Wrap a piece of black cotton thread some 50 times around two fingers. Not too tight!

Now
you have a loop - fold it in half and twist a piece of gauge 33 floral wire around it. Make
sure you remember to leave an extra loop on top of the wire - I forgot in this picture. You
need it for the flower centre.

Cut the loop open and tape the bottom and the stem. If you look carefully you can see the
little white loop in the middle of the thread..
Roll a small ball of spring green gumpaste for the centre. Give a slight UFO shape and glue
it to the loop in the centre. With a pair of tweezers, pinch the gumpaste to form the typical
poppy pattern.

Now the petals. Cut out two large an two smaller petals. Frill the edges with a large frillstick
and vein with either a silicone veiner og, as here, a dresden tool. Leave to dry in a curve
over a ball of cling wrap or in a flower former.
When dry, paint the bottoms with a bit of undiluted black paste color. Or black petal dust if
you have any (if you do, please tell me where you found it!)

For assembly, tape the smaller petals around the base, opposite of each other. Turn the
flower a quart and tape the two larger petals just underneath. Tape the whole stem. And
voila!