Hi Everyone,

I have a very dear friend who is getting married in August, and has asked me to make her wedding cake. While I am touched by her faith in me, I am completely terrified at the same time. I am planning on spending the next couple of months practicing, practicing, and practicing some more. I am starting by practicing making gumpaste flowers. She gave me a couple photos of the flowers she would like to see included in the cake. They include poppies, peonies, ranunculus, cabbage roses, lambs ear, etc (image attached).

I am starting by practicing the poppies (which are Icelandic Poppies, in case you were wondering). The trouble is, when I make them myself, they never have that crepe-paper frill to them. I've rolled my gumpaste paper thin, veined the petals, & tried frilling with a toothpick (which just tore the gumpaste), frill stick, and a ball tool, but neither is giving me the effect I need. Does anyone have advice on how to frill these so they can look like the ones in the photo?

Thanks so much for your advice. It is so wonderful to learn from all your expertise!

Are you frilling them on a semi-soft piece of foam? I found using a piece of foam at least 1" thick helped me frill other flowers. HTH

Yes, I'm frilling them on a piece of foam. I just tried brushing the petals lightly with a needle tool this afternoon, and it seemed to work better, but still not quite there. I'll try to get one assembled soon & post some photos for some feedback. Thanks!

I found a better photo of an Icelandic Poppy, for visual reference. The texture of the petals are what I'm struggling with. Thanks again!

Have you seen James Rosselle's veiners? They make very detailed veining and shaping of the petals or leaves. I know this one is named California poppy, but the veining looks very similar to me

http://www.nycake.com/JamesRossellesCaliforniaPoppyPetalVeiner.aspx

Prima~~looking at your photos I don't think you'll have any problems at all. You've definitely got the talent and skills to learn these by August. The best part is that you can make them all months ahead and then all you have to do is the cake!

ibmoser~~those are some COOL veiners!!! Those should work perfectly for the Icelandic poppies.

Here's a fabulous semi-tutorial on ranunculas by Floralilie. Once you link to the thread below, go to her photos and you'll think her flowers are real!
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=7276416#7276416

ibmoser--those are amazing veiners! they might just be my solution to getting the texture on these right. Until now, I'd been trying Scott Woolley's all purpose petal veiner, which is great, but just didn't give me enough texture for the poppies. I may be ordering these.

Apti--thank you so much for your words of encouragement and the link to Floralie's amazing tutorial. wow, those ranunculus look real! if i can execute ones half as good as hers, i will be pleased.

i'm still relatively new at this, and doing a wedding is a lot of pressure (even for a friend). All of you professionals that execute each these so perfectly are just amazing! I'm planning spending the next four months making flowers, testing recipes, and practicing my piping skills so I can do this right. And then I will have a nice strong drink when it's all over (or maybe before).

Hi Everyone,

I've been searching veiners to use for my poppies, and I found these. They are the First Impressions Cattleya Orchid veiners. I think the texture looks pretty spot on, and they come with an optional backside veiner, which would allow me to impress both sides. But boy oh boy they are spendy ($47 bucks, ouch!). If I can make other flowers with them, though, they might be worth the investment. What do you think?

If I were making the decision, I'd buy the James Roselle veiner. That double-sided veiner (front and back side of the petal) is HUGE! The measurements say 10 cm x 8 cm.

I STRONGLY suggest that you make a paper mock-up of whatever veiner you want BEFORE ordering! Measure it out and make a paper version to see if it will be the size you need. Ordering stuff online can be VERY deceiving because when you get it it can be much, much smaller that it looked on the order screen.

I wish ibmoser hadn't posted that link....Now I WANT that veiner, and the Morning Glory veiner, and the .....well....ok, I want ALL of James Roselle's veiners..... Dang it!

OK, it took a lot of googling (is that a word?), but I FINALLY found a photo of a James Roselle poppy!

Look at the big orange ones next to the sweet pea. Ta Da!

http://cakecentral.com/classes/james-rosselle-4-day-gumpaste-flower-intensive/

Apti,

Those are some really nice poppies! Thanks for the link. I've definitely got some practicing to do!

That's a GORGEOUS veiner, ibmoser! Prima, I wouldn't think twice to get it...

Apti, what a great idea to make a paper mockup of the veiners! It has happened to me before that ive ordered cutters & they haven't been the size I need. Admittedly, after all your wonderful advice, im defintely leaning towards the Roselle veiners. But I will do the mockup for both veiners before making my decision.

Thanks a million! You were sooo helpful!

James Rosselle is such a doll - I was fortunate enough to do a hands-on at ICES with him this past year. His products are very high quality - they are large enough to use on larger petals and actually add shape and movement to the petals and leaves since they are not flat. I have many, many First Impression veiner sets and like them, but they do tend to be smaller and they are flat.

Apti - we made daisies in class using his new gumpaste being distributed by Fondarific - good stuff. I didn't even get back to the room with my project - it was a little larger than I was prepared to carry and was crushed in my soft-side bag . I only have the poppy and parrot tulip veiners, bought because I really like those flowers. All are wonderful and pretty specialized. I want the peony - it makes gorgeous ruffled petals.

What a sad story. It's heartbreaking to see your gorgeous daisy get crushed. When stuff like that happens, it makes us adults feel just like little kids again looking at the puddle of the ice cream on the ground while we're holding the empty cone.

The peony, parrot tulip, and poppy are on my "lust" list now. (That's when I can't justify the expense, but end up getting them at some point anyway.)