You will need:
- Airbrush colour – yellow
- Wafer paper 0.27mm
- Pasta Top – white, yellow
- Gold glitter
- Ground coffee beans
- Boiled water
- Powder colour – yellow, orange, brown
- Cake gel
- Acrylic disk 26cm diameter
- Aluminium foil
- Ball tools
- Brown flower tape
- Dresden tool
- Dummy 15 x 12.5cm
- Dummy 20 x 15cm
- Dummy disc 2 x 10cm
- Fine sandpaper
- Flower picks – small (x2)
- Flower wire 20 and 28 gauge
- Foam flower pad
- Food steamer
- Glass bowl 12cm diameter (x2)
- Half sphere on wire from Styropor Products
- Brushes
- Leaf veiner – large
- Leaf veiner – medium
- Tweezers
- Rolling pin
- Scissors
- Sharp knife
- Sharp edge smoother
- Template sheet
Step 1
Prepare your dummies and products.
Step 2
Prepare 600g white Pasta Top and 100g yellow Pasta Top (knead each until soft). I used pre-coloured yellow paste but you can also colour white Pasta Top with yellow gel colour. We want to achieve a marbled effect so roll the Pasta Top and place them against each other as shown.
Step 3
Twist the white and yellow paste together as shown in the photo. Limit the number of twists so that the paste does not mix too much. Add a little orange gel colour to a few places.
Step 4
Now pull and twist the paste 3 to 5 times. Not too often otherwise the colours will mix too much.
Step 5
Brush your dummy with cake gel or boiled water. Roll out the marbled Pasta Top to 2 to 3mm thick and a diameter of approximately 50cm.
Step 6
Place the Pasta Top on the dummy and smooth out to the bottom. This doesn’t have to be perfect but there should be no air bubbles between the Pasta Top and the dummy. Trim off any excess paste with a sharp knife and store in an airtight plastic bag.
Step 7
To achieve nice sharp edges take an acrylic disk with a diameter of at least 26 cm and cover with cornflour. Turn your dummy (or cake) upside down on the acrylic disk as shown. Take the Sharp Edge Smoother and work around the dummy until you get a nice smooth result. It is important that you put extra pressure where the cake touches the acrylic disk. This is where the magical sharp edge appears.
Tip: On the Instagram site: “Sharp Edge Smoother” you can find various instructional videos about using the Sharp Edge Smoother made by Carol Smith.
Step 8
When you have finished smoothing, turn the whole thing over again. Carefully remove the acrylic disk. If necessary, you can smooth out small irregularities. You should have sharp edges.
Step 9
Knead the remaining Pasta Top until it becomes a solid colour and cover the 25cm diameter cake drum. Trim excess paste with a sharp knife.
Step 10
Using the solid yellow colour cover a dummy disk of 2cm high and 10cm diameter.
Step 11
Using 450g white and 50g yellow Pasta Top repeat the marbling effect. Roll to a diameter of approximately 40cm. Cover the dummy then repeat previous steps to achieve the sharp edges.
Step 12
Then turn the cake over. Carefully remove the acrylic sheet. If necessary, you can smooth out small irregularities.
Tip: The more often you use the smoother, the faster and easier you can create the Sharp edge effect. So you can practice the technique well on dummies.
Step 13
Take 2 sheets of Saracino 0.27 wafer paper. Colour the wafer paper yellow on both sides with the airbrush colour and airbrush. Work in several thin layers. Allow the airbrush colour to dry thoroughly before applying the next coat. The number of layers added determines the brightness of the colour. If you do not have an airbrush, you can also colour Saracino wafer paper with an alcohol-free conditioner coloured with yellow powder or gel colour.
RECIPE alcohol-free conditioner:
*½ tsp food grade glycerin
* 2tbsp water (distilled preferably)
Mix the two ingredients in a bowl and it is ready to use. You can colour it with Saracino dust or gel colors. You can also use the mix in the airbrush. Mix made with distilled water can be stored for a month in a dark place. It can be stored for 1 day with tap water.
