Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Southern Flowers with Ron Ben Israel 2010

I'm just getting back from two wonderful classes at Custom Cakes in Savannah, Georgia...both taught by the fun and fabulously talented Ron Ben Israel! Working with Ron was an amazing opportunity - he truly is a creative genius - and he happily shared so many of his great ideas and techniques. Thank you so much Ron, for your time, patience and expertise!

I also had the chance to meet some lovely and very talented people from all over the country...and made a wonderful new friend who traveled all the way from London!

Minette Rushing, owner of Custom Cakes, took great care of all of us with her generosity, grace and incredible southern hospitality. Thank you so much, Minette...and thank you to your incredible staff and interns as well!

The first class covered sugarpaste Southern Flowers including gardenias, tulip magnolias, camellias, dogwood, and jasmine. We worked for three full days to construct our flowers and corresponding buds and leaves, and ended up with a box full of beautiful blossoms to take home!

Here are some photos from our class...enjoy!

My work station:



My first attempt at a camellia flower:



We had an entire baker's rack of camellias drying...everyone's flowers were gorgeous:



Beginning stage of the jasmine flowers - and a photo for inspiration:



The gardenia center:



Dogwood and gardenias drying:



My magnolia petals taped together:



Starting the coloring process:



Jasmine flowers and buds dusted:



One of my favorites from the week - the gardenia - with a touch of yellow-green at the center and pearl dust for a beautiful sheen:



My box of completed flowers:



Here are Ron's beautiful flowers...they all have his special touch - and are absolutely stunning:



And to give us an idea how the flowers would look on a cake, Ron arranged them all to create a gorgeous, over-the-top floral design:



I was so focused and busy during class that I did not take any photos of Ron while he was teaching! But I know several of my classmates took some amazing pictures throughout the week - as soon as they share them with me I will definitely add some of them here.

Please stay tuned for my post about our second class - more details and photos coming soon...

Copyright © 2010 by Jacqueline Butler of Petalsweet Cakes. Content of this blog (including text, photographs and layout) is the property of Jacqueline Butler. Please feel free to use the ideas and concepts discussed on this blog, but please do not claim any of it as your own work. Thank you!
Share/Bookmark

21 comments:

BellaLovesPink said...

What a great experience! Your flowers are beautiful!

Emily said...

Stunning!

Jennywenny said...

Those are just so beautiful! I hope to try some similar flowers out soon. I have my bike ride this weekend so I should have more time after that (although we are closing on the house purchase on the 19th!!!)

Kerry O'Connor said...

Jackie... sorry I didn't get to say goodbye to you before you left Savannah. I definitely took advantage of my days off from the shop.Hope you had a good trip home and enjoyed your time here.Keep in touch, and thanks to you and Keith for the yummy coffee! :)

Winnie Lee said...

Oh! I'm so very envious!! The flowers are simply amazing. You have such a delicate touch! Thanks so much for sharing with us!!

Brandy L said...

WOW! All flowers look amazing! You did a spectacular job. :D

Kay Williams said...

a dream come true for me to be able to take classes from him! Thank you for taking the time and posting all of these photos!

La Jolla Mom said...

Those flowers look real!

When you're ready. The mommy bloggers would LOVE a class. Promise they'll tweet and blog up a storm. :)

Unknown said...

Thank you for taking the time to document your experience and share your talent. These truly are magnificent. what a joy to see.

faithy said...

Your flowers look amazing! Thanks for posting and sharing! Must have been fun to be in Ron's class. :)

Ariel Yve said...

Your work is stunning Jackie! I absolutely adore your sugar flower work. Perhaps we'll have the opportnity to work together in the future.

Best,

Ariel Yve
Ariel Yve Design
www.ArielYve.com

www.sweet-sensations.com said...

Thank you, so much, for making me the lucky recipient of your gorgeous flowers! The girls LOVED them!!

Michael McCafferty said...

X-quisite!

Anonymous said...

It was great to finally meet the wonderfully talented lady behind the blog at Ron's class! If you do ever come to London, I'd love to show you around.
XXElizabeth

SweetThingsTO said...

What an experience - you are so lucky. I would love to take a class like that. I can't wait to see all your amazing creations.

Elins Cards and other handscrafts said...

That is just soooooooo perfect... Love your flowers, and it sounds like a really fun class.
I know what I like to save up for.. A trip to us and a class with Ron :D :D
Thank for sharing your photos ;o)

Elin xx

Anonymous said...

such lovely flowers! thanks so much for posting them~your blog is always so much fun to visit : )

Rylan said...

GOODNESS JACQUELINE! I'm speechless! Those flowers are soooo gorgeous, it makes me want to cry. You should get the title, queen of flowers! AWESOME WORK!

Unknown said...

Stunning flowers, I am love with the flowers!

lbc flower delivery said...

Gorgeous flowers! I also want to try to make something like that. Thanks for guiding me through this. Keep posting.


-yumi-

flower Philippines said...

Lovely flowers! Wish I can also arrange beautiful flowers like that. I want to learn how to arrange flowers cause it so interesting. Anyway, I enjoyed reading this post. Thanks for sharing!

toni