Royal Icing Mayflowers

Yesterday I piped a peach as a nod of the head to the state of Georgia. I thought I might keep going with piping something to represent each of the 50 states; not only was the peach a lot of fun, but I had my 50,000th page view within a few minutes of posting it! Too weird to be a coincidence! Anyway, picking another state at random, I thought I'd move on to the official state flower of Massachusetts: the mayflower (not the ship). All you'll need to pipe mayflowers are stiff consistency royal icing in white and yellow, leaf tip #352, round tips #12 and #4, parchment paper squares, a flower nail, a Styrofoam block to rest the nail in, a glue stick, and a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch. Start by sticking a parchment square to the flower nail with a dab from the glue stick. 

Hold the #12 tip just above the surface and squeeze out a half-inch column of icing. Stop pressure and pull the tip away. Touch your fingertips to the dusting pouch and tap the shape to perfect it. Pipe one base for each mayflower and set them aside to firm up for about half an hour.

Pipe five petals using the #352 leaf tip. Hold the tip against the surface at a 45 degree angle, squeeze briefly, then pull the tip away. 

Taper the tip of each petal with your fingertips, if need be. Pipe each of the five petals close to the one next to it.

Angle the petals upwards with your fingertips.

Pipe a #4 dot for the center. The mayflower bears more than a slight resemblance to the stephanotis, doesn't it? 

Stephanotis Bud from Wilton Course 4

There's something about incorporating buds into a bouquet (even one made of gum paste) that lends a sense of realism, as though at any moment the bud might open and the bouquet will further evolve. Recently I posted the directions for the stephanotis, and today I want to show you how to make the stephanotis bud. The setup includes green and white gum paste, Crisco (to knead into the gum paste if it gets dry), a small fondant roller fitted with purple rings, a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch, needle-nose pliers (the kind used in jewelry-making), a gum paste storage mat (the back side of which makes a great work surface), a small brush, a sealed container of gum glue adhesive (a pinch of gum paste dissolved in a tablespoon of water), florist's tape, 22-gauge florist wire, the knife tool from the 10-piece Wilton Fondant & Gum Paste set, and two cutters available in the Course 4 Student Kit: the rose petal cutter and the small blossom cutter. You may also wish to use Lime Green Color Dust to add some color.

Start by bending the end of one of the wires into a hook with the needle-nose pliers:

 Shape a pinch of white gum paste into a nickel-sized ball:

Dust your work surface by shaking the dusting pouch over it:

 

Roll out the ball…

 …and cut a rose petal shape from it:

 Remove the slack and return it to the rest of your gum paste in a sealed bag or plastic wrap:

 Roll the petal shape into a ball; this ball is more dime-sized:

 Time to start modeling; this was the first time in this class that I really started to feel like a sculptor of sorts! Pinch one end of the ball, and form the ball into a gourd-like shape by rolling this end between your thumb and a finger:

Here's the shape again, slightly elongated:

 Now, start elongating the other end of the "gourd" into a point between your thumb and index finger. When you're done with this step, the shape should be about 1 1/4" long:

 Use the knife tool (or any flat, blunt tool) to make five or six evenly spaced lines around this end of the shape. I started at the widest part of the bud and gently drew the knife toward the pointed tip:

 Here it is, straight on:

 Set the bud aside, and dip the hooked end of the wire in the gum glue adhesive:

 Insert the hooked end into the base of the bud, about 3/4":

 To make the calyx (green, cup-like base) of the bud, roll out a small amount of green gum paste very thinly and cut out a shape with the small blossom cutter:

 My cutout has a shallow divot in it where I used the handle-end of the brush to free it from the cutter:

 Dab some gum glue adhesive on the base of the bud:

 Stick the end of the wire into the center of the green blossom cutout and slide it up the wire.

 Press it into place at the base of the bud:

 When the bud is reasonably firmed up, lightly dust the base around the calyx with Lime Green Color Dust.

 Lastly, you'll want to wrap the stem with florist's tape. Cut off about six inches (if you're using a 4" wire)…

 …and start wrapping about half an inch down the wire from the bud. Pull gently on the tape to activate the tape's adhesive; as you wrap the stem the tape will stick to itself.

 Once you've gotten an inch or so wrapped successfully, slide the tape up the wire to the base of the stephanotis bud; fit it snugly against the calyx:

On its own, this bud would just look weird, right? But clustered with some full-blown stephanotis, it's part of a still life!

Gum Paste Stephanotis from Wilton Course 4

As much as I prefer gum paste flowers that look real over gum paste flowers that look fake, there's just something so darn charming about a flower with a pearl in the middle. The stephanotis is one of the flowers taught in the third session of Wilton Course 4: Advanced Gum Paste Flowers. You've seen the stephanotis pressed into service in many different capacities at weddings: in table arrangements, napkin rings, bouquets, hairpieces, etc. In fact, oftentimes the real deal has a pearl glued in its center, which makes the gum paste version actually appear pretty realistic! Here's the setup:

It includes white gum paste, green gum paste, gum glue adhesive (a pinch of gum paste dissolved in a tablespoon of water), a small brush, pearl stamens, a fondant roller with purple rings, needle-nose pliers (the kind used in jewelry-making), scissors, a dusting pouch filled with a 50/50 mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch, 22-gauge wire, a few tools from the Wilton 10-piece Gum Paste Tool Set (the orange knife tool and the large and small modeling sticks), and three cutters from the Course 4 Student Kit: the rose petal cutter, the small blossom cutter, and the small calyx cutter.
Start by shaking the dusting pouch over your work surface:

 Bend the end of the wire into a hook, using the needle-nose pliers.

 Roll out a small amount of white gum paste, and cut out a piece with the rose petal cutter:

 Roll this piece into a ball…

 …then taper one side of it into a sort of gourd shape:

 Flatten the end on your working surface. Looks like a little mushroom!

 Turn it upside down, and flatten the bulbous end between your thumb and fingertips:

 Set it on the working surface and roll out the edges from the center in all directions, using the large modeling stick as a tiny rolling pin.

 Place the small calyx cutter over the piece in the center and push down.

 Here's what you'll have after you've removed the scrap:

 Trim away the long, tapered points with any cutting tool:

 Pinch and refine the trimmed points with your fingertips:

 Dust the pointed end of the narrow modeling stick and insert it into the center of the flower about 1/8":

 You'll want to rock the stick back and forth at the base of each petal while keeping the tip of the stick in the hole. This will form tapered divots partway up each petal:

To finish the petals, draw the tip of the stick from the hole to the tip of each petal, using your finger as a curved mold for the petal as you go. You can see the petal is curved over my index finger:

 This is how much curve each petal should have:

 Dip the hooked end of the wire in your gum glue adhesive…

 …and stick the straight end of the wire into the center of the flower. Pull it through until the hook disappears into the throat of the flower:

 Snip off one of the pearl stamens; the entire length should be about 1/2":

 Dip it in the gum glue adhesive and insert it into the flower's throat. Bend the other end of the stem wire into a hook and hang the flower somewhere to dry while you do the next couple of steps.

 Roll out a small amount of gum glue very thin; don't use rings on the roller. Cut out a piece using the small blossom cutter:

 Dab some gum glue adhesive on the base of the flower:

 Insert the end of the wire stem into the center of the green piece (called the calyx) and slide it up to the base of the flower:

 Press the calyx snugly against the flower and hang it up to dry.

 Now make many, many more! These really do look beautiful in groups. If only gum paste smelled like stephanotis…