Step 14
Prepare a mould to dry the sunflower later. Take a piece of aluminum foil and fold it to a 12 x 12cm square. Now press the piece of folded aluminum foil into a glass bowl with a 12cm diameter. The size and curvature of the aluminium mould can be adjusted to the size of the flower.
Step 15
Pierce a hole in the center of the aluminium mould. Set aside until needed.
Step 16
Cut 16 small strips of the coloured wafer paper with a width of 1.5cm and length of 6cm. You can cut 3 layers of wafer paper at the same time. Lay the 16 petals on your worksheet.
Step 17
Take a foam flower pad and a Dresden tool. Place a petal on the pad and run your Dresden tool from top to bottom in a smooth motion. Apply light pressure so that the leaf gets a nice upright shape.
Tip: Wafer paper has a smooth side and a textured side. Use the textured side as the top of your leaf. This gives your leaf a more natural look.
Step 18
Cut a 6cm long strip in half into 2 equal 3cm lengths. Then cut strips of 1.5cm wide.
Step 19
Take a 4cm diameter styrofoam hemisphere on wire (from Stryropor Products).
Step 20
Take 8g of brown Pasta Model and knead gently. Shape the paste into a flat circle with a diameter of 5.5 cm. Place the brown Pasta Model circle on the hemisphere and fix using a small amount of cake gel. Make sure that an equal amount protrudes around the edge. Leave a bulge in the edge.
Step 21
Prepare a 5cm diameter circle of 0.27 wafer paper.
RECIPE wafer paper glue:
Shred a small amount of wafer paper and put in a glass jar. Add a small amount of distilled water and let it sit overnight. Shake everything well and your wafer paper glue is ready to use. It can be stored in the refrigerator for 1 week.
Step 22
Put the flower wire through the center of the wafer paper circle and fix it to the bottom of the hemisphere. Allow to dry well.
Step 23
Using tweezers, pinch small points around the outer edge. Make the points random all around the outside edge.
Step 24
Using a ball tool gently press in the center of the brown Pasta Model. Make a circular motion and leave the paste slightly higher in the centre.
Step 25
Use a small ball tool to add texture to the centre.
Step 26
Apply cake gel over the textured brown paste.
Step 27
Take a small bowl of ground coffee. Dip the flower centre until it is completely covered with ground coffee. Let it dry for a few hours.
Step 28
Using your 16 large yellow petals add wafer paper glue to 1cm at the base. Do not use too much glue as this will melt the wafer paper. Fix four petals at equal centres to the bottom of the flower base. Add another four petals equally.
Step 29
Add all the large petals. Make sure that they are nicely arranged around the flower centre. Insert the flower wire through the aluminium mould and allow to dry for a few hours. Drying time will depend on humidity.
Step 30
Dust the smaller petals using orange powder colour. It should be darker at the wider end.
Step 31
Brush the lower edge of the small petals with wafer paper glue and attach between the large petals and the centre. Arrange the petals nicely around the centre.
Step 32
Cut out a star shape with long points from the wafer paper. Paint with the alcohol-free conditioner that has been coloured with brown powder colour.
Step 33
Fix to the bottom of the flower. Allow to dry.
Step 34
For the leaves we need two different sizes. Print the template at the end of this tutorial or choose your own leaf shape and size. Cut out a template for the leaves from a sheet of paper. Place the template on three layers of 0.27mm wafer paper. Cut out 3 leaves at a time. We need 10 large and 10 small leaves. Cut some extra leaves as spare.
Step 35
For the sunflower leaf cut serrations with small scissors. This can be random. Point the serrations slightly toward the pointed end for a more natural look. Make 3 leaves.
Step 36
Lay out your leaves by variety with the smooth side up. Cut 23 10cm lengths of 28 gauge flower wire. Take a small amount of wafer paper glue.
Step 37
Add wafer paper glue to the end of the wire.
Step 38
Press the flower wire to the centre of the leaf. Press firmly for a few seconds to achieve a good bond.
