Wafer "Bouquet" Rose Tutorial

Photography by Vita Bella Photography

You've been asking (well, almost demanding, but it's all good. I feel loved :) ) for this tutorial on my Wafer Bouquet Roses that I used in the globe atop my Gray Lace cake. So here it is! 

First, you'll find the step-by-step photos and instructions with brief text descriptions. At the end you'll find the video with some full motion shots to see exactly how I handled the wafer. I may seem like I'm being less than gentle at times, especially during the dusting, but this paper is very durable and can take it. It's wonderful to have dropped a finished rose on my table and have it bounce a bit and be no worse for the wear! Take THAT sugar paste! (Don't think I don't love my sugar paste... It's still the perfect workhorse for soooooo many projects and flowers. It will never be replaced in our caking world. A timeless beauty. Ok, I'll get back to the tute now. Hahaha!)

Wafer Bouquet Rose

While I will only be making one during this tutorial, I made 6 at a time giving each flower a rest with the new layer of wafer and water before another row was added. It's not necessary to let them rest, but you'll find it gets a little less sticky at the bottom. One other item you'll need, scissors. Get my wafer paper here: CLICK ME! CLICK ME!

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You can use what ever shape and size cutter you want. I showed imperfect cuts of the elliptical one on the left because you can use these! Don't throw 'em out, wafer is very forgiving. The smallest one should be no bigger than 1" diameter.

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Snip off the end of your center cone to create a flat surface.

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Cut a narrow, curvy strip of wafer. If you do this first you can use the rest of the sheet for your circle punches. I'm sure you figured that out already, but I'm the type that needs to hear obvious things, so someone out there may appreciate that little nugget of advice, too!

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Next you're going to curl the strip with your scribe or needle tool, in the same way you curl ribbon. Make sure for this step that the textured side is the inward, or directly against your scribe. If you try the other way you may find that the wafer cracks and tears.

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 Lay the strip on your foam pad with the textured side up. It'll curl towards you and may elicit a frustrated word (or 10 if you're like me). The curliness can have a mind of it's own! Dab a bit of water about one inch up from the bottom of the strip. You'll use your scribe tool to roll a tight coil and tack the beginning of it against the wet spot to keep it from unrolling. Before you continue rolling, apply a light strip of water up the straight side of the wafer and finish rolling. (Seeing the video at this point will help illustrate this step.)

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No worries if you have a little bit of the paper popping out of the center of the coil...

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Just take a tiny pair of scissors and snip it off. Shape the coil pushing at both ends (see video for this step).

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Using scissors, cut away the bottom so you have a flat surface. Apply a bit of water to the flat end to secure the coil since most of the bottom has been removed.

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Attach to the flat surface of the cone.

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Beginning with the smallest wafer circles attach them to both the cone and at the very tip of the coil, curving them as you go. Attaching to the very tip to the coil helps to keep the centers of the rose tight, gradual, and helps to keep the cone from being seen between the petals. Only attach at the tip for the first row around the coil. I added about 2 full rows overlapping irregularly with this size wafer circle.

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Move to the next size and continue applying around opening just slightly. This is the part where your vision for the flowers and your preference for their fullness begins to take over. I prefer to move to the next size once the top of the petals begin to appear too round, like in this picture.

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 Keep coiling, with each additional size, opening just a bit more. I tend to keep them relatively flat across the top, not moving down very much around the cone. Not just yet, anyways. I don't want big, wide blossoms.

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Add more, and bigger ones... In this stage, where I knew I was getting to the outer petals, I began alternating my largest circle wafers and the elliptical ones for variation.

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Add until you're content with the size and fullness.

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Holding a slightly damp brush at a 45 degree angle run it gently along the outer edge of the outermost petals. They will begin to curl outwards. Don't add too much water or the petal will simply melt.

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Tamp down the bottom of the petals near to the wire (see video for this part) before adding your final finishing layer of wafer circles. Add your last layer of petals using the largest circle and applying them down on the cone more so they don't sit at the same height as the others. Gently and intentionally push the petal against the center so that it isn't too rough in appearance. Even though this part of the rose will be tucked well into a grouping it's a good habit to be in to make the last rows more finished. Also, if you are going to use these to stand alone, not in a grouping, you can add a calyx of sugar paste to finish the base.

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Again, apply water to the outside edge of the last row of petals to curl them back a bit. Now you can dust your rose for color! Just be sure all the edges of your petals have dried to the touch and are not sticky at all. This should take no more than 5 minutes.

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I used Pink petal dust from Global Sugar Art and Champagne Luster Dust from CK Products for this rose. The pink is the main rose color and the Champagne rounds out the color, gives the rose a bit of age, and makes them look finished with a bit of shimmer.

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I used the small round tipped brush to apply the pink dust, and the large brush to apply the Champagne dust. The large black brush is actually a makeup brush (not ever used for makeup) and I got it for $2 in the cosmetics section of Target (pronounced Tar-Zjay, of course). Watch the end of the video to see how I apply the dust. It's my favorite part :)

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Ta-Daaaaaa!!!!!

Here's the video to follow along in real time.

 

As always, if you use my tutorial please share your creations on my Facebook page!

I would love to see them  :)