Make A Pretty Shasta Daisy With Me | Gumpaste | Cold Porcelain
The Shasta Daisy is a pretty summer bloom with - pure white he-loves-me-he-loves-me-not petals radiating from a cheery yellow centre.
This daisy is larger than the regular small wild daisies; it looks beautiful and pure and adds an air of innocence to a cake or floral arrangement.
They look great on their own or paired with other flowers. The Shasta Daisies I made, I brought them together with daisy buds, natural looking aged leaves and Billy Balls which finished the look. How will you display your handmade Shasta Daisies?
Don’t forget you can also follow along with my YouTube Video Tutorial.
Enough of my rambling! Come and make this pretty Shasta Daisy with me!
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A Simple & Pure Flower
This flower is simple to make, once you have made the centre. It is the white radiating petals that bring this flower to life. I made things easy by using a daisy flower cutter, so you can cut multiple petals at once.
If you use my Vegan Gumpaste, it is soft enough that you will be able to wire the petals without having to brush edible glue on the wire, which further speeds up the process of creating each petal.
You can make the centre using a silicone universal centre flower mould. However, I decided to make it freehand as I wanted the centre to be slightly bigger. I used a common household kitchen tool to create the centre, so it is not a complicated to do.
Make Edible Flowers Look Realistic & Natural
I highly recommend if you can get your hands on the real flower you are making it will help you greatly. If you can’t the internet and Pinterest are full of brilliant clear flower photographs for you to look at, so you can study each petal, flower centre, whole flower and leaves in detail. This will really help you to create more realistic, natural looking edible flowers.
Equipment Required
The full list of equipment is outlined below the photo.
Equipment/Tools
18-gauge white florist wire (extra support for the stem)
22-gauge white florist wire (for the centre)
30-gauge or 32-gauge white florist wire (for the petals)
PME daisy plunger cutter (7cm cutter)
Individual petal cutter (L=3.8cm x D=0.8cm)
Light green florist tape
Silicone veiner or veining tool (I used a Christina Wallis Dahlia silicone veiner)
Silicone universal flower centre mould (optional)
Small blow torch
Ball tool (plastic or metal is fine)
Palette knife or something alternative
Rolling pin (6” or 9” length)
Paint brushes – For edible glue and dusting petal dusts.
A glass cup (alternative to stop gumpaste from drying out)
Zip lock bags/cling wrap/airtight container/plastic sleeves - Gumpaste dries quickly, so it will need to be stored away while you work.
Something to insert your buds and leaves into as you work, such as a cake dummy, polystyrene or florist foam blocks (Oasis).
Edible Ingredients
*Vegan Gumpaste - My Vegan Gumpaste recipe is easy to make and works well in humidity.
Vegan-Friendly Petal dust - Colours. See my full list of vegan friendly colours here.
Corn flour/Corn starch – To prevent gumpaste from sticking.
Trex/Crisco (Vegetable shortening) – For conditioning gumpaste.
In this tutorial I used Vegan-friendly products: Sugarflair Gel & petal dust colours and EdAble Art petal dust colours
Sugarflair – Foliage Green & Moss Green
EdAble Art – Spring Green
Sugarflair – Primrose
Sugarflair - Autumn Gold
Making The Centre
Using a common household kitchen tool to get the job done! To get the pattern detail for the centre, I used a standard sieve. It was the best tool I could find to get the detail just right and it absolutely worked!
Rather than using edible glue for the wire to adhere to the centre. I used the method of burning the wire into the gumpaste. This is a great method to use, as it stops the wire from slipping through the gumpaste and also allows you to work on it straight away, without having to wait for the edible glue to dry.
WARNING: Be extra careful when working with the blow torch or naked flames. The wire and the sugar in the gumpaste becomes very hot.
**Follow either one of the two methods for inserting the wire into the gumpaste centre.
You can use the universal flower centre if you choose to do so. Here is my method for making it your self:
Colour the gumpaste yellow.
For the centre weight 1.30g of gumpaste
Roll the gumpaste into a ball, then press it against the side of the sieve. Ensure that the pattern is clearly imprinted onto the gumpaste.
Shape the back of the gumpaste to have a slightly raised cone shape.
**Method 1: Cut a length of 22-gauge white or green florist wire in half. Using pliers, grip one end of the wire, then bend the wire over so it coils over. Bend the coil so it sits flat, then straighten the wire back up. It should look like a mini ski stick. If you do not have a small blow torch or want to use a lighter/matches. Brush edible glue over the coil and push it into the raised cone at the back. Wait for the edible glue to dry, before moving onto the next stage.
**Method 2: Cut a length of 22-gauge white or green florist wire in half. Using pliers, grip one end of the wire, then bend the wire over so it coils over. Bend the coil so it sits flat, then straighten the wire back up. It should look like a mini ski stick. Use a blow torch to heat the coiled end of the wire. Then press the heated coil into raised cone at the back. The wire will adhere to the gumpaste as it cools down.
Lift the centre from the sieve and shape into a round circle with a diameter of 1.5 cm.
