Why Are My Gumpaste Flowers Fading When They Dry?
Decorating By kathik Updated 6 Aug 2007 , 3:18pm by kathik
I'm making daisies for a wedding cake and each time a set of them dries the color fades. I am using Americolor gels, wilton gumpaste mix with 1 tablespoon gum tex added. What can I do to fix this or better yet prevent it since I have more flowers to make?
Thanks,
Kathi
I find they always dry a bit lighter and you have to keep them out of the light...
After they are dry, you can dust them with petal dust or non-toxic chalk...you scrape it with a knife till it is a fine powder and then brush it on ...if you want to make the colour not so intense then use a bit of icing sugar mixed or cornstarch mixed in the chalk..
Then after that, hold it for a moment over boiling water to "set" the colour.
HTH
If you are coloring the gumpaste itself it will naturally fade on it's own as it dries. You need to dust the petals with dry petal dusts and an artists brush after they have dried, then steam the flower by holding it upside down over a pan of steaming water on the stove burner. That is assuming the flowers are wired, if not you would need to hold them carefully by two sides of the flower and take the chance of burning your fingers, so be careful. Another alternative for unwired flowers would be to invest in a small portable clothes steamer, Target carries them. Just for a few seconds, too long and it will melt your gumpaste. After steaming, stick the flower stem into a block of styrofoam to dry, don't touch the steamed areas until completely dry or it will remove the color. Steaming sets the color and will darken it a tiny bit, but it also sets the dusts so they don't flake off on your cake icing, it also adds a bit of shine to your flower.
Kathi there is a company that makes Kosher dusts, let me see if I can do a search and find it for you. Aha! I found it.
http://www.bakedeco.com/dept.asp?id=514
I do see they are very limited in choice of colors. I found others listed as Kosher but when I accessed the sites I couldn't find any. Sugarcraft is another one that says Kosher certified but I have heard so many people complain about that company I am hesitant to reccomend them.
Another thought is to airbrush the flowers after they are dried and assembled. I do see Kosher Airbrush colors, but again not a large selection and I don't know if they would be pastel enough for flowers. I didn't look, but if they have it in white you could always mix it with the colors to get a lighter shade.
http://www.kopykake.com/cd_food_colors.html
several types of kosher items here, including powdered food color and wilton's new luster dusts.
http://beryls.safeshopper.com/98/cat98.htm?599
Just as general info (and I've posted this a lot, lately)....
Yellow + Red = Orange
Ever since the #2 Red Food Dye was removed from the market 20+ years ago, this problem has existed. The red dyes that were left were not as durable as the #2. As the red fades out of your orange, all that is left is the yellow.
Same with purples .... as the red fades, all that is left is the blue.
Thanks everyone! I've bookmarked Beryl's and I have all the kosher wilton dusts. I don't think I could get an order from Beryl's (or anywhere) in time to have these done for Friday.
Unfortunately my brides flowers are fuschia, orange and bright yellow. I made up some more tonight with LOTS of color and I'll see how they do in the morning. I redid a sample fuschia one with the Wilton rose color, because for some reason my Americolor fuschia is turning purple. With the Wilton rose I was actually able to achieve the the look of the fuschia color dot on the Americolor bottle, so I'll see how that one is tomorrow. I've been extra careful to keep all my new ones out of any light from the time they are finished, so hopefully that will help.
This is my first experience making anything other than buttercream or "chocolate plastic" flowers and it's definitely a little more challenging than I expected! Not hard, just different problems than I anticipated. I'll let you know how they do.
You guys are great! I don't know what I'd do without you! 
Kathi
Well, here is a photo so you can see the difference. The ones on the right are the faded ones. For those I added color just until I achieved the color I wanted. The ones on the left are the new ones and I really saturated the gumpaste with color. They didn't fade overnight. I know they still could, but the others had already faded by this point so I'm taking hope from the fact that they haven't.
Thanks again, it helps to at least be able to talk things out!
Kathi
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