Sorry for such a silly question - it is only an idea...

Ultimately I received a lot of orders for children's birthday cakes (1 - 3 yr. olds) and Mums are going crazy! A lot of decorations made of fondant and gumpaste - which actually takes always more time AND materials - like gumpaste itself, colors (they always want matching shades), various powders, luster dusts, shines, glazes.... neverending list - than the 'real' cake itself. To give them accettable prices (and of course to cut my costs) I was thinking if it was possible to use actually for example eyeshadow lustre powder - I have dozens of them in different colors and do not use them a lot and they are skin safe for only 1 year. BUT: ONLY on just hardened gumpaste decorations on florist wires that DO NOT actually touch the cake and AFTER SEALING the decoration completely with Pearl Glaze or something similar - which makes the deco shine even more and there is no chance the lustre would be spilled over the cake. My logic was: I'm making these decoration from gumpaste and they WILL NEVER be eaten - hard as they are (and I always tell clients NOT to eat or taste them, not let children touch them to prevent accidental 'bite' and remove them in time before starting to cut the cake). They are on florist wires and do not touch the cake. I personally really do not like the wires either, especially on cakes for small children as myself have two small children, but if clients ask for it, it must be there (securely wrapped, in the bubble straw ecc.) - and some clients ask for almost real 'trees' on top of the cakes.

http://www.personalcakes.ch/cake-decorations.php

I posted one photo there as an example as I cannot add the attachment here. The reason why I was thinking about this idea is that here I cannot get a decent edible lustre (2 g) for less than 8 - 10 USD or I can get it on-line for much less but the shipping costs are so high that in the end the costs are the same. Edible lustres don't last a lot and I need a lot of different shades. Thanks for your opinions and experiences..

I remember reading a post on here where the decorated bought sidewalk chalk, ground it to a powder and used that in place of luster dust. I thought this was a great idea because it is non-toxic so, if somebody was to ingest it by accident or, if it were to get on the cake, no harm.

thanks SweetSuzieQ for the tip. You're right, it is edible (although it tastes horrible ), I have sidewalk chalk at home but grounded is it shiny enough to use it as a substitute of lustre dust?? Must try it...

I'm not sure..haven't personally tried it yet...just read about it. I unfortunately don't even remember what thread it was posted in so I could point you in the direction of the CC member that posted it.

Yeah, you were right, I found this:

''Unusual Items turned into cake decorating quottoolsquot.
- Non toxic sidewalk chalk taken up and ground into powder makes for great petal dust.. after grinding, I put them in their own small individual containers you get from the dollar store - cant tell ..''

but cannot read the rest (error - page not found). Thanks anyway!

In the art department. you get pastel chalks, grind up really fine and use as dust. Scott Woolley does this. When i teach g/p flowers , that is what i use with the students. It works great.hth

I use chalk all the time bsides luster dust... but have not used eye shaow.

Logically the eyeshadow seems to make sense, but the idea of eyeshadow being on my cake kind of makes my face scrunch up in a look of disgust. I think I would be turned off from a baker if I knew he/she used that on their cakes. That's a hard call. Guess I would just rather charge a little more for the cakes unless it was for family or friends and I explained to them all that said in your post and was there at the party to make sure no ate that part!

Thanks icer101, I can imagine what you mean. As a petal dust for gumpaste flowers it must be good. But is the chalk powder really shiny as the LUSTER dust?? I color the gumpaste with gel colors - need really only a tiny bit, no problem and then apply silver dust for shiny effect. The colour I have already in gumpaste, it's mostly only the shiny effect that I need to achieve. Sorry for my English, don't know if I can explain it right.

SarahBeth3: I said in the beginning of my post that it is ONLY an idea - and probably stupid... I'm not saying that I will use it! Sorry for misunderstanding. Maybe for practicing my gumpaste flowers at home (and of course not using them) the eyeshadows are ok...

Has anyone tried sidewalk crayons from Crayola? They have a great variety of strong colors, but I don't know if they can be ground to a powder.

I believe there was a thread here before on this subject and the consensus was that eye shadow contains minerals and other compounds which are considered toxic if they are eaten. Applying something to your skin is not the same as ingesting it and I would definitely NOT use eye shadow on anything on a cake. Whether the items are to be eaten or not, they should be made from edible, non-toxic material. I've had many people take a bite of my gumpaste items just to see if they were really made of sugar.

People don't understand that the skin is an organ, very porous (DUH!lol, pimples anyone?) and what we apply to the outside most definitely winds up on the inside of us. (Nicotine patch, birth control patch???)

If you tell them don't eat it, and cover it in a pearl glaze, I personally don't see a problem! After all, we see cakes in the store that have plastic bits all over them and nobody tries to eat them or worries, and some cakes have ceramic or glass ornaments. Some people use belt buckles, barrettes and pins. What is the difference? Just use your common sense and don't dust them over the cake! (duh! lol!)

edited for typo

I tried the chalk....didnt like it at all and promptly reordered petal dust haha.........

as far as wires, you can dip them into melted chocolate to coat before putting into cake....or inside a coffee stir straw...but never give gumpaste flowers to toddlers....atleast I wouldnt do that

I've tried chalk too. I coloured the leaves in my fall wedding cake in my gallery with them. However, I really prefer petal dust. It is so much more concentrated and works better. And grinding chalk was not fun. As for a shine, I don't see how you were going to get any shine or luster out of chalk. The colors are very matte.