How To Make Victorian Style Gilded Gumpaste Fruit

Victorian style Gilded Gumpaste Fruit

Supplies

Firm Gumpaste
Green Royal Icing in Piping Bag
Cornstarch
Red, Green, Orange and Brown Gel Colors
Gold, Silver, Champagne, Copper, Super Pearl luster dusts
Gum Glue
Assorted Plastic Fruit
PME cutter or Pizza cutter
Scissors
Wire cutters
Everclear
Brushes
32 gauge wire
28 gauge white covered wire
White floral tape

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Pine Boughs

Cut 32 gauge wire into 3-1/2” lengths. Place together 8 wires and wrap the middle with floral tape. Spread the wires at the ends.

Insert each wired end into the tip of the piping bag and withdraw gently. Set aside to dry. When dry, fold the ends together and set aside.

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Grapes

Cut 28 gauge covered wire into 3” lengths. Make a hook at the end of each wire. Roll a ½” oblong ball of gumpaste. Moisten the hook end of the wire with gum glue and insert into the end of gumpaste grape and turn a quarter turn to secure.Moisten the hook end of the wire with gum glue; insert into the end of gumpaste grape and turn a quarter turn to secureMoisten the hook end of the wire with gum glue and insert into the end of gumpaste grape and turn a quarter turn to secure.. Pinch and smooth the end of the grape to the wire. Set aside to dry. Twist together the grapes in groups of 3. Wrap 3-4 grape clusters together with white floral tape. Paint grapes with Super Pearl mixed with everclear, then brush ends with gold luster dust.
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Gilded Fruit

Color your gumpaste to match your fruit. Orange for oranges, red for apples, green for pears, ect.

Liberally dust one side of plastic fruit with cornstarch. Roll out gumpaste on a well dusted board into a circle about 1/8” thickness. Dust underside of gumpaste well with cornstarch and lay over one side of plastic fruit, smoothing
To fit over half of fruit. Using your PME or Pizza Cutter, Cut in a straight line on the half. Lift to make sure your gumpaste is not sticking and lay back on fruit to dry. When dry, Mix your gold, silver and champagne luster dusts with everclear and paint onto fruit. Steam fruit to set in the color.
Attach to cake using white royal icing piped around the edge.

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Gilded Pinecone

Color Gumpaste brown, and roll into a 1” oblong ball.

Placing scissors at a 90 degree angle, snip V shaped using the very end of your scissor blades. Repeat the process just under the first row, alternating the cuts to create the pinecone seeds. Continue the process until the cone is cut all way to the end. Using a small spatula or knife, make a vertical indention on the middle of each seed.
Set aside to dry. Mix copper lusterdust with everclear, and lightly paint the pincone. Steam to set in color. Attach to cake using white royal icing.

For more flair and interest, add pearlized gumpaste green leaves, gumpaste pink roses, and pearlized gumpaste feathers to your guilded fruit groupings.





Tutorial by Jacque Benson 2008-all rights reserved

Photography by Morgan Jackson 2008-all rights reserved

This material may not be republished or reproduced in any manner without the expressed permission of the author.

How to make a wired gumpaste swan

You need the following: Two appropriately sized cutters. These ones are amaryllis cutters from Tinkertech Two. Any lily-like cutter will work for this. A chestnut veiner - or similar. White florist tape and florist wire, gauge 20 and gauge 24. As you can see, I only had green. I think I might have to go shopping for cake toys again soon. What a burden (or not). You also need gumpaste, but you probably already figured that one out. And gum glue and a fine pair of scissors.

Start with the neck. Roll a sausage and shape a beak at the end. Dip a piece of gauge 20 wire in gum glue and wire the neck. Curve it and leave it to dry for 24 hours.

For the wings, roll out gumpaste on a grooved board and cut out 4 large shapes. If you use curved cutters, like here, make sure you have two facing each way. Dip pieces of gauge 24 wire in gum glue and put all the feathers on wire. Then vein them. Make sure you vein them so the dents are on the front and the wire on the back.

Now take your pair of fine scissors and cut the edges so it will look like feathers. With a ball tool, work the outer edges so they curve and look more like feathers. I forgot to take a photo of that, sorry.

For the tail, make 3 smaller feathers the same way as you made the larger ones. Leave all 7 feathers to dry overnight. Curve them over something. An empty Pringles can is the perfect size for the larger feathers (and a great excuse to eat Pringles) and for the tail feathers, an empty roll for kitchen towels work just fine. Or a 4.5 oz Americolor bottle. Leave to dry for 24 hours. Remember, drying times may vary from place to place. Humidity is very low in Denmark right now, so I only had to let them dry for 6 hours, but I know some of my friends from southern parts of USA might need much longer drying time, especially in the summer.

