i attended pastry school a few years ago......sad to say the only gumpaste flower that was taught to me was a rose i would love to make beautiful life-like flowers, but find it so overwhelming and have no idea where to begin. what is the best way to teach myself? are there any easy books or videos that you all can recommend? thank you!!

Scott Woolley has wonderful dvds and book. Nicholas Lodge has wonderful dvds and books. Alan Dunn's books are wonderful. Edna(Designmeacake) member on this site has dvd's. I don,t have them, but the ones that do, love them. I have Jennifer Dontz dvds also. Sharon Zambito(sharonssugarshack.com) has great dvd's on everything also. hth Toba Garret has great books. Also, youtube and check this site under forum, then flower tutorials . Great tutorials on flowers, etc. You can google how to's on most anything and find it on the internet. good luck. I love to make gumpaste flowers.

I can't say from experience as of yet, but in a couple of days I will. I just received Sharon Zambito's flower dvd set, plus there are tutorials here on CC, and youtube is full of them along with various blogs.

I'd say especially with your past experience, you shouldn't have any trouble if you just check out some of the tutorials! There are some incredible flower makers here - you'd swear they were real!

The previous poster suggestions are good. I would only add to print up pictures of actual flowers and get some cut flowers and try and copy them. I think my gum paste abilities kicked up a notch once I got my head around the basics and then my nose out of the books and sought inspiration from nature itself. I just put the cut flower in a vase on my work table, study it, make notes, and then begin!

thank you everyone!!