Sugar Flower Magic

My last blog post hinted at my most recent special order, but I never posted final photos. Now, I love it when clients send me pictures of my work in use, but I did not get anything like that this time around, so the photos are the ones that I took prior to delivery.

I was approached with the inspiration photo and the question of whether I could complete this project? As soon as I saw the photo, I was quick to jump at the opportunity to make such an iconic symbol for someone's special day. Once you see the inspiration picture, I think you will probably understand my enthusiasm...

Seriously, can you blame me? I grew up with this movie and being rather bookish, I always identified more with down to Earth Belle than many of the other Disney Princesses. Living in Florida, I am really not surprised that this was one of my first major special orders, because this place is all about Disney. :-)

I spent a lot of time trying to get the color and consistency of the gum paste just right. I made a dozen red roses just to get the magic captured properly. It was a true work of love and I loved every moment of it.

Once I got the perfect rose, I applied several layers of shimmer and color to make it even more magical and figured out how to make it stand upright, which is nit something normally done with sugar flowers. I also made a dozen loose rose petals so that they could be scattered at the base of the flower.

Before I took the rose to the delivery meeting, I took a couple of photos. I am not exactly pleased as the coloration of the photos does not do the rose justice, but I think that you can get the idea...

You can kind of see the shimmer on the blossom and leaves but it doesn't really pop. At delivery, the client agreed that it needed a bit more magic, and luckily I had brought some edible glitter that gave everything a really bold sparkle. I had also brought a glass creche that my mom agreed to lend for this project. That made everything come together, don't you think? ...

Delivery was completed at DOS coffee shop and the client and I got a lot of looks as we sipped our beverages with this beauty on the table by us. Please know that if you ever see me out and about, I do not bite. Feel free to step over and say hello. I love getting to know new people and hearing feedback on what I do.