Please help!! I have a bride that wants giant tiger lilies on her cake. I am having a hard time getting the larger petals to work to make a flower. I can make a little one just fine. I am so frustrated I could cry!! How do you make the big ones??

make a gum paste sausage pass the floral wire thru almost to the end, then flatten the sausage to cut the petal, with the wire holding the whole petal there should be no problem

You need to make the center stamens first with floral wire and small pieces of brown gumpaste, the wire stems are stuck into styrofoam to dry, then taped with brown floral tape, gathered together and taped again as one bunch. Then you can adjust them to look natural. Color your gumpaste a palish orange. You need a large enough cutter to begin with, (available through Nicholas Lodge or Global Suagr Art) the petal should be rolled on a ridged cel board and then wired with floral wire, the edges of the petals thinned and ruffled with a ball tool on a foam cel pad, then formed over a curved object like a plastic Wilton flower former or an empty paper towel roll cut in half lentghwise with the rounded side up. Left to dry overnight. Next the stems are taped, each petal is painted with dots of colored petal dust mixed with alcohol and painted on with a tiny artists paint brush, then each petal is dusted with a dark orange color. Then petals are then taped one at a time around the dried centers. Tape three petals into thirds, then the last three go inbetween the first three. Adjust the petals so they look natural and pleasing to the eye. Pul the first three into the center just a bit and the last three bend down toward the back abit. Last thing is to steam the finished flower over a pan of steaming water, just twirl the stem back and forth between your fingers and thumb so the steam hits all sides, front and back. Only until the gumpaste begins to shine, too long and it will soften the gumpaste. Steaming sets the dust and keeps it from flaking off on your iced cake. Stick the finished flowers into styrofoam to dry and don't touch the colored parts until they have completely air dried or it will remove the color and leave white spots. Here are some lovely images of Tiger Lilies.
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=Tiger+Lily&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8

Love Nick's site. He has helped me alot.

Here's an Asiatic/Oriental Lily Tutorial (by Feefs):

http://www.fira.com.au/Oriental-Lily

http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-201861-.html

HTH

thank you everyone. You are all very helpful!

Shirley, when you say the petal should be rolled on a cel board and wired....is that for each petal?

Yes, I make a suasage of gumpaste long enough to lay sideways over three of the ridges, press the paste down gently with your fingers then roll from the center up, go back to the center and roll down, then side to side until the paste is the thickness of a lily petal. Pick the paste up, turn it over, lay your Lily cutters so the ridges go vertically from the bottom to top of the petal. Dip a #26 gauge floral wire into gum glue, feed the wire up through the ridge about 3/4 of the way up the petal. Pinch the bottom of the petal where it meets the wire to secure it. Then thin the edges of the petal, press into a veiner, wired side up, then lay on a foam mat and ruffle the edges with a ball tool. I forgot to say, when you lay the wired petals on the flower former or paper towel roll, they should go wired side down, plain side up facing you.

Thank you very much.........you are so good at explaining details so we beginners understand........

Thanks, it is always easier to show a person how to do it than to type it. If you have any other questions just holler.