I am going to a gumpaste flower class that is asking us to bring yellow seedhead pollen (pollen dust to use on stamens for the flowers). No one locally carries any. Does anyone know where I can get some at or how to make some at home maybe out of cornmeal or something like that?

Thanks for your help in advance.

Tanya
Frogleggs

color some cornstarch, or finely ground cornmeal should be fine. I'm assuming you'll just be dipping the stamen tips into the stuff to get the look of pollen. when I do lily stamens I just use rust colored petal dust and dip into that.

This is probably not much help here but SCott Clark Woolley's book, 'Cakes by Design,' explains in great detail how to create a whole variety of flowers, including how to make the 'glue' and the dough and all the various things to assemble the flowers, including how to make yellow pollen mixture. I dont have it in front of me and I have to go drop my nephew off at school. I'll skim through it later if possible.

In my country, a friend used to used small pieces of a very thick rope ( from a hardware store) and and put like 10 thin streing together in one end with floral tape and then dip the other end in egg whites and then in a kind of corn meal ( the brand with a dark skin chef on the box) this particular brand has very nice color combination ( white & brown ) that can be use as the polen. I used on orchids and other gumpaste flowers and is a hit.

I was taught to use cream of wheat mixed with a bit of yellow powdered food coloring. Dip stamen (thin pieces of wire covered in white floral tape and bent slightly at the top) into egg white and then into cream of wheat.

I use lemon jello, dry, mixed with petal dust to give it color. I may have gotten that from Scott Clark Woolley's book, I can't remember offhand right now. The dust mixes nicely with the jello, which doesn't have color and it gives a nice texture. HTH

I am pretty sure I read in Toba Garrett's book that she uses cornmeal.

I like the lemon jello idea. That way it smells good too

Unflavored gelatin mixed with powdered food color makes wonderful pollen. For a finer pollen, I recently discovered "Fruit Fresh" mixed with powdered food color is great for smaller flowers or when a delicate look is needed.

If you can get stacked pill containers, these work great for keeping the pollen. I keep a whole stack of various colors and shades.

I make fine stamens with thread. I wind the thread around two fingers, then attach two fine wires on each end, cut the thread, and then tape the thread to the wire to "round" it off. To attach the pollen, I spray hairspray on the thread and them dip them in the pollen. It may sound gross, but no one is going to eat the stamens anyway. If I was making something that might get chomped, I dip them in my gum glue.

Fraying the thread with a nail buffer makes for fluffier stamens.

Sugarflowers,

One day I hope to be 1/2 as good as you. Your gumpaste flowers are the most beautiful flowers I've seen.

I noticed in many of your photos you say you use a chocolate gumpaste. Would you mind sharing the recipe you use?

Also, do you color your gumpaste or do you make them white and dust them all to get the color you want?

Joanne

Thank you very much! I'm glad you like my flowers. I enjoy making them.

For chocolate gumpaste, I just take chocolate fondant and add approximately 1 Tbsp. of Tylose to a fist sized piece of fondant. You can either use commercial fondant or make your own. Most of the time I make my own. I do use Pettinice to make my gumpaste for show flowers, except if I need to have the piece in chocolate.

As for the coloring, that varies. Most of the time I start with a very light version of the color I want to get and then dust 2-3 different shades onto the flowers for depth. I have recently discovered that I like dusting the flowers and leaves as soon as they are made rather than waiting until they dry. I like the look and I use a LOT less petal dust. Steaming them is my next favorite step. It still amazes me what steam does for any type of gumpaste. It also seems to seal the gumpaste and prevents humidity from damaging them. Who would have thought that?

I hope this helps. I'll be glad to answer any other questions that you have. I have probably made every mistake possible while learning. Well, now that I think about, I'm still making mistakes, so I'm definitely still learning!

Sugarflowers,

I love your flowers, too. Could you explain your method of dusting your flowers before they are dry? Do you dust each individual petal, ie, rose petals, before assembling? On lilies, do you wait to paint the dots until after they are dry? And I agree, steaming is amazing. I will have to try your stamen method, they sound like they would be so delicate looking.

Thank you.

I think you can find bee pollen at most health food stores. It is yellow and in small crumbles...would work great for the stamens! I hadn't thought of it before...I'm going to have to head down to Mother Earth!