She would assemble the pieces and spoon one color frosting at a time into the cool metal tube, screw on the plunger, and set to work decorating, which took hours that were probably grueling, though she never expressed a single complaint and I never moved, enthralled as I was by the process, till she was done. 

When I had my own home, years later, she sent me a set of cake decorating supplies that were just like her set.  I practiced occasionally, and found these decorators to be remarkable things of beauty—in form and function (and durability).

Somewhere along the way, I lost or loaned and never got back my cake decorating supplies, and replaced them with the ultra-professional frosting bags and decorating tips, which were just as lovely (though if you have hot hands, the canvas bags transfer the heat—faster than it would with the metal set--to the frosting and it will puddle, so hold the bag by the top where you have twisted or folded it). 

Last year for Christmas, I wanted to give a friend who has recently gotten into gourmet baking a set of those cake decorating supplies of yore.  Not having time to go online, I found, stupidly, a discounted cake decorator at a local department store.  The thing doesn’t stay closed (at the plunger and cap), and it is plastic and stays greasy after washing.  Ugh. 

Twenty years ago I would have had an excuse, but today, I should know better…and use a source like eBay, where we not only find cake decorating supplies but those of the quality of the originals: Look for the brand name Wilton or use keywords like “vintage” or “original” or “aluminum”…for the kind of cake-decorating supplies Gram had.