Taste of the Tropics

I love alliums.  They blend in well to my garden but anytime I have them inside as cut flowers I put them in a tall vase by themselves.  So, in keeping with the challenge of three different types of flowers, I decided to put them in an arrangement with tropical flowers and play off the vibrant colors.

 I’ll say at the start – everything did not go as planned.  Height and stability were a challenge.  I used two hemispheres for the flower and pretzel rods for the stems. A couple of layers of direct piping on the flower and then air brushed. I had royal icing transfers in case I needed them but I didn’t end up using them. The pretzel rod is covered with ginger clay.  It still did not give me enough height though.

So, I added a cookie “disc” in between the two hemispheres of the container to raise the bottom of the container.  The pretzel rods are attached with royal icing to a fondant “foot”.  Stabilizing it took a lot.  The other flowers were also not terribly cooperative in terms of attachment. A couple of really pretty flowers had to be scrapped. Let’s just say, a lot of bad words were spoken.

The anthurium is embossed fondant finished with a spray glaze.  The lilies are gumpaste.  The hibiscus is a royal icing transfer- one is attached to a hemisphere cookie, the other is directly on the vase.  The Hawaiian blue flowers are royal icing transfers attached to a pretzel rod.  The leaves are embossed fondant that is airbrushed.  Additional leaves are piped. 

I decided to play around with texture on the vase.  I dipped both sides and then piped all over with a star tip.  Once the top layer crusted, I went back over it with a clean star tip.  I wanted it to have a lava rock type of look.  I’m pleased with the result and it is much more forgiving to mistakes than a smooth surface. 

I once again had a lot of fun with this challenge. I’m not terribly skilled at tiny, delicate, intricate things so I try and make up for it with gusto. 😂😂

Beautiful blues!  Great idea to use the pretzel rods as "stems".

Great result and thanks for the mini tutorial! So informative!

What an idea and information for a 3-D vase.

Wow, great job!!!! I love the hibiscus and the teenie blue flowers. It really got the best of you, you not only executed a great flower arrangement, you developed your skills and patience!! Well done👏👏👏Beautiful presentation!♥️

@E. Sherwood posted:

Beautiful blues!  Great idea to use the pretzel rods as "stems".

Thank you so much @E. Sherwood.  I often use pretzel rods for support in 3D projects.  Unfortunately, I also tend to eat more of them than I actually use. 😂

@Julia M. Usher posted:

Great result and thanks for the mini tutorial! So informative!

Thank you so much Julia @Julia M. Usher.  I had a lot of "cookies carnage" that I could have photographed and shared info on what NOT to do.  But I decided to hide that evidence. 😂

@Zeena posted:

What an idea and information for a 3-D vase.

Thank you so much @Zeena.  I've been mulling over the idea for a vase and was happy to have an opportunity to try it out.

@Heather Bruce Sosa posted:

Wow, great job!!!! I love the hibiscus and the teenie blue flowers. It really got the best of you, you not only executed a great flower arrangement, you developed your skills and patience!! Well done👏👏👏Beautiful presentation!♥️

Thank you so much for your kind words my friend @Heather Bruce Sosa.  This DID require patience.  There were a couple of times that I almost scrapped the whole thing because I just couldn't get it together.  It's also been raining so much here - the humidity has not been helpful!

@LisaF posted:

Thank you so much for your kind words my friend @Heather Bruce Sosa.  This DID require patience.  There were a couple of times that I almost scrapped the whole thing because I just couldn't get it together.  It's also been raining so much here - the humidity has not been helpful!

Oh, noooo!!! Undoubtedly, humidity is terrible when you are trying to work with all this. Anyway, your perseverance had a wonderful result!🥰

Wow, Lisa, what a big arrangement and so many flowers...! That is a beautiful entry dear Lisa!! Great job my cookie friend @LisaF ❤️😘

Such stunning colors! Well done

@Icingsugarkeks posted:

Wow, Lisa, what a big arrangement and so many flowers...! That is a beautiful entry dear Lisa!! Great job my cookie friend @LisaF ❤️😘

Thank you so much Gabi @Icingsugarkeks.  It is quite big.  And heavy!  I had to add some cookie stacks to the bottom part of the base for stability.  I think it weighs about 20 pounds!😂😘

@sylviawilson posted:

Such stunning colors! Well done

Thank you Sylvia @sylviawilson.  ❤️😘

Such a beautiful array of flowers in a gorgeous vase dear Lisa @LisaF!! I love antheriums as well. In my former life I was a floral designer and it wasn't often that we received orders for antheriums but I always loved working with that tropical flower. You've nailed the color perfectly, too!

