A Lesson Learnt

This week has been a somewhat disappointing week in my world of cakes.  For Christmas this year I was generously given a cake airbrushing kit, complete with compressor, the airbrush and several colors.  I had wanted one for some time so was super excited about this BUT was also slightly nervous and daunted about picking up this new skill.  What if I was terrible at it?  Suddenly I built it up in my head to be a huge thing and so the kit remained in the box looking at me with a sad face every time I went past it.  "Please use me!" it would say, but I would rush away, pretend not to see it and ignore it.  I was not ready yet.

Finally this week, I built up the courage to take it out of the box and have my first attempt.  The kids were in care and so I was a free woman with the day to spend airbrushing.  I read the manual and even called my husband to double check the voltage.  I plugged it in and she was ready to go.  I started my first sprays and so far so good, I might be able to do this I thought to my self.  All of a sudden the compressor stopped and the airbrush wouldn't go anymore.  I looked up from my work to see the compressor smoking and a sinking feeling hit me.   I blew it up.  The voltage was wrong.  I had read the manual and thought I had read the voltage right but failed to look at the actual compressor and written on it was the voltage 110-115.  We have a voltage here of 220-240 (the compressor had been bought from the States).  What a disappointment!    It was a lesson learned to wait for my husband when using technical machinery for the first time. I did have a good cry and felt a little better when I learned I would have had to buy a transformer to use it which could have cost more than buying a new compressor here.  This afternoon we will go hunt for a new compressor so watch this space for cakes coming up with some airbrushing hopefully!  In the mean time, have a look at a few of the cakes I did the last few weeks.  One was for an off road runner who loves my cakes pops and the other was for a friend of my daughters.