Flagship · Intermediate · $147
Not your grandmother's amaryllis.
The amaryllis tarantula is the spider-shaped variety. Thin, curling, dramatically spreading petals that look nothing like the classic round Christmas amaryllis. The flower that turns a luxury winter wedding cake into a holiday editorial. Master the curled-petal architecture, the dramatic stamens, and the deep saturated colour work.
Skill Level
Intermediate
Lessons
8 lessons
Length
~3 hours
What You'll Learn
Four skills, one unmistakable winter flower.
The tarantula amaryllis has six narrow, curling petals that radiate from a dramatic centre. Every part of this flower has to look intentional, and every petal has to dry in its own curve. Different from anything else in the catalog.
01
The spider-shaped petals
Six narrow, curling petals, each one shaped slightly differently to suggest natural growth. The cutting technique, the gentle taper, and the curve that gives the tarantula its name.
02
The dramatic centre
The tall protruding stamens and curved style that make every amaryllis recognisable on sight. Built piece by piece with fine cotton, tape, wires and gumpaste.
03
Deep dusting in winter palettes
The two classic amaryllis colour stories: deep crimson (the editorial holiday cake palette) and dusty white (the winter wedding palette). Saturated dusting that builds depth without going muddy.
04
Taping the architecture
Six curled petals plus the central stamen cluster need to come together without crushing the curves you spent hours drying into them. The advanced taping technique that holds the architecture.
Why The Amaryllis Tarantula
The flower wedding magazines feature in December.
The classic round amaryllis everyone knows is the grocery-store one. Beautiful, but predictable. The tarantula variety, the spider-shaped one with the long curling petals, is a different flower entirely. It’s the amaryllis you find in luxury floral arrangements, on the covers of December wedding editorials, and almost never on competing cake artists’ portfolios. Because it’s harder to make.
The technique angle is the curl. Each petal has to dry in its own gentle curve, and every petal has to look slightly different. Most cake artists try to make all six petals identical, which kills the flower. This course teaches the asymmetric drying technique that gives the tarantula its movement.
“Even today, when I feel stuck about a design, I refer to your page and watch your tutorials.” · Anumeha Singh · Academy student
It’s also the flower that defines the winter wedding portfolio. Deep crimson for December bookings, dusty white for January and February. With one course you cover both palettes, and you’ve added a flower to your repertoire that almost no one else has.
The Curriculum
What you'll watch, module by module.
Five focused modules plus a full downloads vault. Approximately three hours of paced video. Yours to keep, forever.
Module 01
Introduction & Materials
2 lessons
- ▷Welcome & what makes the tarantula different
- ▷Tools, wires & the drying setup
Module 02
Petals & Centres
3 lessons
- ▷Cutting & shaping the six narrow spider petals
- ▷The asymmetric drying technique for movement
- ▷Building the dramatic stamen centre
Module 03
Dusting
2 lessons
- ▷The deep crimson palette (holiday editorial)
- ▷The dusty white palette (winter wedding)
Module 04
Taping & Assembly
2 lessons
- ▷Bringing curled petals & centre together without crushing
- ▷Finishing the stem for cake placement
Module 05
Arrangement Ideas
1 lesson
- ▷Pairing with with tulips, hellebores and chocolate cosmos
Downloads
Tools, recipes, palette guide
3 downloads
- 📄Tools & Materials List
- 📄Winter Palette Mixing Guide
- 📄Sugarpaste Recipe
when you're ready
Yours to keep, forever.
Pay once. Watch in your kitchen, on your phone, or with a friend. No subscription, no expiry, no platform that disappears.
The Amaryllis Tarantula
$147 one-time
Lifetime access. Watch as many times as you like.
- ✓Five focused modules
- ✓~3 hours of paced, in-depth video
- ✓The six spider-shaped curling petals taught from scratch
- ✓The asymmetric drying technique that gives the flower movement
- ✓The dramatic stamen-and-style centre construction
- ✓Two complete colour palettes: deep crimson + dusty white
- ✓Advanced taping for curled petal architecture
- ✓Pairing with moth orchid, poinsettia & winter greenery
- ✓30-day money-back guarantee
If the first lesson doesn’t land for you, email me within 30 days and I’ll refund you in full. No questions, no friction.
What Students Say
“I had never made a sugar paste flower, but I had three months to learn. After failing with the ranunculus watching YouTube, I purchased a tutorial and I learned the technique. She loved her cake, and the photographer couldn’t believe the sugar paste flowers were not real.”
Janet Pinson · Finespun Cakes Academy student
What You'll Need
Almost nothing.
You can start this course with what’s already in your kitchen and at most one quick trip to a craft shop.
The essentials
- ✦Gum paste, store-bought is fine to start
- ✦A ball tool (or a clean paintbrush handle)
- ✦A foam pad (or a folded kitchen towel)
- ✦Floral wire, 24-gauge for the petals
- ✦Florist tape, white or green
The nice-to-haves
- ✦A small rolling pin
- ✦A veining or Dresden tool
- ✦A pair of small needle-nose pliers
- ✦A set of petal dusts, any soft-pink and yellow
- ✦A small paintbrush for dusting
Once you’re enrolled, I’ll send you my full Sugar Flower Starter Kit PDF with affiliate links to everything I personally use. You don’t need it to start, but it makes the second flower easier.
Your Teacher
Hi, I'm Alexandria.
I founded Finespun Cakes in Toronto in 2015 and have spent the last decade designing wedding cakes and teaching sugar flowers to over 1,000 students worldwide.
I trained at Le Cordon Bleu, studied under Ron Ben-Israel in New York, won an American Cake Award, and was named one of Wedluxe’s Top 10 Wedding Cake Designers in Canada.
My courses are taught the way I wish someone had taught me, with every step shown, no gatekeeping, and no rushing through the parts that actually matter.
a smarter way
Why buy one course when you could have all of them?
The Amaryllis Tarantula is included in the Finespun Academy at $29/month, along with every other course, over 100 studio recipes, all seven studio tools, and live time with Alexandria every month.
After five months in the Academy, you’ve already gotten more than the price of this single course. Most members stay much longer.