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    Home » Gum Paste Flowers - How to Make

    Gum Paste Hibiscus Flower Tutorial

    Published: Aug 9, 2020 · Modified: Aug 4, 2022 by Priya Maha

    This was my second attempt at making gum paste hibiscus flowers and I must say, I was quite happy with the way the flower turned out. 

    A white gum paste hibiscus held in hand

    I bought the hibiscus petal cutter quite a while back but never tried making one until recently when I designed a Hawaiian birthday cake. And now, I made the gum paste hibiscus for a tropical beach wedding cake. 


    How to Make Gum Paste Hibiscus Flower

    Main supplies for gum paste hibiscus flower:

    • Gumpaste - I used Satin Ice gum paste in white. 
    • Hibiscus petal cutter
    • Sepal/Calyx cutter - I did not have one for hibiscus flower so used a rose calyx cutter instead.
    • Petal viener - Again, I did not have a specific veiner for the hibiscus petals. Instead, I used my hydrangea petal veiner.
    • Floral wire - I used 22 gauge wire for each petal as well as the pistil.
    • Artificial floral sigma and stamen - I used 2 types of stamen, gold-colored ones for the sigma and beige ones for the flower stamen.  
    • Green petal dust - I used Rose Leaf petal dust for the sepal.
    • Floral tape - I used green floral tape to tape all the petals and the pistil in place and a bit of white tape for the pistil.
    • Fondant glue

    And this was how I made the flowers:

    Making the petals

    • I used a hibiscus petal cutter to cut the petals. Unlike other flowers, I rolled the gum paste rather thick. 
    Hibiscus petal cutter
    Gum paste cut using a hibiscus petal cutter
    • And then, using my small rolling pin, I rolled the the sides of the petal thin.
    A hibiscus petal gum paste cut out
    • And then, I used my petal cutter to re cut the petals.
    Cutting gum paste with a petal cutter
    • By now, the rounded large end of the petal is thin but the long narrow end remains thick. The thickness is necessary as the petals need to be wired individually.
    Cut gum paste in the shape of a hibiscus petal
    • Next is to frill the petals. For this I used a ball tool. I started with the center. I thinned the center in a circular motion. 
    Using a ball tool to shape a gum paste petal
    Using a ball tool to shape a gum paste petal
    • Followed by the sides until thin and slightly frilly. 
    Using a ball tool to shape a gum paste petal
    • For the veining of the petal,  I used my hydrangea petal veiner. It was large enough for my gum paste hibiscus petals and so was perfect to create the veins.
    A gum paste petal on a blue veiner
    • And when imprinting the veins, I only pressed the wider end of the petals and made sure the narrow end is not flattened.
    Pressing a blue veiner on a gum paste petal
    • This was how the gum paste hibiscus petal looked like after veining.
    Veined sugar hibiscus petal
    • Next was wiring the petals. I used gauge 22 wire, applied some fondant glue to it and inserted about 1.5cm of it into the narrow end of the petal as shown.
    Wire inserted into a gum paste petal
    • And then, using my small rolling pin, I thinned the sides of the of the petal where the wire was inserted.14
    Wire inserted into a gum paste petal
    • I then left the petals to set and dry in a flower former until they are completely dry. 
    A wire inserted petal on a flower former

    Making the pistil

    • Once the petals were done, I did the center of the gum paste hibiscus. The center is known as pistil and the upper part of the pistil has sigma and stamen. For the pistil, I used gauge 22 wire, and for the stamen and sigma, I used 2 different types of artificial stamen.  
    • The ones shown below formed the sigma.
    Flower stemen for gum paste hibiscus
    • I grouped them together and attached them to the wire using a white floral tape.
    Flower stemen for gum paste hibiscus
    • Next, I rolled a thin strip of gum paste, applied fondant glue to the wire, placed it right in the center of the strip and rolled it up.
    Flower stemen for gum paste hibiscus
    Flower stemen for gum paste hibiscus
    • I rolled the pistil until the gum paste was smooth and the pistil thin.
    Flower stemen for gum paste hibiscus
    • For the stamen, I used flat, beige colored artificial stamens. I cut them the stamens short into individual pieces as shown.
    Flower stemen for gum paste hibiscus
    Flower stemen for gum paste hibiscus
    • And then, I dipped each stamen lightly into fondant glue and poked them into the top part of the pistil to form as stamens.
    Flower stemen for gum paste hibiscus
    • Once done, I left all the components of the flower to set and dry completely before assembling them into a flower.
    5 wired petals on a hibiscus and stamen

    Assembling the flower

    • To assemble the gum paste hibiscus flower, I arranged the petals around the pistil and secured them in place with green floral tape. 
    Holding wired gum paste hibiscus petals together

    Holding wired gum paste hibiscus petals together
    • This was how the flower looked like after taping. 
    Gum paste hibiscus petals tied together with floral tape

    A white gum paste hibiscus held in hand

    Making the calyx

    • The next process was attaching the sepal for the flower. For this, I used a rose calyx cutter. I rolled a piece of white gum paste thin, cut out the sepal, and made a small cut on one side of it. 
    White gum paste calyx and a calyx cutter

    White gum paste calyx
    • I then attached it to the flower with some fondant glue. 
    Gum paste hibiscus with calyx
    • And then, I rolled another piece of gum paste and cut out the following shape.
    Cutting a calyx for gum paste hibiscus
    • I attached it to the gum paste hibiscus to complete the hibiscus sepal.
    Gum paste hibiscus with calyx
    • And this was how the flower looked like upon its sepal being completed. 
    A white gum paste hibiscus

    A white gum paste hibiscus
    • The final step in making this flower was dusting the sepal. Since I wanted to make white hibiscus, I did not dust the petals. Had I wanted a different color for the petals, I would have dusted them before attaching the sepal.
    • For the sepal, I used rose-leaf green petal dust.
    Green floral dust
    • In dusting the sepal, I was careful not to spill the color over on the petals. 
    The calyx of a gum paste hibiscus dusted in green

    And that was it for making a gum paste hibiscus. Here was how the flower looked like on my tropical beach wedding cake (Click here to see how I made the rest of the cake).

    A 3 tier round cake with tropical beach theme, gum paste hibiscus and plumerias

    Hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Please leave your thoughts in the comments box below. 

    Happy decorating 🙂 

    More Gum Paste Flowers - How to Make

    • Gum Paste Poppies Tutorial
    • How to Color Gum Paste Flowers
    • Easy Fondant Flowers Tutorial
    • Gum Paste Hydrangea for Cake Decorating

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