I loved reading about your journey through this project and especially the challenges you faced and how you worked through them. I really get it!! You did such an awesome job with the gumpaste lilies and the hemispheres to create your vase...such a great idea to use a star tip all over for texture. I absolutely LOVE that you used pretzels to raise the height .

When I was working on my recent challenge cookies, I so wanted to use stamens that were made of wire (they're so much more realistic) but remembered the restriction in the rules about everything being edible. Soooo glad I remembered! I would have hated to go to all that work and then not be able to qualify for the challenge. Ugh.

Your entry is simply gorgeous my dear. You're being way too hard on yourself!! (Easy for me to say, eh?) ❤️❤️❤️ Hugs...

@Cookies Fantastique posted:

Such a beautiful array of flowers in a gorgeous vase dear Lisa @LisaF!! I love antheriums as well. In my former life I was a floral designer and it wasn't often that we received orders for antheriums but I always loved working with that tropical flower. You've nailed the color perfectly, too!

I loved reading about your journey through this project and especially the challenges you faced and how you worked through them. I really get it!! You did such an awesome job with the gumpaste lilies and the hemispheres to create your vase...such a great idea to use a star tip all over for texture. I absolutely LOVE that you used pretzels to raise the height .

When I was working on my recent challenge cookies, I so wanted to use stamens that were made of wire (they're so much more realistic) but remembered the restriction in the rules about everything being edible. Soooo glad I remembered! I would have 😘to go to all that work and then not be able to qualify for the challenge. Ugh.

Your entry is simply gorgeous my dear. You're being way too hard on yourself!! (Easy for me to say, eh?) ❤️❤️❤️ Hugs...

Thank you so much for you kindness Carol @Cookies Fantastique.  I did struggle so much with this one.  I'm using to dealing with structural issues with gingerbread creations but I don't think I was mentally prepared for it on this challenge.  I thought about you and our last conversation a lot!  I just  couldn't get it to what I had envisioned or where I wanted it to be.  Eventually, I just called it quits and focused on what I did like.  I am definitely pleased with the antheriums.  They were one of the few flowers that behaved like I wanted!!! 😂😘

Wow! A lot of effort but it certainly paid off. I'm glad you included photos of all the flowers in your comments as they show a wonderful range of texture. I also love the vibrant colors that you used. Those rich hues definitely add to the gusto!

Fantastic result,thank you also for tutorial how exactly you creted all,very nice work,love it

@Sweet Prodigy posted:

Wow! A lot of effort but it certainly paid off. I'm glad you included photos of all the flowers in your comments as they show a wonderful range of texture. I also love the vibrant colors that you used. Those rich hues definitely add the gusto!

Thank you Christine @Sweet Prodigy.  I did struggle with this one though.  I thought it would be easier to arrange the flowers like a regular bouquet with the pretzel sticks but a lot of flower mushing took place.  So I kept adding things to the vase (fondant, cookie pieces and royal icing) to stabilize things more.  It made it all very heavy.  When I went to move it, I asked my husband to help me.  I only needed him to clear a few things out of the way but he said, "Let me go see if I can find a forklift." Because he is just soooo funny.

@Petra Florean posted:

Fantastic result,thank you also for tutorial how exactly you creted all,very nice work,love it

Thank you so much dear Petra.  I learned an awful lot during this construction so I wanted to share it.  As is always the case, some parts worked better than others!

Wonderful display of flowers. Lovely colour combination. ❤💙🧡💖💚 Great work, dear Lisa! @LisaF. Thanks for the tutorial too.

Beautiful! 💙🌸💙

@Kanch J posted:

Wonderful display of flowers. Lovely colour combination. ❤💙🧡💖💚 Great work, dear Lisa! @LisaF. Thanks for the tutorial too.

thank you so much my friend @Kanch J ❤️

@Evelindecora posted:

Beautiful! 💙🌸💙

Thank you so much @Evelindecora!

Oh @LisaF alliums!  That must be the first one for me to avoid.  Tons of work to have done, you are very amazing to have made these beautiful flowers.  And using pretzel, that's really clever.  

@Ryoko ~Cookie Ave. posted:

Oh @LisaF alliums!  That must be the first one for me to avoid.  Tons of work to have done, you are very amazing to have made these beautiful flowers.  And using pretzel, that's really clever.  

Thank you so much @Ryoko ~Cookie Ave.  The alliums turned out to be quite heavy so those pretzel stems came in very handy!😂

So much work! I am glad you show it through the step by step pictures and I loved to read everything about this project. Awesome work. 

@Manu biscotti decorati posted:

So much work! I am glad you show it through the step by step pictures and I loved to read everything about this project. Awesome work. 

 

Thank you dear Manu @Manu biscotti decorati.  This one really put me through the ringer!  I finally got there construction wise but whoosh, it took awhile!

Cute and beautiful 

Very useful description