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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

How to Make an Airplane Cake Topper 101

This is the original wedding cake I designed the first biplane topper for.

Years ago I created a custom cake topper for a bride and groom whose surprise engagement took place while on a biplane ride. The images of the topper have elicited many interested inquiries by people who are most frequently looking for a Birthday cake ornament.

The problem is that the cost is quite prohibitive for most party budgets. For years I've told people the pricing for a topper of this style begins at $300. I do my best to explain to them that the topper is incredibly time consuming to create as I must purchase and build a lightweight model airplane kit, paint it and create the wire framework that suspends both the plane and fluffy clouds in mid air.

Because I don't want to deprive anyone of the opportunity to have a fun topper like this since the style seems popular based on the number of inquiries I receive, I've created a photo tutorial so that if someone has the time they can build one themselves which brings the cost down to materials and equipment. Hopefully you'll already have some of the tools needed to help keep the costs down even more.

If you create a topper using this tutorial please send me a picture of your finished topper and I'll add it to this blog post!

If you try to follow the tutorial and run into any problems, let me know and I'll do my best to fill in the blanks for you.

After remaking the topper for this post I now realize that the price to hire me to make one for you should be $450 not $300 as it took more time to create then I recalled. The fact that the paint I chose needed 5 coats to cover the model didn't help, but there are lots of little steps that I'd forgotten about. The step pictured here, wrapping the wire frame with fiber-fill to camouflage the support for the clouds is just one example.

I hope some of you create your own biplane cake toppers! I can promise it will be a big hit with your party goers!

View this DIY photo tutorial in the Flirty Idea Gallery by CLICKING HERE

1 Click Here to Comment:

Amy said...

This is a terrific idea. It looks like something even an inexperienced D-I-Y-er could tackle.