Hi everyone, im just made my first rose spray cake topper for a ruby wedding anniversary and man it was hard!! i dont have a problem making the roses but im stumped as to when and how to wire them. i used a ball of fondant to stick the wires into to get a nice shape which worked well but do you wire the flowers wet or dry?

when i tried them dry, some petals broke and it was hard to get them to nestle in as i was scared of breaking more so i had to use filler flowers to fill in some gaps

when i tried them wet, then obviously the ones on the bottom got squashed and when i tried to stick the wire into the ball of fondant then the wire started to poke through the top of the rose with the force.

what am i doing wrong?? my spray in the end looks just ok but i cost me so many hours and so much frustration there must be an easier way? i see loads of lovely toppers that are arranged to perfection so how is this done without breaking the flowers??

Thanks!!

i hope someone can help you because i had this same question.

When I make roses I place the wire in the cone base while it is still soft and let it dry completely (at least over night). I also use an 18 gauge wire for roses because they can get heavy.

When placing roses close together I make the centers and one or two rounds of petals and let those dry. These are always the tight petals, not the open petals. While the outer petals are still soft I put the rose in place at an angle and shape and support the petals with scraps of tissue.

Since it's hard to get roses in tight enough to have no gaps I use leaves and filler flowers. Long, narrow needle nose pliers make inserting flowers a lot easier.

HTH

Michele

thanks, that makes sense, the wire is held in place by the dried cone and small petals but then you can work with the outer petals while wet - will try it!!! thanks