About 3 evenings of making roses and watching Dexter ( I am done with season 2 by the way, and yes, you are getting quite blood-thirsty after about 300 petals :) ).

Here are step-by-step pictures and some quick explanations on how to get the flowers done - just in case someone loves Dexter as well, or may be for the case when I get old and crazy and forget some sugarcraft techniques.

We start with the gumpaste - here is a big chunk of it

I usually don't go superfancy and use the recipe  on the Wilton Gum-Tex box. Keep it covered at all times - dries very fast.

Then we need some wire - I used gauge 24 for the roses, as they are quite heavy - make a little hoop on the top

Then we take a little piece of gumpaste - about the size of filbert - and shape it as a raindrop - our base for the rose is ready. Dip the wire hoop in the water and insert it in the base.

And let it dry for about 24 hours. I use an old mugtree - comes in quite handy for the rose drying :)

Now we are ready for some petals. Roll out the gumpaste thinly and cut come petals using a special cutter. My rose petal cutter set has 5 pieces - I started with the 2nd smallest. The smallest one is so tiny I might use it one day for some dwarf roses.

Moving the petal on my foam mat and thinning out the edges, making them slightly ruffly.

Applying some water in the center of the petal

And wrapping the first petal around the well dried base

And the second petal

And one more! Basically the rose bud is ready - and we can stop here. BUt if we want a real rose - we need more petals, and Dexter!

Let's leave our roses to dry for another 24 hours by hanging them on the mug tree or we can stick them into a piece of Styrofoam.

My rose novel is to be continued......