Use a ball tool to create a slight dip in the centre. Then use pointed ended tweezers to further enhance the detail in the centre and around the edge. Set aside to firm up or dry.
TIP: I used 32-gauge white florist wire, You can also use 30-gauge wire. These two are similar in weight. You can follow this tip at any time - using the next gauge florist wire up or down as a replacement, if you do not have the exact size available.
Petals
As I mentioned above, to speed up the process I used a PME Daisy Plunger Cutter (D = 7cm), this will enable you to cut 16 petals at once.
If you do not have the PME Daisy Plunger Cutter, you can adapt a small leaf cutter into the daisy petal shape. The individual petal shape is L=3.8 cm x D=0.8 cm.
For each Shasta Daisy you will need to make about 20 - 25 petals.
The daisy petal tips have small jagged egdes. Use a small sharp tool to create these.
I used my Vegan Gumpaste, which I am using more often now. It is really lovely to work with, it dries slower therefore it gives you time to manipulate the petals. Once the flowers are made, they are also less fragile than the my Traditional Gumpaste recipe, which is a great bonus!
I rolled the gumpaste to a 2mm thickness, therefore you will not need to vein each petal to wire them.
The Vegan Gumpaste, is soft enough that you will be able to wire the petals without having to brush edible glue on the wire. This will also speed up the process for creating each petal.
Roll out some white gumpaste to a 2mm thickness.
Use a 7cm diameter PME Daisy Plunger Cutter. Press the cutter down hard, but DO NOT use the plunger. Flip the cutter with the gumpaste over, use your fingers to ensure that each petal are cut out cleanly and they have a clean edges. Place your cut out daisy shape onto your mat.
You can use either a cutting wheel, scalpel, or a knife to cut out the petals. Cut the daisy shape in half then in half again, so you have 4 quarters. Proceed to cut each petal so they become individual petals. You will immediately have 16 petals. For each flower you will need to make 20 -25 petals.
Cut 30-gauge or 32-gauge white florist wire into lengths of 6cm. Keep them in a container, so you have them to hand.
Thread the wire to about half way into the petal. Twiddle the base of the gumpaste against the wire to secure the petal in place.
Use either a silicone mould or veining tool to create straight lines in the petal.
Place the petal onto a foam pad, use a ball to thin the petal edge.
The daisy petals have small jagged edges. Use a small sharp tool to make small nicks in the petal tips.
Slightly curl the petal back and place them onto a foam / bumpy foam pad to dry.
TIP: If you are having problems wiring petals (or leaves). I have made a video and written a blog with additional info, tips and techniques to help you.
Dusting - The Centre
My favourite part of the process is dusting, it so therapeutic and I love seeing the parts of the flower come to life.
I used the follow edible petal dust colours - EdAble Art Spring Green, Sugarflair Primrose, Autumn Gold, Foliage Green, & Moss Green.
Tip: Mix colours in a colour palette, brush excess colour onto a tissue. Use cornflour (cornstarch) to help tone done any colour that is too strong.
Mix up some Spring green with Primrose, to make a chartreuse (green yellow) colour. If the colour is too strong tone it down by adding a small amount of cornflour (corn starch).
Prepare colour for the centre - Mix Primrose with Autumn Gold. Again use cornflour (corn starch) if the colour is too strong.
Brush the Primrose/Autumn Gold colour onto the centre.
Brush the green shade around the sides and underside of the centre.
Lightly dab the Spring Green/Primrose colour in the centre. To tone this colour down, brush a little of the yellow colour over it.
DO NOT PUT THE PETAL DUST AWAY, YOU WILL NEED IT TO DO A FINAL DUST TO THE PETALS AT THE CENTRE.
Stem
To strengthen the centre and make the stem, cut an 18-gauge florist wire in half. Use full width light green tape, stretch the tape, then secure it to the wire. Insert the 18-gauge wire, continue taping down the entire lenght of the stem.
Repeat this process for all your flower centres.
Assembling The Daisy
Once all of the petals are dry. Bend each petal wire to a 90 degree angle.
Prepare the light green florist tape into quarter width lengths.
Stretch the tape and secure it to the centre. Add the first petal, ensure that the tape is secured tightly and closely under the centre. Continue adding each petal
Tape on 20 - 30 petals - I added 20 to my flower. 10 in the first row of petals and 20 in the second row of petals.
The petals will move as you tape them, however you arrange the petals once the flower is completed.
Dusting Inner Petals
You can dust the inside of the petals individually, however I found it easier to dust the petals, once the flower was completed.
Mix together some Moss green, Foliage Green & Autumn Gold.
Gently push down the wired petals. Brush the inside petal tip towards the centre with the green colour that you mixed together.
Dust any visible petal tips near the centre, including petals underneath.
Bring your Shasta Daisy flowers together how you want them to be. You can either display on a cake or floral display individually, make a bunch of daisies, pair them with other flowers or parts of the daisy such as daisy leaves or daisy buds.
Whatever you decide your Shasta Daisy will look as pretty as a picture!
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you make this Shasta Daisy please remember to tag me - #arisecakecreations - @arisecakecreations on Instagram or Facebook, so I can see your beautiful creation.
