Hi All,

I asked this question in an old post that I found but I just realized that it was under the heading "cake disasters" This is not really a disaster more of a general ? so I thought I would post it here. I hope that this is okay.

Here's the ?:

My Wilton instructor told us that it takes at least a couple of weeks for RI to dry? Is this correct? The reason I ask is that my 4 year old accidentally knocked some of my RI flowers and my colour flow birds for my class II final cake. If I make more today (both the RI flowers and the colourflow) will they be dry by the time I need them for class on Tuesday or will they breakdown from the BC?

Thanks!

You can speed the drying time of RI by placing them in a drying chamber (use silica gel, but never let it get near anything edible), or, I usually take a cookie sheet, place a cooling rack on it, lay down 1 paper towel on the rack, and then a sheet of waxed paper with the flowers. The paper towel "wicks" moisture away, and the cooling rack allows air to circulate under the flowers. I can often get flowers ready in 1 day -- smaller ones are rock hard.

I'm guessing Alberta has low humidity now...so I hope this might work. Would also help your color flow dry quickly as well.

But in high humidity...yes, it'd take longer.

Thanks Petit-four,

I'll try that out this afternoon!

Have a great weekend!

A couple of WEEKS?? Well, yeah... if you live in the Amazon rain forest! In high humidity, it will take maybe 3-4 days for RI to dry. Under normal conditions, 24-36 hours - depending on how thick you RI is. When I make royal hibiscus, it's pretty thick at the base and still only takes 2 days to dry.

Petit-four gave great advice. If your items are too small to place on a cooling rack, you can also place them on a foam sponge which will allow air to circulate all around. Make sure the surface is dry so they don't stick, of course.

I always get annoyed when people are given out wrong information. Your WMI was wrong. The small flowers you do in Lesson two will actually dry in less than 24 hours, usually over night. The larger flowers will take atleast 24 hours and maybe a little longer if it is very humid. The flowers done with the Lily nail in course 3 could take 2 days or more to completely dry because they are deeper.

I always tell my students for color flow you want to give it atlast 48 hours to dry depending on the size of the piece. If you want to spend up the drying time of the flowers or color flow pieces you can place them in the oven with just the oven light on. Always put a note on the knob to remind you or anyone else not to turn it on. I have had great luck drying things over night this way, even an 8in piece of color flow.

You're welcome, xstitcher!

And thanks for the ideas about the sponge and oven methods...always enjoy learning new things!

Diane, TexasSugar & Petit-four,

Many thanks to all 3 of you! You have put my mind at ease and given me 3 great methods to use to dry my flowers!

Hope the rest of your weekend is great!

Cheers from Snowy Calgary (We've had it non-stop since yesterday and it's gone from 78F last week to the negatives this week! I sure miss Houston!

and for the truly impatient....

oven at 250 for 30-45 min.


don't ask me how i know

Thanks Doug!


All the info is much appreciated!

Cheers!