Gothic Halloween

Happy Halloween Everyone!!  :)

I recently got this adorable 3D coffin cutter in the mail from my sweet friend Oh Sugar. (who does awesome work btw)

And when I say recently, I mean like practically yesterday.  I was so excited...I HAD to try it immediately!!

For some reason this year, when I thought of coffins all I could think of is old fashioned wakes..like Charles Dickens time kinda things.  Maybe it was the recent Dr. Who episode I watched.... I dunno.  So I just went with it to make an old timey Gothic Halloween

Ah yes, the ribbon roses.  I just can't stay away from those cute little beauties.  I tried this design with a red ribbon originally, and the hubs told me it looked very Christmassy..... *unamused*.  So black it is.

The funny thing is, There was like NO dipping of the red icing, which can sometimes happen with RI and small flood areas like my bows.  Usually with my bows, I kinda like the dipping because it looks more like real ribbon to me.  But it didn't happen this time.

This is what I did differently.  First, I used icing that had set overnight.  I made a large batch of icing, and honestly I work through it in small amounts when I don't have an order and I'm just playing around, like with these.  So it probably set and settled for a couple days....in the thick consistency.  It wasn't thinned or colored.  I rarely have any air bubbles in my icing, and since I mixed it and thinned it right before, I kinda doubt that it had too much to do with newly incorporated air bubbles.  Perhaps it had the opportunity to settle and stabilize before mixing?  I'm not sure.  With these black bows however, there was a tiny tiny tiny bit of the usual dipping.  This icing had also set overnight but it set pre-colored and mixed.....don't know what that means.  Maybe it's the color?  Maybe it's the method?  Interesting...

Second, I used it really thick.  This is actually what I do all the time, I just use really thick icing by nature.  I like the way it manipulates, and with these bows it's kind of required.  (To see my bow tutorial click here).  But this was interesting to me because this kinda puts a kink in a few theories that consistency is a factor.

Perhaps it was the climate?  It was evening, and cold outside, and cold in my house even.  It was about 65 in my kitchen while I was decorating because our heater is on the fritz.

I really have no clue. But it does make me want to do some experimenting.  It will be a long trial run for that tho.

Anyway, thanks for bearing with my late Halloween posts!  I think the family and I are going to hang out at the church fundraiser this evening.  Sophie is dressed as Alice and Wonderland.  Adorable.  And she's super excited too!!

Safe trick or treating y'all!