My buds keep coming off the floral wire when Im working on the first layer of petals. I let them dry for 12 hours and they still fall out, I hooked the wire and everything. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! Advice, please, I have no formal training so Im winging it here.

Is your wire covered? Gumpaste doesn't like to stick to uncovered wire. Are you using something to glue them on the wire? When you are inserting the hooked wire are you going in from the top of the bottom? If you are inserting a hook through the bottom of the gumpaste, then that hole will be a bit larger than just wire going through. Gumpaste shrinks a little while drying, so this could be making a lose connection between the wire and the gumpaste.

Something else you can do is take your wrapped wire and heat it until it is very hot, then slide that into your rose base. The gumpaste will melt and attach to the wire. You could actually use these right away if you are careful not to squish around on the base a lot.

Let them dry longer. Depending on the size, they need to dry 24 hours or longer. Just make a bunch and when they're fully dried, store them in a ziplock bag for future use.

If you're in a hurry, use lollipops. I use dum dums lollipops and they work well, but sometimes the gum glue melts a little of the lollipop and it drips out when the rose is hung upside down to dry.

Are you using "glue"? I usually use egg whites or make up the edible glue with tylose powder. Also I find toothpicks are good for roses too. HTH

After you 'hook' the top, put the hook of the wire into a flame and get it hot. This will melt the sugar around the wire. Make sure you seal the bottom of the cone on the wire.

I would also let them dry for at least a day. Two days would be better!