I'm assembling a kit to teach myself how to make gumpaste flowers for my niece's July wedding cake (one of many - I only do them for family).   She's marrying a man from Mexico and wants to evoke a feel of Mexico in her decor.  For her cake, she wants bright red flowers cascading around it.  I've been reading the posts and am ordering Super Red gel for coloring the gumpaste.  What color petal dust would anyone suggest for getting a bright true red, not orange and not burgundy?  Luckily, I got a clothes steamer for my birthday, so I'll be able to use that to set the color.

I strongly suggest that you only tint your gum paste a light pink.  If you try to saturate it to a deep red--with ANY type of color (gel, paste, or powder), it will ruin the consistency of the paste and it will be a nightmare.

Dust the flowers once completed and then lightly steam.

I love, love, love, Poinsettia by Crystal Colors found at sugarpaste.com.  It's a true, bright red and covers beautifully.

Rae

AThanks so much, Rae. Because I do this for love not $, I don't want to spend a lot on trial and error. Though there will still be errors. We celebrate our 40th this summer, so that will provide more practice.

I make red gumpaste with CK Cherry Pink - it's powder food color.  You mix it with a little bit of Everclear turning it into a paste.  It activates the color and helps to kneed the color in evenly.  The Everclear evaporates out and doesn't alter your paste texture,  You can add a LOT to get it very, very red.  Just make sure you let it rest for a day after adding the color to make sure the color matures.  My paste always really darkens and deepens overnight.  

For these flowers, I dusted with terracotta mixed with more of the CK cherry pink color to give them some drama and shadow.

ABesuiful flowers Scratch

Beautifully shaded flowers and a great pic.

OP, look at how she has shaded burgundy into the shadows as they would be in natural flowers.  You can also mix purple or black dust with your red dust if you don't want a gazillion pots of petal dust. For an absolutely natural look, the leaves would also have a tiny amount of red on the edges or at the base.

Go to www.amazon.co.uk and search for Alan Dunn in books. Most have the "look inside" feature where you can look at his natural shading which is all done with the dust, for free.

Thanks for all of the great suggestions!  My mother was a photo colorist and my sister is a water color artist, so I'm hoping to channel some of their skill when I do these!  I've always been the one in the family who comes up with great ideas but has trouble executing them.  Now that I'm retired, I have more time for trial and error.  My first project is a train cake for my grandson's 2nd birthday (1/27), but I'm having a hard time getting started on it - flowers seem more fun. 

you're cracking me up

before we click on your post to open it up

on the full list of "New Topics"  before you even click and get a bigger thumbnail of your post

it reads

"Thanks for all of the great suggestions! My mother was a danish pastry"

Awww.google.com/search?q=train+cake&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=A13wUOPeOYKwqQHqyoDIDg&ved=0CDIQsAQ&biw=92&bih=146#p=0. Hopfully this link works and maybe you'll be inspired