hey all!
i'm making some fondant flowers for a cake in a week or so and was wondering if anyone had a good idea on how to dry them with a slight curve (as if they had been set in a little bowl) without actually buying a lot of the little drying molds? the flowers i'm making aren't a realistic flower, but more of an artisitic interpretation, but obviously i don't want them to dry flat... any homemade ideas?

tia!

How about little bowls? That's what I used. And I used drinking glasses - I put a piece of aluminum foil over the top and fixed it so it bowed in slightly. Actually just about anything with a curve like you'd like - bowls, serving spoons - or small spoons if the flowers are little, egg cartons - or you can make your own with some modeling clay covered with plastic wrap.

Welcome to the forum. Everything suggested above is good. I use the cardboard that comes between the large boxes of apples in the supermarket.
You can get a lot of flowers on them for zero dollars!

You can also make your own by molding a 3x3" (or 4x4") square of aluminum foil over one of the plastic Wilton molds. Works like a charm.

I actually just take a square piece of foil and lay it down on my foam thing, (gosh I can't think today )
The foam you use with your ball tool to feather out flowers. . I take my small rolling pin and push on the middle of the foil and it will make a nice dip in it to place flowers. You can then just crinkle up the foil where ever you want pedals to sit higher or lower, spread out or how ever you want them. I then just lay them on a cookie sheet full of these little foil bunches with flowers in them. Been a long day. Sorry for the weird explanation

For tiny ones, I have this:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0028FIQ60/?tag=cakecentral-20

or this:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003QP3GGG/?tag=cakecentral-20+chocolate+mold

I actually use the an egg carton cover the surface with aluminum foil and then pushing the foil half way through each dent. Then I get a toothpick and make a tiny hole in the middle (more air).

Mayen from Way Beyond Cakes by Mayen once suggested using these and they do look pretty cool!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150948057852331&set=a.261635412330.148921.205059342330&type=3&theater


HTH

I prop the petals with cotton balls, toothpicks - - anything that's food safe and keeps them in the shape I want.

I have dozens of trays for drying fondant flowers made by taking two layers of heavy duty foil and pressed them into cupcake tins to make hollows for curving petals, etc. For small flowers forms I use my mini-cupcake pans and for larger ones I use the standard size.

Plastic spoons (handles snapped off) hot glued to cardboard.

Chinese soup spoons. You can get them for super cheap-o at the Asian market (assuming you have one near you).

How about those foam "egg crates" (not sure what they're really called) people use for their beds, cut down to a more manageable size?

For leaves I crumble up foil. For petals you can lay them over the side of the cardboard that's in the middle of a roll of paper towels. Some people use foam egg crates that you use on top of a mattress.

Wow Chinese and plastic spoons. Don't know how I never thought of those and they are so easy to get. Jen that is really innovative!

I use apple trays from the grocery store (they were happy to get rid of), and Chinese spoons which I got from a restaurant supply store ( really cheap) and the plastic soup spoons (Amazon) that I trimmed off the handle and hot glued to a piece of foam core. For me, all three work great.