Reading through a 2nd hand book I bought I found this recipe for edible glitter. It is by Sylvia Coward and I've never made it so I don't know how it will turn out but thought it might be useful to some of you.
50ml of hot water
25g Gum Arabic
Pour water into a bowl and sprinkle gum arabic over. Stand the bowl in hot water stirring gently to dissolve
Strain mixture through a piece of nylon
Brush mixture onto a clean baking tray or glass surface and place in a warm oven (140c) until dry
Brush or scrape the dry glitter off the tray and crush it into fine flakes. Store the glitter in an airtight jar
Glitter may be coloured by adding food colouring to the water before mixing.
I also have this recipe in a book from Gates School of Decorating. It lists the ingredients as:
1 T Gum Arabic
1 T warm water
The directions are pretty much the same as you have. The measurements are probably the same, too. I am attaching this information for those of us who are not used to metric measurements. 
I searched Cake Central and Wilton for a product called Gum Arabic and did not find it. When doing a general search, I found this.
http://www.pennherb.com/cgi-bin/herbstore.cgi/cat?;gums
But does anybody know if you can just get this in a store ... in the United States?
Cake Sparkles and Shimmer Dust by Wilton are both gum arabic--one in a large flake form and the other ground very fine. CK Products also makes cake sparkles. I bought a huge jar of the white/clear for about $22, but it's equal to more than 10 of the small ones and I use the white most often
I think the Cake Sparkles are shinier, so I just grind them to the consistency I want. I put a small amount in a tea strainer/mesh grater and pulverize them with the handle of a spatula--works great. They come in many colors: blue, yellow, pink, green, purple, black, white/clear, red, and perhaps a few more. If you grind them smaller, even the small jars go a long way.
Rae
Seems more economical to just buy the sparkles already made!
This is the best source I could find for gum arabic powder. It's made from the resin of the acacia tree and is used in all kinds of things. At $11/lb, that's FAR cheaper than buying glitter and you could easily tint it with any gel food coloring - just tint the water.
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/bulkherb/a.php
My only question is - how do you get it off whatever you paint it on? I'm wondering if painting it on a plastic ziploc bag or a layer of plastic wrap would be best. Then, because they're pliable, you could just remove the wrap from the back of a cookie sheet and along with it would come the dried gum arabic.
This would definitely take quite awhile to make, though. Painting a thin layer of the stuff and waiting for it to dry would take forever to have enough to use on anything, I think. I guess you could do it in your spare time or something and build up a surplus... or if you only needed a little bit and didn't want to invest in a bottle of the stuff.
I'm sure what manufacturers do is simply spray-dry the stuff on flexible sheets. I wonder how long it takes to dry.
My only question is - how do you get it off whatever you paint it on? I'm wondering if painting it on a plastic ziploc bag or a layer of plastic wrap would be best. Then, because they're pliable, you could just remove the wrap from the back of a cookie sheet and along with it would come the dried gum arabic.
the flakes lift of by itself once its dry, or you just rub it with your finger and it will come off, however it does not sparkle as much as bought glitter. IMO its is more economical to buy the little glitter pots .
Hi
I only have tylose, can I use that instead?
Thanks!!
No, tylose is NOT the same as gum arabic. When combined with water, tylose forms a strong glue. It won't "flake".
Rae
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