How To Make A Gumpaste Stargazer Lily (Asian Lily)

Photo by Avaie

Welcome Spring with gumpaste stargazer lilies. Cake Central user Feefs shares step-by-step instructions for creating this lifelike flower including making stamens, painting petals, and assembling the finished show-piece.

Tools & Materials

  • 24/26g wire (white taped)
  • very fine cotton covered wire
  • Gum glue
  • Rice flour, coloured with petal dust
  • Lily cutter & veiner
  • Mould for drying petals
  • Craft knife
  • Rolling pin
  • Ball tool
  • Petal dust, buttercup yellow, orchid pink
  • Tweezers
  • Celboard
  • Foam pad
  • Toothpick
  • Food color gel, orchid pink

Pistil

To start with take a small ball of paste & roll it into a sausage shape.

Once you have a the start of the sausage shape insert 24/26g wire up the full length of the sausage making sure you do not pierce the end.

Work the sausage on the wire, working it down the wire to make sure it has a firm hold.There is no need to glue the wire before this step. You can roll with your hand, or alternatively use your foam mat, this ensure that the pistol is straight and has no “finger grooves” from rolling.

Once it has thinned out nicely, measure it up to the length of the petal cutter, no bigger than 1/2 the size of the largest cutter, anything longer than half will look odd. Cut top of the stamen with three cuts, like the “peace”symbol.

The pistil needs to be coloured green/yellow from the base to up to about 2/3 of the length of it. The last 1/3 needs to be dipped in gum glue and then dipped in the coloured rice flour mix. 

Stamens

Cut 6 pieces approximately 10cm long of very fine wire.

With your tweezers bend about1cm from the end so it looks like a number 7.

Then at about 1/3 along from the bend, bend it back on itself.

Dip the end of the bent wire into gum glue, then into coloured ground rice. I have mine yellow, but if you look at real lilies, the stamens come in a multitude of colours). Shake off any excess.

Petals

Roll out your paste, and cut out 3 small petals and 3 large petals. Don’t roll the paste too thin, this is a flower that tends to look better if it has a little thickness to it. Then take a very small piece of paste and roll it into a ball. Then roll it into a tear drop/tiny sausage shape.

Thread with 24/26g white wire.

Dust base of veiner with cornstarch, lay down gumpaste coated wire, brush with a very small amount of glue.

Place one of pre-cut petal over, dust the top of petal, cover with top of veiner and press down firmly.

Gently remove the petal from veiner and place on foam mat, ball the edges of the petal to make gentle ruffles. Some of these lilies are naturally very ruffly, others not quite so much, really up to you how frilly you want to make them. You will need to make 3 smaller petals and 3 larger petals.

Find a container or former to lay the petals on. Make sure the curve is not too excessive. At this point you need to leave the petals overnight or in a very hot dry place to dry. They need to be 100% dry before you go any further.

Colouring & Taping

I found the best way to colour with luster dust is to leave the petals on the container that they have being laying on to dry. Some people prefer to hold them by the wires, some with the petal in their hands… I found that if I held the petals I would have breakage. And yes, I broke one this way also – that is why we should always make extras! 

Commercial lilies (ones you buy pre-made) will more than likely only have 5 petals, is cheaper and faster for them to make, however, the natural lily does have 6 petals. Unfortunately, this tutorial now has five petals! The same principals apply, you just need to tape in an extra petal which will become clearer as we go along. 

For the colouring, have a look at some real flowers, they tend to have green/yellow at the centre of the petal and colouring on the rest of the petal varies, some with alot of colour, some only a smattering… I’ve gone half way. 

After you have dusted the petals, create the dots. This example is done with dots of food colouring gel with a broken toothpick (so it has a rough edge rather than a point).

Firstly, tape down the length of the pistil wire. Then tape the stamens to the pistil. Take three stamens and line them to the top of the pistil and tape around to hold in place. Add three more stamen on alternate side that you have just taped.

Tape all petal wires. Take one of the small petals and bend to the desired effect with teasers. Attach three small petals, one at a time, so that they create a “Y” formation.

The petals need to be secure.To do this tape around the wires, then thread back through the middle (between petal and pistil/stamens) and then continue taping in the opposite direction. This is a little tricky, but you will find it will hold the petals nice and securely. Once you have taped the small petals, take the larger petals and tape as close to the smaller petals in the gaps of the Y.

Completed! 

If this had six petals it would look much better, however, it could pass as a lily – just not competition level! Cut off the excess wire at the base leaving a bit to bend and help “stand” into place on cake or plaque.



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