Gumpaste Flowers Books

[Wendy DeBord]

I don't own a single Alan Dunn book, so you all got me shopping. If you only could have one of his books, which one would you choose? Which one is going to rock my world and be the most versatile?

[miaomee]

Wendy, I have Alan Dunn's Sugar Roses and Sugar Orchids, I will recommend Sugar Orchids, since this book also covers instructions for sugar roses and other foliage... and variety of lively orchids

Don't worry, regardless which book you buy first, you will feel the need to buy all

[joshalow]

I think Alan Dunn's "Floral Wedding Cakes & Sprays" has the greatest amount of flowers that are typically used in weddings- roses, calla lily, peony, dendrobium orchid, ivy, Oriental Lily, Gerbera,and it has less foliage in it than others. I also like his Orchid book because of all the exotic orchids in it, and as miaomee said, it also has a rose in it. I would purchase that one over the Rose book any day (have that one too but was a bit disappointed with it- not as much variety in it). "The Sugar Flowers for all Seasons" also has some more common flowers like the rose, the Stargazer Lily, ivy, stephanotis, snapdragons, some exotic flowers, and some wild flowers. Oh, and I also like his "Exotic Sugar Flowers for cakes" book as it has flowers like Birds of Paradise, Flame Lily, Proteas, Alstroemeria, a few orchids, and it also has lots of foliage. Sorry, I'm probably not helping you choose just one - but all of his books are worth the investment I do think though that the Floral Wedding Cakes & Sprays or the Sugar Flowers for all Seasons are probably the most versatile of all his books because they include such a great variety from the common flowers to some of the more exotic flowers.

[miaomee]

joshalow, I am so jealous on your collections of Alan Dunn's book, We have the same reasoning over the Sugar Roses book, I prefer a book that will cover more flower types, the Floral Wedding Cakes and Sprays sounds fabulous!

[joshalow]

Thanks Miaomee. Collecting books on gumpaste and sugar arts is just another favorite of mine

[kthull]

I bought the Roses book because I'll be doing my mother-in-law's wedding cake this summer (if, in fact, they ever set a date and go through with it...). I was hoping to get in some practice, but never got past admiring the pictures. Looks like I'll have to check out the wedding sprays book too.

[JSkilling]

Eons later, I have finally been able to practice what I've learned....

I spent some time with Keith and now really understand the techniques in the books much better. I see how much work I need to do but since these are the very first flowers - and the first cake - I've done since what I did with Keith I'm pretty happy with the way they came out. The cake is teeny! It's the size of my dessert rings and was just to get the feel of the fondant on cake and to try out flowers. As cute as it is someone would have to pay way too much for it to be worth my while. Now I see why Wendy wanted to charge $50 per mini!

On to a bigger size to try out some more roses and fondant on a bigger surface...

Edited March 15, 2005 by JSkilling (log)

[Pam R]

The cake looks fantastic. you did a great job. I just ordered a book on Friday that has a section on sugar flowers because there are a few of us that want to try our hands at it (I would have signed up for the class but the timing is bad).

So you spent time with keith working on it... but WAS there a book that you found helpful in the end?

[JSkilling]

Pam,

In the end I think the Dunn book is the best for helping me to understand how to form the flowers. His instructions are clear and once you understand what you are going to be doing you can follow along fairly well. The Woolley book is less step by step and the directions are hand drawn as opposed to good photography, which makes a big difference. The Alison Proctor book is also nice but less usable in the types of flowers she shows you how to make or at least for what I want to do right now. I also have Toba Garrett's cake book and like that for some very simple instructions on roses.

I'm going to look at the other Dunn books to see what they are like as well. Now that I know more about the process I think I'll be better able to evaluate whether or not they'll be for me.

The time spent with someone is INVALUABLE. Now as I look at this very close up picture I can see how I needed to get those edges thinner and how I could have shaped and formed petals better. I don't think I'd have had the feel withouth that hands on time. And maybe for some of the more complicated flowers or to get a feel for better coloring, I'll spend some time in another class...

Thanks for the kind words! For my first cake I've decorated in about 20 some years it's not bad... Now I'll graduate to 6 inches!

[Wendy DeBord]

Lovely JSkilling!!

[bkeith]

Hey Josette,

That looks great! Congrats! You make me proud.

Watch the height your outer petals -- we want roses, not pinecones.

[JSkilling]

Thanks, Keith!

I'll make them thinner and shorter!!