Step 39
Repeat to add a wire to all of the leaves. Allow to dry for 10 minutes.
Step 40
Mix orange and brown powder colour with clear alcohol to a thin paint. Paint the smooth side of the paper and place the leaf upside down on your work surface. It is best to use a silicone mat so that the leaves do not stick to the surface.
Step 41
When the leaves no longer stick you can turn them over. Paint the rough side of the leaf with the brown alcohol-free conditioner and dab the leaf with a small amount of cornflower. Press the leaf in a leaf mould for 5 seconds. Open the mould and carefully remove the leaf. Make sure you do not add too much conditioner as it could stick. You should now have a grain in the leaf. Allow to dry well.
Step 42
When the leaves are fully dried brush the edges with a little cake gel. Do not add too much gell or the wafer paper will melt. Dip the edges in the Saracino gold glitter flakes and allow to dry.
Step 43
Add flower tape to all of the leaves.
Step 44
For the sunflower leaf repeat the previous steps but use a larger veiner.
Step 45
When the leaf is completely dry, apply a sparkling effect to the leaf using Saracino pump powder gold glitter.
Step 46
Tape using the brown flower tape.
Step 47
Tape the sunflower stem using the brown flower tape.
Step 48
The wire should be fully taped up to the base of the flower.
Step 49
Add the first leaf to the flower stem.
Step 50
Attach the other two leaves to the flower stem and arrange them. With the other sunflower only the flower stem needs to be taped as it has no leaves.
Step 51
Stack your cake or dummies. Use dowels if you are using real cake.
Step 52
Insert the sunflower with leaves into the front flower pick. Cut the base wire to the desired length. If the hole in the flower pick is too big, you can first fill it with a small amount of white Pasta Model. Insert the flower into the flower pick. Cut the second sunflower stem to the desired length and insert into the back flower pick. Make sure that the flowers are facing forward.
Step 53
For the vines take a piece of brown flower tape and twist the tip between thumb and forefinger to a point. Continue twisting to a length of 10cm.
Step 54
Wrap the tape around the handle of a paint brush.
Step 55
Carefully slide off the brush and set aside. Make approximately 9 vines.
Step 56
Using brown flower tape, tape the first autumn leaf to the end of a 20 gauge flower wire.
Step 57
Arrange and attach the leaves to the base wire. Alternate large and small leaves and play with the distance between the leaves. This gives a natural look to your leaf vine. Tape the decorative vines between the leaves randomly. Attach 2 lengths of 20 gauge flower wire together with brown flower tape to achieve the required length for the leaf branch.
Step 58
Twist the leaf branch around your cake and attach it. The leaf branch should start on the base board and finish on the top of the cake.
Step 59
Using 200g of brown Pasta Model. Do not knead before use. Roll the un-kneaded Pasta Model with a rolling pin. Roll to about 3mm thick. We want a rough textured edge to the paste. By rolling the Pasta Model without kneading you get a rough texture at the edge.
Step 60
Sprinkle gold glitter flakes along the edge of the Pasta Model and press gently with your finger.
Step 61
Cut a straight edge. Choose a piece that is visually the most attractive with the most feature and texture.
Step 62
Use a little cake gel to attach to the bottom tier with the straight edge on the board.
Step 63
Take 2 sheets of 0.27mm wafer paper and cut diagonally in half. Add yellow and orange powder colour to clear alcohol to make a thick paint. Paint the wafer paper. Try to provide a nice colour gradient from yellow to orange. Allow to dry for 10 minutes.
Step 64
Gently steam the wafer paper so that it becomes limp and flexible.
Step 65
Use your fingers to give the desired shape on a silicone mat. You need to work quickly at this step. Make sure not to press the limp wafer paper too much as you cannot separate wafer paper when it has stuck together. Create multiple shapes. You should have a minimum 4 pieces but more is always possible. Experiment to get a look you want!
Step 66
Use a little cake gel to attach the wafer paper to the brown part of the bottom layer. Finish the cake drum with a ribbon of your choice.