When everything is nice and dry, it's time to assemble. It's quite simple, almost like assembling a lily. With the neck as a center, attach the feathers in pairs, two large feathers on each side.

The tail feathers are taped together as one, then bent at an angle and taped to the neck. I managed to break a feather in the process - always make extra!

Here's a top view of the assembled swan, complete with two and a half tail feathers. These swans are best stored like here, with the wire stuck in a small jar with dried beans. This way they won't break or tilt.

If you wish, you can paint the beaks and make eyes with an edible marker. They make for a great wedding cake topper. I cut drinking straws to appropriate length, and stick them in the cake. Then I stick the wire in the straw, so it wont come in contact with the cake.

You can make the swan any color you like. Have fun!




Sif Jenson -2008
all rights reserved

This material may not be republished or reproduced in any manner without the expressed permission of the author.

SUGARBABIES

Sugar Babies (Anne Geddes Style) by Jacque Benson


Supplies and Tools needed:

Gumpaste
Gum Glue
Embroidery Scissors
Roller
Gumpaste Board
Small Baby Face Mold
Ball tools
Petal and leaf veiners (opt)
Hat Pin
Yellow, Kelly Green, Carnation Pink petal dusts
Fine brushes for petal dusting
6” Fondant Covered Cardboard Circle
Dendrobium OR Daffodil Cutters
4” leaf cutters


DENDROBIUM

DAFFODIL

INSTRUCTIONS:

Roll out a small marble sized ball of pale pink gumpaste in cornstarch and press ball into baby face mold. Cut away excess gumpaste from around the baby’s head. Insert half of a toothpick and set aside to dry.
Lightly brush the cheeks with a pink petal dust.
Color lips lightly with pink petal dust mixed with Everclear.

Roll out small amount of gumpaste into a moderately thin 4” by 3” rectangle. Cut out 2 leaves using a long narrow leaf cutter or simply cut into the following shape.

Vein with Corn Husk and dry brush with Kelly green luster dust. Crease along middle line forming life-like leave and set aside to dry.

For the orchid, cut out 2 of the rounded petals and frill the edges of petals using a round toothpick. Brush lightly with petal dust, coloring the edges and center of petals darker than the middle.
Curve the petals to a lifelike state, and place over rolled tissue to dry slightly.



Cut out one of the center petal (B).
Frill the wide edge of trumpet (scalloped edge of slipper for the orchid) using a round toothpick or gumpaste tool. Lightly wet the head with gum glue and wrap around the head of the baby like a bonnet.
Brush edges with pink or yellow petal dust according to flower.

Form a small rectangle out of gumpaste about 1” by 1-1/2” and about ¼ “ thick. Cut a ¾” slit in the bottom for legs and snip out of each side for arms (as shown)
Using your fingers roll the legs and pinch the ends to make a feet. Round the arms and with snips or embroidery scissors, clip ends to create tiny fingers.
Make an indention with hat pin just above fingers to create a wrist. Use hat pin to create creases under knees and elbows. Moisten the toothpick with gumglue and push upper body onto the head. Arrange body to look like sleeping baby. Brush the body with Kelly green petal dust and the hands with pink.

Roll out a small amount of gumpaste with roller. For the petals you will want to roll it very thin. Cut 2 of the tri-petal cutter for daffodil and 1 for the orchid. Using a flower veiner (can also use a dried corn husk to vein ) make impressions into the three petals. Frill the edges of the daffodil petals slightly.
Dry brush the petals lightly with petal dust, darker in color towards the center and edges.
Lay over tissue to dry slightly as you assemble the baby.

Take the fondant covered round disc and attach your leaves in a V shape to the center using royal icing or gum glue.

Orchid:
Attach the 2 ruffled petals to the sides of head in back with gum glue and then the three sepals with one of the petals vertical. (As shown)
Glue body over leaves and place tissue under petals until completely dry.

Daffodil:
Attach one set of three sepals onto back of head with gum glue. Attach second set of sepal under first allowing second row to fall between .
first row of sepals.
Glue body onto leaves, and place tissue under the sepals until completely dry.

Jacque Benson 2007- all rights reserved

This material may not be republished or reproduced in any manner without the expressed permission of the author.