I'm try to learn to do realistic gumpaste roses before the ICES convention. Because I would Like to be able to take a arrangment to the convention.
Could some of you wonderful gumpaste artist look at my roses and see wht I need to work on to improve them?
I'm going to try dusting them next. Should I dust the petal before or after I assemble the rose? The all white rose I did with out cutters like sugar flowers show on her DVD.
I would like to thank edna and Cakepro, for the tutorials they are really helpful.
Thanks Guys! I aprreciate all your help.
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1343469
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1343467

your roses are good! very pretty although its kinda hard to tell in pictures, i think the main thing to work on would be rolling your petals thinner, and putting some texture in the edges of the petals.
dusting i would do after i put it together when its dry... its just the way i would do it, i dont know which is best, cause i guess that way you wont get the centers so well.
xx

one of the photos mentions it was your 6th one. you have to just give it time and practice in some ways. but you are starting out well.

I agree with brincess_b - you do need to work the petals more thinly. I use my KA pasta roller attachment on a "6" for petals, and I thin those a little more manually with the ball too. then I use a veiner (front and back) on each petal, then thin and work the edges still a little more. Then i use my needle tool to give a rolled back edge on each side of each petal. I don't dust until fully assembled most of the time, except for the palest colors where I'll dust slighly in between rows.

colors: start with your paste colored to you deepest color for the petals in the center, then as you work out, work a little white paste into the colored paste, which will help you achieve a more natural fade as you work towards the outer petals.

When I make my roses I do not use cutters. I think they make them look to uniform and perfect. Go onlike or look at a gardening book and look at the edges of the petals. They curl and bend. I don't like it when I see gum paste roses that have a ruffled appearance. They do not look real to me. I press out each petal between my finger and thumb and they get a bit of the ridges from my fingerprints on them. When they are dry, I use powdered colors to go into the center of the rose and fade out toward the edge petals. The ridges that were left catch a tiny bit of color and show a slight texture. Real rose petals are not perfectly smooth. I am also very carefull with luster dusts as they only make them look more fake. I only put them on the higher points of the petals so they just look like they are reflecting light. Just keep practicing and loose the cutters (IMO)

Thanks! Great tips. I will definitely work on getting them thinner. I love the idea of adding white to change the color a little.
BeeBoos-8599_ - Could you post a picture of your roses? I trying to picture the difference between ruffled and curled/ bended. Is it that ruffled is more uniform?

I would love to post some pictures BUT every time I try to the system says my pictures are not large enough. It drives me crazy becasue most systems say they are to large. Anyway, I am trying to get some of my work on the site and will let you know when I do. If you would like I can email you some. Just email me and I will see what I can do. By ruffled I mean that the petals are are wavy rather then curled back away from teh center of the rose. Most of the outer petals on real roses curl inwad on each side so that there is a small point left. Google a tea rose and you will see what I mean.

Ok, i finally got some photos to post.I cannot get figure out what I am doing wrong to post the attachment with this msg so please go to my photos and the first flower is one from this week. It is not a very large rose but I hope it shows what I was trying to tell you. Please post your new efforts!

Thanks Ladies!
I've been practicing again. I tried doing the points of the petals more. on the first rose I did the gradual anding white. I didn't start with enough gumpaste so I had to keep recoloring it.
The main problems I'm having now is the roses keep falling off the wires on about the last row of petal. the first time I thought it might be because the center hadn't dried enough. The second rose I'm sure it was dry I had also used the heating the wire trick. Maybe I'm not using a heavy enough wire? what size should I use for Large roses?
I ordered veiners but they were out of stock (didn't tell me until after they shipped the rest of the order ) so the petals still aren't veined.
Here are my latest efforts, Please let me know what you think!
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1348357


http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1348352

Auntem, I think you did an amazing job! I cant even begin to make my flowers that large. Now grab some petal dust and dust the inner portions of the petals (use a very light hand) near the base and you will love the depth it gives the flowers.

Thanks! I don't have a petal dust yet. I'm really looking forward to try it though. I think Gumpaste is a really exciting and fun medium. I really enjoy working with it and making flowers