Has anyone ever tried this? I don't have a bead maker and I thought this might work..If I thread the pearls when I roll them and let them dry...


What do you all think?


Laurel

I would roll them, poke a hole then, allow them to dry completely and string them. I string mine on unbreakable gel...keeps everything edible.

I never heard of unbreakable gel! Please tell me about it

It comes in white and clear...can be colored if desired...great for making shtuff!

http://www.globalsugarart.com/product.php?id=21630&name=Unbreakable%20White%20Gel%20by%20JEM

you can't attach heavy stuff to the end but I've seen where people have used it for lion whiskers, clothes lines and other things.

I use it for pine needles, pearl strings, stamens, bug antennae, smear it out like gelatin and make sheets to pipe royal icing designs on...

OMG that looks awesome! Can you really eat it or is it just "edible" in the way gumpaste is "edible"?

I made a fondant rosary to put on a communion cake and was dissapointed to have to string it on thread. This would be great!

this does look awesome. When it dries, is it flexible or hard like RI?

More like the way gumpaste is edible I'm guessing. I've not put it in my mouth (I've not put gumpaste in my mouth either, nor the super strength gelatin...I'm skuuuuurrrrrred)

so do you just pipe it out with a piping bag and superfine tip? This looks really neat!

Bturpin...I'm am SO jealous of your avitar pic!!! I have a pic with Geoff, but Duff would have been way cooler!

It's bendable. If you make strings...you want to get close to the sway,swag, movement you want. If you were to pipe out a straight line of it and let it dry then, strung the pearls on it, they would want to stay in a straight line...they would be able to flex a bit but to get them to bend without them wanting to boing back to being straight might prove to be difficult without applying some moisture at the bend/curve area...that is why I suggest piping a curve or two into your string before allowing it to dry.


It's flexible...you can bend two ends together...but, if you try to fold two ends together, it can snap.

Fantastic! Thanks all4cake, I'll be placing an order today.

just pipe it out with 3 or smaller. It dries finer than the tip you piped it with.

Wow..That is great..I may have to be buying some too.

I've not tried it, but there is a recipe for unbreakable gel somewhere....brb

poo! It's on THAT site. google unbreakable gel recipe...or unbreakable lace recipe...it should come up

This stuff is STIFF to pipe...use a strong bag.

I found a recipe.Here it is.....found the recipe from a thread..It is from that site we can't mention!!

1 part Tylose (10ml)
to
5 part water (50ml)
Pinch of citric acid
.
Add tylose and Citric acid to the water, whisk well and allow to stand
overnight - keep away from excessive heat and sun.
To check consistency, touch the surface of the mixture with a dry
finger, your finger should come away dry. If desired the mixture can be
flavored by replacing part of the water with an equal volume of liquid
flavoring, to maintain the correct volume of liquid.
Coloring can achieved by adding powder coloring to the mixture after it
has rested. Stir well and allow to stand for at least 2 hours. Stir well
before use to distribute color. If liquid color is used, reduce the amount
of water.
This mixture shrinks on drying - pipe on grease free paper, preferably
glossy. Use a larger tube than end product needed to allow for shrinkage.
If desired royal icing dots can be added to piped design.
.
I told some of you on the chat a couple of weeks ago that this was made with gum arabic. Sorry, it's tylose. I didn't have the recipe in front of me at the time. I haven't used this yet so can't really say how it is different from the product you buy. Should be worth a try to play around with. Not wasting many ingredients if it doesn't work. Enjoy

Hmmm...where would you buy citric acid?

And this is exactly why I love this site! Learn something new every day. Thanks!

some grocer's carry it with their canning supplies.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0001FUGTE/?tag=cakecentral-20

candy making suppliers usually carry it as well

Citric Acid is in lemon juice and is in the stuff you use to keep you fruit from darkening called "Fruit fresh". You can find it in any store that sells canning supplies. When I read the ingredients...actually citric acid is third on the list behind dextrose and ascorbic acid(vitamin C).
I have not tried this recipe, however I have used it in canning, and also in a dough enhancer recipe that called for citric acid and it worked fine.

Pretty cool - now I just need to find a reason to use it!

your guys are a great sorce of info

Okay - rather than clean house, I decided to try the recipe posted above (thanks, KiddieKakes). I mixed it one night and piped it the next day. I used no flavor or pigment - just water, tylose, and citric acid. It was a bear to pipe - I'm old and arthritic . I ended up putting the stiff goo into a syringe-style tool, holding the syringe with both hands and pressing the plunger into a book held in front of my stomach . I piped two strings and left one on the freezer paper and put one into my food dehydrator. When dry, the lines are amazingly strong and look like the clear rice noodles. This has definite possibilities for stringing pearls, animal whiskers, flower stamens - stuff like that. I'm sure it would make amazing intricate designs if I had the strength to extrude it The dehydrator was totally unnecessary and actually gave the "thread" a lumpy texture. Or the unevenness could have resulted from my picking it up by one end to put it in the dehydrator - it may have stretched beyond its limits. The air-dried one is better. Now I have to buy some of the gel to see how the two compare. Wonder if I could incorporate a little more water to make it easier to pipe.....

I'll have to try that. I strung pearls on fishing wire for my hatbox cakes. And while it was easy and secure to hang, It was the one thing about the cake that bothered me. I would have preferred to have everything edible.

But as far as stringing pearls in general, I formed them and let them set up overnight. Then I used a rounded toothpick to make the holes. It was easier at that point because they were firm enough to handle the hole-making, but soft enough that I could do it easily. Then I let them dry another day before stringing. I didn't paint them with luster dust until after they were strung so I wouldn't have to handle them much with the dust on.

The purchased unbreakable gel mix, when mixed, is hard as heck to pipe! A bit more water (although the directions on the package insist you be precise with the measurements) does help tremendously and I had no noticeable adverse effect on the end product in the applications I used the stuff for...mentioned earlier in this thread. The first time I used it, I twisted the back end of the piping bag around my forefinger...um...it resulted in the biggest blister I've ever gotten on that finger since I dipped it in boiling candy syrup(definitely not an intentional act there). After that, I added more water...just a bit more...to make it a smidge easier to pipe.

To dust the pearls, I roll a few dozen at a time, go back with a cornstarch dusted toothpick and poke the hole in each and drop them into a small lidded container with the dust in it...put the lid on and shake them around...leaving them in there as I continue with another round of roll and poke. It only takes a small amount of pearl lustre dust to do the entire container. Those plastic baby food containers are perfect for doing this!

Great thread - thanks!

You can also buy citric acid from cheese-making suppliers online.

I made a string of pearls for my Aunts B'Day cake. Using bottom end of piping tip, cut circles, cut them in half, and made the balls of fondant/gumpaste mixture. By the time I finished forming the last pearl, they were dried enough to string.

Using a large new needle threaded with dental floss, I tied the first pearl to the end of the floss, then started stringing. Needle went right thru the ball and pearl kept its shape too. Tied the end of the floss to the last pearl. Made several strings about 10 to 24 inches long. Dusted with white pearl dust. Everyone asked me if they were real.

Floss wasn't edible, but you could clean your teeth after eating cake.