Is there a recommended way to make sure your gumpaste decorations are stuck securely to wires/etc to make decorations that rise above the surface of the cake? (And yes, I know not to stick wires directly in the cake -- I use straws and insert the wires into that.)
Last weekend I attempted to make a "crazy daisy" cake with a bouquet of gumpaste daisies sticking up out of the top of the cake. After letting the daisies dry for three days, I got out the floral wires and first tried sticking them on with my normal paste that I make out of meringue powder and water. Let that dry overnight. They stuck a LITTLE, but when I lightly shook it around, like it would be in normal movement being transported, the flowers fell off. So then I attempted to make a "glue" out of water added to fondant. Let THAT dry overnight. This also worked a little, until I started putting the flowers on top of the cake. After about ten minutes, the flowers started falling off the wires, right onto the cake.

It was now the day the cake was due, so I didn't have time to try anything else -- besides, I was out of ideas. By this time I was about ready to chuck the whole cake out the window. Not only did I not have my daisy bouquet, now I also had broken gum paste flowers, pieces all over my cake, and pock-marked frosting where the flowers fall. (I ended up making a ring of daisies around the perimeter of the cake, with the message in the middle. Customer loved the cake, I hated it -- mostly because I had fought with it so much.)

So what do I do for next time? Is there a recommended ratio of water to meringue powder or fondant that I should use to make a stronger "glue"? Or something stronger to use that I don't know about? I usually just mix it up until it's a thick paste, but I've never measured the ratos. I've never attempted gumpaste stuck to wires though,; I've only used my "glue" to stick gumpaste to gumpaste or fondant, and it's worked great. But this time it definitely DIDN'T. Any help would be SO appreciated. This weekend's cake fight made me almost want to throw in the towel.

Hi DebbyJG! When I do my gumpaste flowers, I first decide if they need to be on wires. If so, I build them directly on to the wire. For glue, I either just use plain water, or water mixed with a tiny dab of the gumpaste. To me, that would make the strongest bond. I haven't tried your way, so I'm sorry I'm not much help for you there. Good luck!

Since gumpaste is unedible I usually use just egg whites (from the old school lol). I also don't like the wire to show so I usually just sandwitch the wire between 2 daisies, I do is before the daisies dry, and I just let them dry together. I do know that lots of people use cmc, tylose or gum arabic to make edible glue. I don't know the ratio used, but I'm sure if you search in CC you're bound to find the ratio used.

I have yet to try this with gumpaste but I have with fondant. For fondant ones I use a lighter and hold the end of the wire in the flame for a few seconds and then stick it into the fondant. The hot wire melts the fondant and then cools very quickly and forms a really strong bond. I've bumped the wires numerous times and they jiggle like crazy and nothing falls off. Hope this helps

Make sure you twist a little loop at the end of the wire. Then take a pea-sized ball of gumpaste and squish it around the little loop. flatten the top of the ball. Use "glue" made of water with a pinch of gumpaste in it, wet the flat spot, then stick on your flower.

Did you wrap the wires in anything, were they covered wires, or just plain wires?

In my experinces if it is just plan wire the gumpaste doesn't really adhere to it. Plus gumpaste does shrink a little when it dries.

Thanks for all the tips. I didn't loop the wires -- I'll have to try that next time. Also I love the suggestion of melting it a little -- wonder if that would work with a fondant/gumpaste mix? I make my own fondant, and have found if I do just fondant alone, it doesn't dry well, so I sometimes make decorations using fondant mixed with gum-tex. But for this time, since I knew it would need to be extra strong, I just used straight gumpaste, not the mix.
TexasSugar, the gumpaste flowers I made were all the way dry when I tried to stick them onto the wires. (I've always made my gumpaste decorations several days in advance and then let them dry out. And, I was trying to stick them to wrapped floral wire.)
I do like the suggestion of sticking the wires in between two layers of gumpaste while it's all still fresh and letting the whole thing dry out together...

Don't mean to change the subject Debbie but I love the cake on your profile...can we see it larger or do you have pics we can see elsewhere?

I have used royal icing to adhere dried gumpaste stars to wire.

I usually stick the wire in the decoration and THEN let it dry.

Okay, I'll try that next time...
Concerning the photo on my profile pic, yep, at least I THINK that's one that I've put in my photo album on CC!

The last time I tried to get dried fondant on a wire, I had to use melted chocolate as glue. The hot wire trick didn't even begin to let the wire push into the fondant.

Debbie - I am new to this...where do I go to see your album on CC? I see galleries and different types of cakes but I don't see where I would find a person's album. THanks.

Click on the little photo icon at the bottom of her post. It will take you to her pictures.

You might try candy melts, or melted chocolate. You can get Wilton's candy melts in a variety of colors or you can tint them so they'll sort of match what doodad you're working on. They dry fast and pretty hard so I like using them as glue.

Thank you.....you can teach an old dog new tricks!