I've just started making gumpaste flowers, and needed to make leaves. Do I have to get hold of the specific leaf cutters and veiners individually? Don't they come in sets, coz I'm thinking it works out pretty expensive. Or can one type of veiner work for others too?

I got hold of some dusts, but they didnt work very well when I dusted my flowers after they dried. I'm assuming chalk is better, but where do I get hold of that? Global Sugar Art don't have them, and can't find them on other websites.

I just posted something about Jennifer Dontz. You should try contacting her. She's very helpful and she does beautiful work. jenniferdontz.com. There is a contact us link. Just email her and she'll get back. She was very fast with her responses to me.

Sabz, I met a gal who just uses non toxic chalks to color her gumpaste flowers. You can get them where they sell art supplies. I saw a set at Michael's I'd like to get. She dipped them in the glaze afterwards, which sealed them and gave them a lovely sheen that deepened the colors.

Jennifer Dontz is wonderful about responding to e mails if you want to e mail her. She can answer all your questions. Good luck and have fun!!
Carol

ditto on the Jennifer Dontz....just took a class from her in S. Florida! She is a walking talking flower/leaf artist!!! She also sell EVERYTHING you might need to make each flower. As for the veiners, they can be quite pricey if you buy each and every one but she also has a "multi-purpose" which is great if you are just getting started with the leaves. The glaze is also awesome!! It makes the leaves take on a whole other look of realism!!
I was nothing short of amazed and so hooked just after a few hours of her class. If she can teach me, she can teach anyone!!! JD rocks!!

Thanks you guys. I wish Jennifer would come to UK sometime! Yeah I'll get in touch with her. Those non-toxic chalks sound like a good idea, since they'd be readily available for me. Hmm, and the glaze is something I've not heard of before. Another question I'll add to my list for Jennifer.

I would also like to HIGHLY recommend Scott Woolley Clark's company: Cakes by Design.

He makes VERY reasonable leaf cutters and veiners. I have been buying from him for a long time. They are great quality and very flexible (the silicon veiners). You can order and then he will give you a total by email after which you can pay him by check. He lives on the "trust" basis. Great guy and extemely personable and helpful too.

His website is:

http://www.cakesbydesign.cc/cakes_by_design.html

Check them out as well.

Ohh him!! He's got this sample video on youtube about gumpaste flowers and the dvds look really worthwile! I'm tempted to buy it..still on my wishlist!

Hi, Sabz

I asked this exact question some weeks ago. People suggested different things. I finally bought the FMM veining mats. There are two sets (multipurpose). You don't get the veins as real as with the other veiners, but for a beginner like myself I think they are OK. I bought the two of them at design-a-cake.co.uk for 9.78 pounds. (plus P&P, but then, I decided to get some other things to compensate ). I had them by the next day.

Unfortunately I can't tell you if they work well as I haven't had the chance to use them yet.

ngfcake, I'm still soo confused! But I think I need to know what flowers I'll be making most frequently and keep stock of things I need for them, right? But I don't even know which flowers I'd settle for!

Sabz, I understand exactly how you feel!

I decided to buy these multipurpose veiners for now to try many different flowers and leaves. Maybe in the future, when I gain expertise, I'll buy some specific veiners for the flowers I like the most, but for now, these can be used for roses, lillies, orchids, hibiscus, and many others. The same goes for the leaf veiners.

Many people also suggested me to use the dresden (veiner) tool to help with specific details for the leaves.

HTH

Did you get the double pack veining mats for 9.78 (thats without p&p so am confused) or veining mats 2 for 6.12? And are they suitable for all kinds of lillies? What about cutters, do you have them all?

No, I don't have all the cutters. I bought the kit from Wilton and have bought some other cutters. I bought the double pack of veiners for 9.78. They are kind of multipurpose, so I guess you can use them for various types of lillies, but please note that if you want your lillies or any other flower to look EXACTLY like the real one, then you would have to buy the specific veiner.

As I want to experiment now and I don't have a lot of money, I thought the multipurpose veiners would be a good, cheap option. But, as I said, I haven't used them yet.

thanks for the info. The delivery charge on their site isn't much either. That's what normally makes me feel guilty about ordering! Once I've got the equipment I'll post again to breath a sigh of relief!

That's great! I was surprised with their service because I got my veiners the next day.

Hi!

If you are interested in just "general veining", sometimes you can get away with a multi-purpose veiner, BUT, if you are interested in making botanically (sp?) correct flowers and leaves, you should have the correct veiners to go with the cutters. But, like I said, there are corners that can be cut if you just want some sort of veining. I will do whatever I can to help you.... I know it can be a total shot in the dark when trying to figure out what you would like to make and the stuff to go along....

I was in Tampa a few weeks ago teaching a class. I'll be back in FL in 2010. My next year schedule should be up on my site early this fall.
Check back there and you'll see what classes are happening where. Hopefully, you can join us for a class malishka

Sweet regards,

Jennifer Dontz

Hey spunky!

I'm SO glad you liked the class

You need to e-mail me, too

Jen

Love this thread! Thanks for starting it.
And my Wilton instructor also bought the non-toxic chalk from Michael's to use for flowers and stuff like that. She swears by it!

You can use the non-toxic chalks.... just make sure you buy the NON oil based. The oil based won't scrape down.

BUT, I have the pallette (sp?) but always recommend to my students having other petal dusts, too. You can't get the nice green shades especially, in the palettes. I like to have them so I can mix the palette chalks to make a custom shade.

Jennifer

I just thought I'd post to say what I ended up doing about the cutters. I got hold of Scott Woolleys' book. Looked through and chose the flowers I would like to try and start with. I got advice from Jennifer about those flowers, and according to the instructions, I've placed an order for the specific cutters and dusts. It does work out expensive, but I'd like them to look as realistic as possible!
Can't wait to try them and post some pics!

That's great! Let us know how they turn out!