Berry Excited!

Yup, I've been extremely busy lately. I'm working on a very special wedding cake.... it's for my son! He's the first of my children to get married. So I'm pretty excited about making his cake!

Today I've spent most of the morning making little gray berries. They're pretty simple, and you can make quite a few in no time at all. So I thought I'd put together a quick tutorial on how to make these cute little berries.

You'll need: gumpaste, wire, a small circle cutter, a rolling pin with spacers, gum glue, and an umbrella tool. (Yes, that's what the green tool is called.... I'm not sure why. I didn't know it's official name so I had to look it up.... "umbrella tool"? Strange... I would have named it something special like "that green pointy thingy"! )

 Roll out the gumpaste to an even thickness... using spacers on your rolling pin makes this quick and easy. Cut out some small circles. The circle cutter makes the gumpaste pieces identical so all of your berries will be the same size.

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Roll the gumpaste into a small, smooth ball. The heat from your hands will make this a little easier.

Push the point of the umbrella tool about 1/3 of the way into the ball. I used the point with 5 lines.
 

 This is what it looks like. Pretty simple isn't it.

 Dip the end of your wire into the gum glue. Most of the time, I bend the tip of my wire to keep flowers from spinning and falling off. But these berries are small and not very heavy, so I don't think it's necessary. I'm using a wrapped wire so this also helps to keep the berries in place. 

 Push the dipped end of the wire into the bottom of the berry. Sometimes the berries will get a little squished, so use your fingers to re-shape them. 

After the berries are dry, I will brush on just a hint of color. This really brings them to life.

 Then before you know it.... You've made dozens and dozens of those cute little things!

 Give it a try... you'll be "berry" excited too!  ;)