okay, so I am quite confused as to what is edible and what is not. I have NOW understood that disco dust should NOT be eaten (why the hell then would they even have such a thing in a baking category!? Ridiculousness.) Anyhow, now I am stuck with luster dust, pearl dust, shimmer dust, etc. I am going nuts! Super new to the cake business, and needing to make a beltbuckle with the "metal" look. Also gun barrels..... I want it completely edible. I have seen this "look" lots and I know its achieved by mixing it with vodka and such, but the question is what exactly "it" is that you mix with it!

Sincerely, confused and lost!

Gosh.. I'm probably totally the wrong person to answer this as I'm really new to all this too.. but didn't want to read and run.. because I know how it feels when you can see lots of people have read the post but not replied! hehe!

Well... it's not the same color.. but if you look at my pirate ship cake in my gallery... the coins in the treasure chest and writing on the back of the ship... were done with a gold shimmer dust. Basically what I did was dipped the end of my brush into some vodka and then dipped lightly into some of the dust.. and then "painted" on... Would think it would be somewhat similar with a silver metal sorta thing..but not sure? Also... recently bought an edible liquid paint that has a sorta light gunmetal/silver color.. haven't used it yet..but perhaps it would work and maybe you can find it too??

Good luck with your creation! Can't wait to see pictures of it!

Best,

Vicky

You can totally get a metallic look for a belt buckle by doing the following:

first, fashion the buckle out of pearl gray gum paste, let dry.
Mix Crystal Colors Crystallized Pearl Bright Silver dust with vodka and paint the gum paste.

The Crystal Colors are US certified food color and are completely edible. HTH

If you ate 40 pounds of disco dust you MIGHT get sick. I just won $52 dollars worth of twinkle sprinkles (the same as disco dust) from the American Sugar Institute. Don't think they're out to kill anyone. That being said, a metallic look is different from a glitter look. I did an antique metallic gold look on one of my cakes.

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/2259339/victorian-bird-cage?sub=2259342

I used gold luster dust mixed with lemon extract and brushed it over chocolate modeling chocolate.

Mixing any of the dusts with an alcohol based extract or vodka or everclear will get you the most shine. Do several coats if you're going over white. You might even think of coloring your fondant or gum paste a gold color and then cover with the dust/extract. HTH!

Disco dust is different than the luster dusts that dissolve...Disco dusts that are tiny pieces of plastic can irritate people who have digestive problems because they don't dissolve, they just pass on through, leaving you with twinkle poop later. I have a friend who can't eat things like ground nuts because of the particle issues, so he should avoid the disco dusts. Luster dusts that dissolve in water won't cause that kind of problem, but there are people who would be concerned about those if they contain metals. I personally don't worry about the tiny amount of that stuff that I'd be eating, but the idea of eating plastic glitter isn't high on my list.

I personally like using PME Pearl, Silver, Gold, Red, Black and Pink spray. It comes in a small aerosol can and works wonderfully. One can covered nine cakes.

the luster and disco dusts are only going to harm someone that ingests a whole bunch of it at once...in the small amounts it is fine. either way, more than likely the piece that you are needing to create that look with will not be eaten. I know a lot of my family and friends pick around the stuff they are unsure of...because they wouldn't want to have a metallic looking mouth! LOL

I've used moonstone silver luster dust mixed with everclear.

Thankyou so much for everyone's replies and help!