How to use the AMACO "Push Molds" for cake decorating and cold porcelain :

AMACO moulds are great for making quick and effective cake decorations and the same moulds are also ideal for use with cold porcelain - for making jewellery pieces and floral accents for decoration of cards, boxes etc..

The following moulds are available :
Roses, Daisies/Sunflower, Tulip/Daffodil, Violet/Ivy, Pansies, Hearts/Swirl, Vegetables, Berries/Blossoms, Fruits
and
Large Rose, Large Pansy/Violet (shown left), Large Daisy, Cats, Dogs, Butterfly, Angel Doll, Birds, Bunnies, Teddy Bears and Shells

For cake decorating, you can use sugarpaste (rolled fondant) in the moulds, or if you want a stronger paste, mix the sugarpaste with a little flowerpaste (gumpaste). For your craft projects, cold porcelain works well, but you should remember that there will be some shrinkage on drying. The AMACO moulds work well with other modelling clays, of course!

Work the paste well to remove cracks and obtain a smooth consistency and then push into the mould - with practice, you will be able to judge how much paste is needed for the particular mould. Spread the paste to the mould edges with a finger, and leave any excess paste as a mound in the centre.

Using your thumb, gently stroke the paste towards the centre. This has the effect of releasing the paste from the mould and then you can use the mound at the back as a "handle" to remove completely. Use the handle if you need to work further on the paste and then it can be snipped away with scissors to give a flat back.

Moulded 'Large Pansies' can be made even more attractive by using fine scissors to snip btween the petals - cut at an angle to avoid hard edges and thin the edges by sqeezing the paste between fingers.
  

When dry, sugar pansies can be coloured with suitable food colours and then arranged on the cake (see left).

Cold porcelain pansies (no snipping between petals), coloured with oil paints, can be used to make attractive jewellery :


       (Pansies mould for earrings, L. Pansy mould for brooch)