Smurfy Party!

 Welcome to a Smurf Party! 

Held at Ipoh City & Country Club for Jeevessh turning one year old on 11.11.11. 

All decorations done by Beauty Balloon.

 At the entrance.

There's even a guest book for birthday parties! 

Open up and you get to see 4 portraits of baby Jeevessh inside. 

Smurfs framing the entrance. All tables and chairs are in blue too. Took a photo of them, but something wrong with my camera settings, so you will just have to view them from the outside.  

The stage backdrop.

The cake tower.

My baby smurf! 

Its arms are on wires. 

 I like the balloons framing the buffet line...a balloon in a balloon...like a rainbow.

Another additional smurf cake...buttercream iced, picture taken at home. 

Party packs in blue and white theme colour.

That's all! 

Are you smurfed out yet?

Copyright Explained

The cake industry has never ending issues with copyrights. I am concerned about it as well, but there is just too much talk about it and no clear cut guidelines. This is partly due to the production of the product, which most times is for home consumption and also nature of the product which has a short shelf life. I am mostly concerned about it from the economic point of view, that is just one of the many reasons for copyright laws.

Research and work for one of my orders has lead me to Susan Lordi and her Willow Tree creations, you can read my blog post on figurine inspiration. I have written her an email and am sharing the reply from Demdaco below

Dear Nurainie:

What beautiful work you do!  It is so nice to see your many wonderful creations!  We are happy to know that you draw inspiration from Susan's Willow Tree, and we thank you for sharing your picture of your sugar interpretation of "New Life."  Normally, we have to say no to people and organizations that wish to use Willow Tree images or logo.  But because you are creating the sugar sculptures for just one individual's enjoyment and are not mass-producing them, it is all right for you to draw your own interpretations.  We do strongly caution you that it is not all right to copy the designs for the purpose of selling to large numbers of people.  It is against our licensure agreement to sponsor or to imply a relationship that does not exist.  We are very restricted with how we can use Willow Tree images.  We can allow only retailers to use images when they are promoting the sale of the three-dimensional sculptures (store fliers, advertisements, catalogs, etc.)  They must have a land-based store and have an account in good standing with DEMDACO.  The Willow Tree trademark, logo and copyrights are the property of Susan Lordi; and products, images and logo are protected by U.S. and international copyright and trademark laws--violations are subject to prosecution. 

 

Nurainie, your products are beautiful, and we are very flattered that you think of Willow Tree as your inspiration for your own unique creations. Thank you so much for asking us.  We appreciate your regard for our copyright very much, and we wish you much success with your business.

Sincerely,

Marilyn Harre

DEMDACO

I am grateful for Marilyn's reply and explanation on the copyright issues. This will provide me the clarity for future work on my designs.

I have found my figurine inspiration...

If you have been following me on Facebook, you would know my 'love' for figurines. I'm much more of a flower person and therefore dread having to do figurines, even animal ones. Then one day, I received a call for Isaac, looking for a first year wedding anniversary cake. One look at the attachment from my mobile phone, I said "It's beyond my level!"

See what I mean?! 

Instead of Google, I turned to Pinterest this time...and found Willow Tree® by Susan Lordi. I love how her sculptures convey messages through body language and positioning alone. Each piece has a name. The above is New Life. 

This is the result. For Isaac, Rachel and their three month old baby.

A lot of subtle positioning have not been captured, example the bending of the father's leg, the placement of the mother's hand and face, therefore, the real 'feeling' is not conveyed here.  

I can't know the placement of the mother's hand from the picture, so I created my own 'subtle' positioning.

And also make the joining of arms to body 'seemless'...lots of cracks (can't be seen from photos), not easy at all! And my figurines currently have no mouth...I have not gotten to that stage yet.

Anyway, I'm happy with it...and look forward to doing more figurines. Susan Lordi is my figurine inspiration and I'm thankful I have found her!

ICCA Annual Cake Competition 2010 - A Flashback

With the Annual Wedding Cake Competition 2011 being just two days away, it is time for me to take out my photos which I have been keeping for one year. A flashback on last year's inaugural event to set the mood for my cake decorating friends who are either competing or attending.

The cake on stage is done by the ICCA team.

As part of last year's committee (though I did not contribute much due to distance), it is an opportunity to be able to watch the event as it unfolds from the beginning. 

Late at night...can't remember what time, because the set-up can only start when the mall is closed. I like it at this stage...the calm before the storm.

The arrival of the first few cakes... 

 ...before you know it, the tables are full!

Final touch-up.

Below are close-ups of some of the cakes, individually.  

Don't they look great? Can't wait for this year's cakes...I bet it will be all over Facebook and blogs...maybe I should keep my photos for a year again?

That's me with Shahril's cake, the winning cake last year. I look like a kid...but trust me, I have grown, am still growing, non-physically that is. This is the end of Day 1, but I shall do everything in one long post, more pictures, less crapping... 

Day 2 is just 'happening'!

 Competition for kids held at the concourse area.

Teens' category.

Kids' category.

Final pieces from teens category...

...and from the kids' category.

Demonstrations held throughout the 2 days. 

Day 3...that is when I had to leave, therefore no pictures. It was prize giving so I bet you can imagine lots of activities going on. This year, I'm just contributing a demo on Pressure Piping on Cookies, but I bet the event is going to be bigger and better. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Angry Birds Birthday Bash at Tower Regency, Ipoh

An Angry Birds theme for a 1 year old birthday party held at 17th Floor, Sky Lounge, Tower Regency Hotel...a hotel which is in operations for only 2 years. All planning and organizing was done by May, my customer, the mother of the birthday boy. May and her family is from the Philippines and has been staying in Ipoh for the past 5 years. 

Backdrop done by hotel's in-house artist.

This is a non-violent Angry Birds cake, therefore no slingshot needed. That's because these are smart Angry Birds who have placed their eggs on a higher ground where the pigs can't get at them. Besides, birds outnumbered the pigs. And they are real mean looking so that the pigs would think twice before trying to get the eggs.

A better picture of the cupcakes. Off course, all pigs can only be placed at the bottom tier. Everything I do has a meaning or reason...I'm weird like that.

That's May and her sister, who came all the way from Philippines, making adjustments to the balloons.

Handmade Angry Birds paper bag, by May. They are filled with Angry Birds merchandise. 

These came all the way from Philippines. Angry Birds are concurring the world!

More Angry Birds merchandise!! Bear with me...

Angry Birds piñata...done by May. A customary game to have during birthday celebrations in the Philippines as well.

The layout of Sky Lounge is L-shaped. So this is the other side of the room where the buffet line is set-up...also in an "L" shaped line.

Here's Migo, the birthday boy in his Angry Birds T-shirt. He has the longest eyelashes ever. May he grow to be as smart as the Angry Birds on his cake!