I'm just starting out with gum paste flowers and would like to know which you prefer for coloring flowers. My teacher was pretty emphatic about her dislike for using chalk, but didn't give a reason why. Thanks for your input!

petal dust is very fine in texture, if you are trying to grind your own chalk it is more difficult. Neither one is edilbe, just non toxic, so in that cas it really doesn't matter which one you use. What i do when using chalk, is take a piece of paper (just plain copy paper) and color really thick on it, then take the brush and run through the color to pick up the loose stuff.

Thanks, peg818. I was thinking about ordering the chalk palette from Earlene Moore's website; she has a set that's already powdered. The set doesn't seem to contain a lot of each color, but for $12.00 it seems cheaper than trying to order so many individual containers of petal dust.

If she has already powdered them herself, then they must be pretty fine. Its just i have found that when i try to grind them myself i don't get the same kind of texture as the petal dusts.

When my MOm uses here chalks from and artists palette she lightly takes a sharp razor knife and gently scrapes the chalk in a downward motion.The powder falls onto a papertowel or paper.

Sounds to me like the petal dust is the easiest way to go in the long run -- goodness knows we have enough challenges in decorating as it is.

Thanks bunches for the info and advice!

Maryanne,

I saw that same chalk set at Michaels, not sure if you want to check there first. I've also seen that same brand at Scrapbooking stores if you don't want to pay for shipping.

bikegal

Are we talking about regular chalk? Or is there a special kind just for cakes? Sorry...I never heard of this before......thanks!

adven68,

It's a square palette of vibrant non-toxic chalks that you can use on gumpaste flowers. It's not regular chalk.

Thanks...I was just about to raid my art supply closet!

bikegal, I was just at Michael's this morning. I'm assuming it's in the art section? I was in the cake section and didn't see anything.

Maryanne, I think it was in the stamp/ink section of Michaels. Hopefully, they carry it at your Michaels.

Excellent, thanks! Now all I have to do is get one of my coworkers to bring in another 40% off coupon, since I used mine this morning on foil paper