I recently found out my husband and I are pregnant (very exciting) 
But it's made me put my plans to open my own cake business on the back burner for a few years. In the mean time I've been trying to think of ways to make money at home that might still benefit my business later on. Have any of you thought about or are selling gumpaste/royal icing flowers to local business or even shipping them out? My thinking is I can get a ton of practice making flowers while still being able to stay at home and even making a little bit of money. I have yet to talk to the health department to see what they think since they are an edible item, i'm not positive they can be produced in a home. I just was wondering what your opinions are on this type of business. TIA!
As someone who has purchased gum paste flowers for the bakery I worked for I say go for it! It's tough to find really good flowers out there. You could open an etsy account...it's free I think and you could make to order and not have to build up a huge inventory.
And I don't think that gum paste would qualify the same as say bakery or other food items. You're not buying them to eat...you're buying them to use as decor...it's just a plus that you can eat them and they won't kill you!
(although have you tasted gum paste flowers before? Yik. Necco wafers taste better).
Good luck and post when you're ready to sell!
Congratulations!
If I had the skill, I'd be selling flowers on etsy! Easy way to make money.
It's a craft decoration, not a food item so you shouldn't have any HD issues, although call them to make sure in your area.
Good luck!
And, if I may suggest, spend time in creating the flowers that a busy cake shop doesn't want to spend the time to do! Especially the filler flowers like hydrangea's. They are the most time consuming and I would buy those in a heartbeat. I had someone locally come to me and offer me full blown gumpaste roses and peonies. Sorry, but those I can make all the petals for a peony myself in about 10 minutes flat. Bring me bunches of hydrangeas, and you got my attention.
Thank You for all of your suggestions and encouragemet! I need some practice before I could even attempt to sell any of my work but it's nice to have something to strive for!
I sell gumpaste on etsy and it's not that easy. The shipping costs kill you because of the packaging they need, and there's a high rate of breakage. It can be done but you need to do a lot of research about the packaging and shipping part of it. The things that are the best to sell are the least breakable ones, so more solid pieces, things with fewer petals etc.
I much prefer selling the tutorials and molds that I have listed. They don't break 
Make them out of pastialage. They won,t break as easy. It is easy to work with also, once you get use to it.hth
Really? I always thought that pastillage was more brittle than gumpaste. Do you have a recipe that you use to make it? I'm curious now.
I find that different gumpaste formulas ship better than others, so the recipe does make a difference.
I'm on etsy as acaketoremember. I've moved into listing more non--breakables after dealing with boxes of gumpaste being used for kicking practice by the post office. Then I tried sending something UPS and the box fell open and everything fell out, so they delivered an empty box. So one isn't better than the other!
When I've ordered flowers they were always sent Fed Ex and they were packaged extremely well. We always bought extra to account for breakage but never really had a major problem. All costs were passed on to the total cost of the wedding cake so we never lost anything.
Is it better to buy the gumpaste or make it yourself? I've made it before and it turned out ok but i'd much rather buy it. Thanks for all the info, I've been worried about the shipping and thinking maybe I could keep it more local so I can deliever it myself. I need so much practice first though. I was looking at some of the flowers on etsy and there's no way I can compete with them! But practice makes perfect Some day i'll get there.
Making it is a lot cheaper...I make my own and I like the formula that I use because it seems to have a longer working time and the surface doesn't dry out and crack quickly like commercial gumpaste. There's another formula that I've made before that a lot of people love, but I don't like as much because it's so brittle. You just need to experiment until you get a formula that you like.
I've got some friends who have cake businesses, and they told me about the Nicholas Lodge recipe for gumpaste.
You can make it fresh, therefore you can control how much you make based on your needs. It only requires a few ingredients, tylose, powdered sugar, egg whites, and some shortening!!
I love the recipe and would never use anything else....I have it posted on my flickr account and it's one of the most 'saved' of all of my photos.
I've got some friends who have cake businesses, and they told me about the Nicholas Lodge recipe for gumpaste.
You can make it fresh, therefore you can control how much you make based on your needs. It only requires a few ingredients, tylose, powdered sugar, egg whites, and some shortening!!
I love the recipe and would never use anything else....I have it posted on my flickr account and it's one of the most 'saved' of all of my photos.
Thankyou, i'll have to try that out. I used the wilton recipe before and didn't care for it, so maybe i'll have better luck with a different one.
Katta, 87
I started making the recipe SO often, that I simplified it for my own ease....
I came up with a '1,2,3' recipe, and I've always had great results... even though it may not be 100% exactly as instructed by the Nicholas Lodge directions.
It's easy:
1 egg white, slightly beaten
2 cups powdered sugar
3 tsp. tylose powder
add egg white to mixer, beat for @ 10 seconds, then add the powdered sugar till the mixture resembles royal icing, then add the tylose powder... after you add it, it will become very stiff VERY quickly.... remove from the mixer, cover your hands in a couple tablespoons of shortening, and knead the mixture, with a little more powdered sugar, until it's smooth and not sticky... wrap with plastic wrap and place in an air tight container. stores well in the frig for up to six months or so!!
That Nic Lodge recipe is the one that I don't like for shipping. I do like the way that it handles becasue it's nice and smooth, but it's a lot more brittle when it dries than the other recipe I use. The one that I use to make things for shipping is wetter, if that makes sense, it's not really wet, but it feels more like a clay, I don't know how to explain it. When I use the Nic Lodge recipe it breaks when I drop somethng on the counter, with the other recipe it's more forgiving.
It's basically a quick gumpaste using homemade fondant and tylose. Basic 2lbs confectioners sugar, 1 pkg gelatin, 1/2 oz glycerine and 1/2 cup corn syrup plus 2 tsp tylose per pound of fondant. I don't know how much tylose it is per batch, so you'll need to weigh the fondant. When I make the fondant I do it in batches using 8 lbs of sugar at a time, so I don't know exactly how much it is for a single batch.
AI love the magic gum, gum paste. You can search for it from the site that must not be named. I get the magic gum, and recipe from them. It is super easy to make, makes a lot, is very economical, after you but the magic gum. It is about $12, but lasts ages, and must make about 50lbs, since you just use a couple teaspoons per batch. I roll mine Into a bunch of golf ball or smaller sized balls, and put them in as which bags and freeze them. Then I just get out the little bit I need. The gum paste is thick and workable, and smooth and dries nice and hard, quickly, but is workable for quite some time. I generally mix it with MFF, and it helps to keep the fondant from stretching. I really love working with it.
I guess since I can't seem to find a way to "follow" this thread, I'll post here so as to be notified of a reply. I've searched carefully three times and apparently have over looked it each time. Boy, I'll be glad if I ever learn to navigate this new format.
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