Originally featured in Cake Central Magazine's Fashion Issue (Volume 6, Issue 4), Tammy Mashburn's Julien Fornie-inspired wedding cake caught our eye! Tammy used gumpaste to make her turquoise beaded sphere that tops her cake.

We asked Tammy to create a tutorial on how she created this beaded beauty, and she shares her step-by-step guide below.

Get this issue of Cake Central Magazine to see more fashion inspired cakes and tutorials.

Materials:

18 gauge aluminum wire

2 5-inch steel rings, found in jewelry section of craft store

2 small cups

Airbrush color, Americolor Chocolate Brown

Fondant sculpting tools

Gel color, Cake Craft Aqua Blue

Gel color, ChefMaster Sky Blue

Gum glue

Gumpaste

Needle-nose pliers

Paintbrush

Paper towels

Wire cutters

Important note: For best results it is important that the inside of the beads are mostly dry before painting so the beads donât break apart and fall off. It is best to complete this project over two days, the first day you will do two rows of the ring and let dry at least five hours, then complete the painting and let it sit overnight to harden. The second day repeat the process on the last two rows.

1. Color 2 golf ball sized balls of gumpaste with 1 part Aqua Blue to 4 parts Sky Blue to achieve turquoise color. Wrap in plastic and set aside.

Armature

1. Using wire cutters, cut two 6-inch pieces of 18-gauge aluminum wire, set aside.

2. Place one steel ring inside of the other to create a sphere shape. Use a little ball of gumpaste and stick the bottom section of the sphere into the paste to hold it together.

3. Using a pair of needle-nose pliers wrap the wire around the top intersection creating âXâ pattern. Make sure this is as tight as you can so that your wire does not slide.

4. Remove the gumpaste ball and secure the bottom intersection with wire.

Top Starter Bead

1. Start with the top bead, so each additional bead can be gum glued to the next to hold. Make a small ball of blue  gumpaste and flatten it a little

2. Add a little gum glue to the top of the bead.

3. Starting from the inside of the sphere at the underside of the top wire. Push the  gumpaste into the bottom side of the wire and pull up toward the outside to make a ball. That is the first bead.

4. Using a fondant modeling knife tool, make vertical marks from the center bottom to the center top of the bead. The gumpaste may be a little cracked, that is ok, it will give the bead more of an aged look.

5. Make a little ball and attach it to the top of the bead with gum glue.

Remaining Beads

1. For the next bead, use a smaller ball of  blue gumpaste. Flatten it a little, add some gum glue to the top side and a little on the edge of the first bead where the two will touch.

2. Starting from the inside of the armature, wrap the  gumpaste around the wire, tuck it under itself and overlap so the gum glue will hold it together.

3. Use fondant tools to add a design to the bead.

4. Repeat steps 11-13 using different amounts of  gumpaste and designs until you reach the bottom.

15. For the tooth bead, make a teardrop shape out of gumpaste and flatten the bottom a little. Use a little gum glue on the flat part and then wrap it just like the other beads but leave the point sticking out for the tooth.

16. You can only do two rows of beads at a time. Once the first two rows are done let it sit to harden about 5 hours.

Ageing Beads

1. Soak and ring out 2 paper towels to have on hand.

2. Thin airbrush color with a few drops of water.

3. Paint a heavy application of color on 4 beads.

4. Wipe off most of the color, leaving some in the cracks, with a wrung-out paper towel.

5. Use a clean wrung-out paper towel to remove more color where desired.

6. Repeat steps 19-21 until all the beads are done.

7. Allow to dry overnight.

1. Repeat steps 11-23 with last 2 rows.