Piping With Silicone Caulk Demo

In addition to developing a spit painting technique I’m also experimenting with piping silicone caulk on to different materials. I took a cake decorating class a few years ago and this year I’ve been integrating some of the techniques I learned into my painting and ceramics practice.

For this demonstration I decided to show you some in-process photos and videos. I’m just showing you how I go about it not exactly how to use different piping techniques that you might learn in a cake decorating class. You will need to practice and watch different videos or sign up for a cake decorating class. I went to Michael’s, but I’ll include some videos at the end of this post to get you started.

Let me show you what materials I use:

-caulking gun
-clear silicone gel caulk
-palette knife (for scooping)
-Wilton piping bag
-variety of cake decorating tips

How to start:

1. Prep and fill your bag

Prep your piping bag making sure it’s clean and loaded with basic applicator tip (usually comes in a piping bag kit).  This applicator helps in changing out different tips easily and with less cleaning in-between. Screw on your cake decorating tip.  I will then squeeze the caulk from the gun into the piping bag about 3/4 full.

2. Get into position

This will take some practice. You will have to play around with how to twist the bag and your hand pressure to efficiently and fluidly squeeze the caulk out of the bag. I’m left handed so this is how I hold my bag.

3. Then go-to-town

Click on the picture or right here to take you to an in-progress video.

On this piece and like much of my work I just go with the flow and with what feels right at the moment. I let the moment inspire which gestures, movements, and cake tips to use.

The silicone caulk as you can tell in the video is a little thick and difficult to manipulate at times.  It also starts out solid white but over the next few days it transforms into a translucent clear gel. As  you’ll see the gel soaked in some of the color from the food coloring and created neat outlines. It’s pretty cool how you can let the materials do some of the work for you.

Here are photos taken of the piece right after and then a few days later:

Cake Decorating Resources:

3 Essentials of Cake Decorating
Cake Decorating Class Playlist