their expensive cartridges for designs.

Here is the video that was filmed, before I was cut out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ypINioSgWI&feature=related

Here I am at CHA 2010 with the launch of the Cricut Cake. I did leave after 3 days of this. I knew, without a doubt what was going on. I could not be apart of this any longer. Each time Jinger Adams told the crowd that I came to Provo Craft and asked them if they could make a machine to cut gum paste, I wanted to scream "It's all a big, fat lie!!!" Walking away from a bad situation was the best thing I could have done and it has worked out well for me. I am not limited to what I can do and I am not tied down to a machine that will limit your creativity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WjMQIFev4Y

Information for using MTC

Here is a link to the MTC forum. Several questions are answered here about cutting machines. The MTC forum is a great place to get answers on using your electronic cutter.
http://forum.make-the-cut.com/discussion/13688/mtc-facts-and-questions

Isn't this interesting?

Here is an article I just ran across on line. As you know, I am patent pending on my technique of using electronic cutters for cake decorating. I presented my idea to Provo Craft and they basically pirated my idea to make the cricut cake machine. You can read the story of all of that further down in this blog.

I used the cricut create ( the smaller cricut machine) in the classes I taught. The machine did a great job and I taught people how to create their own designs for cake decorating using Make the Cut. Make the Cut is a great program and you are able to use your cricut and are not required to buy expensive cartridges. If you have a cricut, I say learn how to use the machine to its fullest potential. If you want to up-grade to a machine that is superior, then you may want to consider a Silhouette. You never need to buy expensive cartridges and the print and cut feature is fantastic for cake decorators.



Make The Cut Settles Cricut Software Lawsuit With Provo Craft

By Nancy Nally on March 11, 2011



Documents filed in US District court on Wednesday reveal that Make The Cut has reached a settlement with Provo Craft in the lawsuit over 3rd party Cricut software created by Make The Cut. Provo Craft had sued Make The Cut in April 2010 alleging that Make the Cut’s 3rd party software for Cricut machines illegally circumvented copyright protection on Provo Craft’s products and violated copyright on the company’s Cricut Design Studio software code.



Provo Craft had appeared particularly to be targeting in the suit the recently introduced “back-up” feature in the Make The Cut software, which allowed users to create back-ups of their Cricut cartridges. (The feature was only available to users for a two week period in March 2010 before being pulled from distribution as a result of the litigation.)



Terms of the settlement were stipulated to the court in joint documents filed by the companies Wednesday with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, which had been hearing the case. Under the settlement, Make The Cut is permanently and immediately disallowed from selling software that is compatible in any way with Cricut machines. The company is also required to destroy all copies of the software’s Cricut-related source code.



For the existing software, Make The Cut also is required to take measures within 30 days to disable the 600 copies that were sold of the software with the cartridge back-up feature. Make The Cut is ordered to render these copies of the software completely non-functional until these users update their software to a copy that eliminates the back-up function.



Provo Craft also recently filed suit against another 3rd party Cricut software creator, Craft Edge, in an attempt to stop distribution of their Sure Cuts A Lot product.



Update: Neither party is receiving any financial award in the settlement.

New videos on YOUTUBE

We finished the new video class package. I decided to put 2 clips from the video on youtube. The first is a demonstration of the print and cut feature of the Silhouette. You can view it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNISY5d_qCg

I have a clip on youtube showing the print on gum paste method but I thought I would put another demonstration of this technique. This is such a great technique.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XqcEz4kHJ4

The video class package is on sale and if you are interested you can order it from our web site.

http://www.deseretdesigns.com/custom_1.html

I tried to put as much information as I could into this project. The information is as up to date as possible. The book and video files that accompanies this project take you through the designs process. After you learn the basics of design you will be able to create any design you need for your cake projects. This is great news for everyone who uses an electronic cutter, but especially for cricut owners. You do not need to invest in expensive cartridges, but you can now create your own designs.

I decorate a basic cake with several of the designs I showed you how to create in the video files. I then decorate a 5 tier wedding cake showing several techniques that you will be able incorporate in your own cake decorating. I include a CD that has over 200 designs in a jpeg format and also ready to cut in the Make the Cut format.

As much as I enjoyed all the traveling and meeting so many people, it is not possible to continue teaching classes. My goal is to share this great method with as many of you as possible and the best way for me to do this is through the video class. Thank you for the great support and encouragement.

Cake for Hunters

I have made several camo cakes as wedding cakes or grooms cakes. This is a very easy cake to make. I scanned a piece of camo paper and printed it on a frosting sheet. I chose a design that reminded me of grass for the side of the bottom and top tier. The middle tier was just a band of the printed frosting sheet. The top is from Colorado Carla, a plastic deer and foilage from Hobby Lobby help complete the look. This is a very easy cake to decorate. I used Photo Frosts frosting sheets and they cut very well.

The cake was covered in a dark avocado green. The designs were cut and applied to the sides. I put the frosting sheets on a piece of cardstock. I use apply shortening to the back of the frosting sheet and stick it onto the card stock. I cut the designs out, and when I remove the designs there is enough shortening on the back of the design to stick to the side of the cake. I give greater detail in the section on getting the perfect cut.

New instructional DVD in final editing

I finished the DVD that covers the entire class I taught. I take you through the entire process of creating your own designs and pratical applications of the techniques. I also have a section on making sugar flowers using the Silhouette. The set will have 5 discs and include a book. One of the discs will have a collection of over 200 designs ready to use. We will have everything ready for sale at the Austin cake show.