Closed Small Bud - You will only need to cut 3 petals for this bud size using the small petal cutter or small petal template. Flip the petals over and curl each scallop with the bone tool as before, as well as thinning/softening the edges of the petals. Use the wide end of a dresden tool or veining tool, to pass it down the centre of each sepal. The sepals will automatically curl as you do this. This is correct. This first row of petals won’t cover the styro ball completely, but the later rows of petals will so don’t worry about that at this stage. Place the calyx into the centre of the palm of you hand and use a ball tool to cup and shape the calyx.

Bend a hook in the peony wire and hang on a flower drying stand or from a mug tree to dry completely.

To make one fully open peony, start with the centre: Take three wires and put a hook in the end of each. Take three small balls of white paste approx 3mm diameter, shape each into a cone and flatten slightly. Curve the tip and place the hooked end of a wire dipped into glue, into the base of each. Leave to dry.

Using the largest peony cutter, cut 8-10 more petals. Vein each petal, curl the scallops inwards and thin the edges as before. Glue each petal from half-way down to the end of the petal. Take a piece of white florist’s tape (giving it a little stretch to activate the in-built adhesive), then starting approximately 1.5 inches from the top of the three wires, tape the three pieces together. Transfer the petals to a foam pad. Take the thinnest end of your Dresden tool and starting from the top and middle of the first petal, draw a line down the centre to create a vein. Draw more lines from top to bottom of the petal, fanning out the lines as you go.

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Use a JEM veining tool to create texture on the surface. If you do not have a JEM veining tool, you can also use an ordinary veining tool. Curling the scallops of each petal inwards is the key to getting a nice cupped shaped petal when you go to assemble the peony.) Using a styrofoam centre and just four rows of petals, learn how to make this easy peony with our step-by-step instructions below. The petals should pretty much cover the underside of the styrofoam ball at this stage If not, we can tidy it up with the fourth row of petals. Sepals - Roll out the green gumpaste thinly. Use the sepal cutter or template and cut out 3 sepals for each bud.

Use the wide end of a dresden tool to gently frill the top edge, then use the thin end of the dresden tool, to carefully run it over the surface of the petal. Take your styro ball and add a dab of edible glue at the top. Cover the top of the ball with one of the veined petals Roll paste out very thinly and cut out two shapes with the smaller cutter, and two shapes with the larger cutter. Working on the smaller pieces first, thin the petal edges all round with either the ball tool, or the end of the rolling pin. Then, using either of these tools, ball each petal to curve inwards – do this along one side, then turn paste over and ball the second side. This will ensure that all the petals curve inwards the same way. Moving down the sides of the petal, roll the bone tool up and down along the edge of the petal to soften/thin the edges. (The bone tool will be half on, half off the petal as you thin the edges.)The secret to our method is in creating perfectly cupped scalloped petal tips and attaching the petals whilst still pliable so the flower can be easily molded into the perfect cup-shaped peony in your hand.