Cake Pull instructions take the guess work out of how-to-do it. Who wants to pull a charm, finding cake and frosting all over it? Or who wants to be served a piece of cake with silver tarnish on the bottom side? Attaching the Ribbon
For each charm selected, tie a thin, decorative ribbon through the mounting ring on the charm. To do this, fold the ribbon in half, slipping the looped end through the charm. Then pass the loose ends back through the looped ribbon and pull tight ~ to a decorative degree, not until it looks like a scrunched up granny knot.
To finish the two loose ends that will fray, you can just tie them back on themselves one time, securing the loose end inside the knot.
This knot is called a Lark’s Head. An illustration of the Larks’ Head can be seen at the Troop 7 Boy Scout.
Raw Ends into Decorative Knots
If you’re more ambitious, or have the time, you might find a decorative knot, or better yet, a Celtic knot, for tying off each end.
The most interesting decorative knot I’ve found is the Shamrock Knot.
Image courtesy Lay Hands
Complete instructions can be found at Lay Hands Ministry decorative knot #6, Good Luck Knot or Shamrock Knot ABOK #2436.There are also the Turk’s Knot, Monkey Fist, and Celtic Knots. At Noonelike you’ll find instructions for tying a Josephine knot, Double Figure 8, Sailor’s Knot, the Pendant Hitch For the Sailor’s Knot, I’d tuck in the ends or tie them off to protect the ends. The Pendant Hitch could have a small decorative bead tied into it.
I stumbled across a page entitled Celtic Stress Relief. If you’re considering adding any extensive knotwork to your decorations or gifts, I’d suggest reading this first.
If you’ve never done any knot work, start out small. Just a few cake pull ribbons. If you want to give each guest a cake pull as a wedding favor, make sure you have plenty of time…don’t add to your stress. Make it fun!
Protecting the Charms
The idea of cake and frosting all over the charm is a little hard for me to grasp. I think I’d wrap the charms in parchment paper or plastic wrap before inserting them under the cake. This would also prevent silver’s black tarnish from the cake and icing.
Getting Back to Inserting the Cake Pulls
Most cake pull instructions suggest building the cake and icing all but the bottom edge. The cake pulls are laid out evenly spaced around the cake. Using a long narrow spatula, you slip the cake charms just under the edge of the cake, draping the ribbons in an attractive manner. Lastly, pipe the final decorative edge of icing around the bottom of the cake. If your cake is on an elevated base, the cake pulls then lie dangling down. If your cake sits flat on the table, arrange the cake pulls to lie flat, like spokes going out from the cake.
Pulling the Charms
During the cake cutting, the bride’s attendants each ‘pull’ a ribbon and keep whatever charm she has selected.
