Working on a pink/white communion cake. Just made a small cross out of white gumpaste and was playing around with the idea of making it either pearl or silver with my luster dust.

It's drying now, do I brush the luster dust on dry or mix it with vodka first and then brush it on? Which gives it a shinier look?

Do I wait until the gumpaste is comletely dry or do it now while it's still drying?

Thanks.

for the shiniest look, you'll want to mix the lusterdust in with vodka, for just a pearlescent look, you want to dry brush. You do want to wait until the cross is completely dry before brushing it with wet. Another option is to dry brush it and then steam it to give it a glossy look.

Never mind. I just tried it both ways with the silver and both look horrible.

When I brushed it on dry it hardly looked silver at all. When I mixed it with vodka and brushed it on, it was all streaky with big patches of the white gumpaste showing through below the silver in spots.

Back to the drawing board...lustre dust and me just don't seem to mix.

It may be too late for this cake, but I use candy molds for this type all the time. They take the dust really well too.