Stephane Rolland inspired

Oh Lord, this dress is amazing!  I have been following the work of an incredible designer named Stephane Rolland.  His work is like no other.  His dresses are chic, sculptural, and modern with gorgeous silhouettes and styling.

Here is what Wiki has to say.....

At the age of 20 Rolland joined Balenciaga and within a year was promoted to the position of Creative Director of menswear and international licenses. At 24, he left Balenciaga to start his own prêt-à-porter company, which he ran for six years, until he was asked to become artistic designer for the haute couture fashion house formerly owned by Jean-Louis Scherrer, a position he occupied for the next ten years.
Rolland simultaneously worked as a costume designer. In 2006 and 2007, he was nominated for the prestigious Molière awards and became an official partner of the Cannes Film Festival.
On the 2 July 2007, Rolland presented a couture collection under his own name.
Rolland is a full member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture and therefore his brand can officially bear the "haute couture" label.


And his work speaks for itself......look.....

Okay this yellow dress makes me want to be a better person.  Seriously!  You have to see the back though....

Here is a link to the show.  It's dress number 27 (there is a counter in the bottom right corner), and she turns around at 8:45.  Can you tell I am bit obsessed!

So that said, I will be doing a post using this dress as inspiration in the future!  But for now, I have a job to do.

Two friends of mine contacted me early in the year and asked me to make their wedding cake.  Julie and Tex....here they are...

Such a sweet photo!  Julie and I used to work together at Highland Bakery.  She was our office manager and had to take countless orders and deal with all the crazy brides;)  So I was very happy that it was her turn to make an order for a wedding cake and not have to take one!


This is her dress...

Gorge!  And the ruffles bring me back to my first point....Mr. Rolland.  I sketched a few designs with his designs in mind....however, this is a wedding.....so I had to tone it down and create a beautiful and sweet cake.

So Julie like the first sketch with multiple desserts.....

 

As you can see the main cake is totally inspired by this look....

...but the ruffles would be in more of a heart shape.

Julie was drawn more to the cake in this sketch though, because she likes the idea of entire tiers covered in ruffles....

It didn't matter to me either way.  I wanted to make all of it!!! 

So the design is final and off to work.  Much of the techniques in this cake are things I have shown before so I am going to focus on a couple of the flowers....they are the color pop!

I don't make traditional flowers usually.  I like to make what I call "Fashion Flowers", like in this cake....

 And these....

You probably recognize this cake.  It's a rework of Kim Zolciak's wedding cake.  It's become a popular design!

Any who, the flowers are super easy to make and have a dramatic look.

The larger flowers begin with these spheres on a wire.

 

I cut a round of gumpaste and paint the back with piping gel.

 

Then I adhere the gumpaste to the sphere....

 

Now I paint that with piping gel and dip it in white jimmies or sprinkles....whatever you call them...

 

 

Then I add petals.

 

I cut the same gumpaste round and ruffle the edges with a ball tool....

 

 

Done!  I also made then in orange.

 

I don't really like to make filler flowers but I needed something small to create for drama.  Julie had some white cranberry looking buds in her bouquet.  So I decided to make something similar.  I made these little ovals and sprayed them with Ideal Lacquer Spray.  It's a product from Albert Uster and I got it from International Sugar Art Collection. This is where I get most of my supplies...and they will ship!!!

 

 

Then I make them each a calyx.

 

 

 

lengthen the edges...

 

 

Then define the point with the Dresden tool...

 

A little piping gel....

 

stab it....

 

And done

 

 

 

 

Looking good.  Here are the rest of the flowers....

 

I also made some roses and billy balls.

And here is the cake!!!.....

It came out great!  Here are some other shots.....

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you to Julie and Tex for letting me be part of your big day!  Also, thanks to Stephane Rolland for your inspiration and beautiful designs!

 

Also a huge thank you to Batter Up Cake Co for the amazing cake stand!!!   Click on the link for the website! 

 

 

 

 

So in other news....

 

 

 

I am brainstorming at the moment to create a new class for Craftsy next year.  I wanna know your thoughts!  What do you guys want to see.  You can email me at joshuajohncakes@gmail.com or leave your ideas in the comment box below. 

 

Speaking of Craftsy, you can gift my class Modern Piping to anyone for the upcoming holidays!  Here is the link....

 

 

 

 

Also I wanted to share a photo with you all from Cake Carnival in Kitchener, ON Canada.  It was a great event.  Karen Portaleo and I will be going back next year to teach as well.  I will post it as soon as we know the dates...

 

 

We are so silly.  This was the project!  Super fun.

 

That's all for now!!

 

 

Don't forget to follow me on Facebook for updates www.facebook.com/joshuajohnrussell

 

 

Bye!