Be sure to immediately place the excess gumpaste back into the sealed gumpaste bag, or as I do, putting it into the (closed) tub of shortening. Gumpaste will dry out quite quickly, and needs to be kept airtight when it isn’t being used.
Dip one end of a floral wire into your sugar-glue mixture, and then carefully insert it into the bottom (pinched) end of the stamen. The wire only has to go in about 1/4-1/2 the length of the stamen – don’t thread it all the way through.
Once the stamen is on the wire, you can use your fingers to give it a very slight curve. I found this to be a much more natural look than keeping it as straight as possible.
If you’d like your stamen to appear as though it has pollen on it, you can pour a mix of semolina flour (or cornmeal) and yellow color dust onto a paper plate (I combine the flour and color in a small container, shake, and then adjust the ratio to achieve the shade I want).
Using your fingers, rub a small amount of the sugar glue all along the stamen, being sure it’s thoroughly coated. Roll the stamen into the yellow mixture.
Once your stamen is finished, stick the wire into the foam block and set it aside to dry 8 hours or overnight. You want to be sure your stamen is completely dry before attaching your flower to it, or else it may slip off the wire.
Here I’ve made several varying sizes, as I will be making some larger and some smaller flowers for my cake.
3.) Making the calla lily petal
Once your stamen is completely dry, begin on the main petal of the flower.
Take about a ping-pong ball sized chunk of gumpaste into your hand. Rub a small amount of vegetable shortening between your hands/knead into the gumpaste to soften it.
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