[Sca-cooks] Re: Cakes

[Elise Fleming]

Stefan wrote:
>Wow! Those are quite inspirational, although also a bit overwhelming 
>as in, there's no way I can ever do anywhere near as good, so why try?

Well, to me that's a bit discouraging to hear.  I had hoped the response
would be something like "What if I tried to do X instead?"  Or, "Hah!  I
see the mistakes in that one.  I can do better!"  Please note that I
included some "flops" - like the icing that melted in the heat of a May
Cooper's Lake event!  Now, keep in mind that we all have different
abilities.  You, Stefan, understand computers.  To me they are wizard boxes
and I have no idea what the buttons in the top row (F1, etc), print screen,
esc mean, nor do I usually use that block of keys on the right except when
I need specific symbols (and I have to look up their numbers!)  So,
regarding cakes, I'm a "copyist".  I can copy a picture if I have a line
drawing.  For several of the cakes with pictures I used the drawings in
children's coloring books and directly copied them onto semi-transparent
rice paper.  It's easy, then, to color in the picture.  (If anyone needs
hints, e-mail me.)  Same thing goes for borders.  I've found some scribal
boks (SCAdian) that give examples of different styles of borders and I just
copy them in icing.  One thing that I do have is a steady hand so some of
the work is easier for me than for others.  However, I can do calligraphy
on cakes but I don't seem to be very good at it on paper.  Go figure! <g>

So, having zapped into Laurel-teaching mode, I would say to look at the
cakes, find something that looks fun to do and try to copy it - or e-mail
me and ask for hints about how I did it.  I'd like to inspire, not
intimidate.  (However, I will say that I'm tickled to receive praise!)
 
>I wonder how likely this link is to change, Alys? I'd hate to have 
>these wonderful examples disappear. I'm wondering if you might be 
>interested in letting me put a copy of this file into the 
>Florilegium? If you want to add more info to it, to make it more of 
>an article, now or sometime in the future, I'd be willing to do that 
>as well.

As long as I keep my Earthlink account the link will be valid.  I'm not
planning on changing it and have had the same e-mail address for over 10
years.  However, you certainly can put a copy of the file into the
Florilegium.  FYI, there are some modern cakes in another section on the
web site and my favorite of that is a yellow straw hat cake that exactly
reproduced a hat my mother had back in the 70s.  You are also welcome to
link or copy the articles that are in another section.

When I became a Laurel back in 1992 I heard from folk that Laurels (in some
kingdoms) didn't want to share their secrets, possibly for fear that the
other person would construct something better.  For myself, if someone
copies and does it better, I am pleased!  I'd like my material to be used
as a stepping stone, not as a stumbling block.

Alys Katharine

Elise Fleming
alysk at ix.netcom.com
http://home.netcom.com/~alysk/