April wedding ... I am doing circus roses (yellow with dark orange tips) that I will be coloring with petal dust. I haven't been able to find my border ribbon, so I'm thinking about coloring pearls the right shade of orange (actually Alfred Angelo spice) to use for borders. Ideas are always welcome!!

Does anyone has a brand preference for petal dust (G S A, Sunflower Sugar Art, CK ...)? If all petal dust is pretty much equal, I will probably go with the home brand of where I am ordering from.

I also am wondering about lustre dust. How does it compare with pearl dust and does colored lustre dust cover well enough to use instead of petal dust or should I be doing petal first and then either lustre or pearl?

One more ... can I mix petal dust and pearl dust together to get the color and the shine in one step?

Thank you all!!
Martha

I would also like to know if there are any differences between pearl dust and luster dust. Here's a bump for you.

saap1204, this is probably the answer to our luster/pearl dust question. I found this on Sugar craft dot ... I haven't ever used the luster dust and have only used regular pearl dust on white. I think I am going to try luster and petal dust to come up with my spice color. I have a feeling that all petal dust is created equal, so I'll just check prices and decide where to order from.
~Martha

LUSTER DUST - gives subtle color with a high sheen metallic like finish. They may be used alone or mixed with similar colored matte dusts to create a lustrous sheen without lightening the color. Brushed on white, they exhibit color and a metallic like sheen.

PEARL DUST produces a shimmer luster. Use Super Pearl on flowers made from colored gum paste for a glistening look. When dusted on white petals, the other pearls in the range exhibit a subtle translucent or iridescent reflective colored sheen while displaying no apparent or strong color. They may be combined or applied over Petal Dust to create custom colors or effects.

I just wanted to mention that while petal and luster dusts are non-toxic, they are not truly considered food safe. I have discovered a brand, Crystal Colors, That are FDA approved food grade and the colors are wonderful. The petal dusts can be used for tinting fondant, chocolate as well as for dusting. The colors are beautiful and go a long way.

www.sugarpaste.com

(I am not affiliated with Sugarpaste in any way, I just like their stuff!)

Thanks, Sharon. Goodness, they have a lot of colors! Can you tell me how much I would use for chocolate or fondant? I'm used to the gel colors.

more info:

A line of dusts that are made with Certified Food colorings.
Some colors are Kosher and are labeled accordingly.

Regular Crystal Colors are like Petal Dust with a dull giving a flat finish on gumpaste.
Crystalized Pearl Dust are similar to Luster dusts giving a pearlized finish to gumpaste.

Dusting Gum paste flowers: Work color into brush before dusting flowers with colors. A little color goes a long way.
Dusting Commercially made Gum paste flowers: Work color into dusting brush (I use a sable flat shader style brush) then work from the outside edges.
Butter Cream Icings: (if using real butter, please use unsalted and no color additives as butter contains FDC: yellow 6) Mix color with powdered sugar and make sure it is well mixed. Then add to icing.
Commercial icings: mix with powdered sugar then mix into icing. This will take 1-2 hours for the color to develop. Once color is developed it will not change colors or fade.
Royal Icing: Mix color with powdered sugar then make royal icing as usual.
Fondant: Mix color directly into fondant and knead very well.
White Chocolate: mix color directly into melted chocolate.
Cocoa Butter: Mix directly into melted cocoa butter.
Painting: Mix color with vodka or lemon extract.
Crystallized Pearl (pearlescence) Pearl can be used in an air brush. Mix with vodka or lemon extract. Dust directly on icings or fondants. Dust directly on flowers with color. In some lights it will shine the color and turning it slightly will shine the gold or silver.
Paint on chocolates.
CRYSTAL COLORS FACTS:
* CRYSTAL COLORS ARE MADE FROM 100% CERTIFIED FOOD COLOR.
* CRYSTAL COLORS CONTAIN NO FILLERS THAT WOULD DESTROY THE INTEGRITY OF THE COLORS.
* COLORS ARE USED FOR GUMPASTE FLOWERS,BUTTERCREAM FROSTING, FONDANT, WHITE CHOCOLATE AND OTHER APPLICATIONS (THERE'S NO BITTER TASTE).
* THE COLORS ARE VERY INTENSE SO A LITTLE GOES A LONG WAY.
* THE COLORS COME IN EASY OPENING CONTAINERS.

PS. GLOBAL sells these too.

Sharon, do your jars of Crystal Color say what the weight is in grams? I would like to compare the cost of the Crystal Colors to ECG's colors, since I generally only use petal dusts on GP flowers that are not meant to be eaten. Thanks!

The petal dusts are 1/2 oz. not sure how many grams that is, sorry.