My daughter’s Jr. High teacher assigned the class to make a a color wheel. It could as simple as a crayon coloring or as intricate as they wanted to make it. The teacher even said they could make it edible. So of course, my daughter decided to make a color wheel from gelatin with 12 different colored flowers all made with different tips.
First, she made a clear gelatin base in a vintage jello ring Tupperware mold. Click here for the recipe for a great tasting clear gelatin base. Or scroll to the bottom for both recipes used in this project.
Second she made the colored gelatin with the three primary colors and a white base. Click here for the colored gelatin recipe or scroll to the bottom.
We put the colored gelatin in cups in a large saucepan of warm water on low heat on the stove. This keeps the gelatin at a liquid state giving her time to create the intricate designs and flowers. We also put a cup with just water in it in the warm water. We use this to clean out the syringes and needles so that the gelatin doesn’t dry and clog the needles.
Before beginning the flowers, she marked 12 places around the gelatin for each flower and carved out a little of the gelatin at each spot. This helped her make sure each flower was evenly spaced. Carving out the gelatin helps keep the excess gelatin from running all over the top of the clear gelatin and makes a center for the flowers.
For her assignment, she had to include the primary colors, secondary colors, and the tertiary colors. She used liquid food coloring to make the primary colors and then mixed the three colors to get the desired secondary and tertiary colors. She also wanted to play around with different tips for the jello flowers and used a different tip for each color.
The result was a stunning rainbow of colors in a beautiful clear gelatin. It turned out fabulous and it was made by a 12 year old!
She took it to school and got an A for a great project with top marks for creativity and uniqueness.
Her teacher kept the jello in the foods fridge throughout the day and she picked it up after school. She shared it with her friends at the school play practice and it disappeared quickly. The plate still showed remnants of the fun color wheel when she got home.
Want to make your own color wheel jello? It’s pretty easy. First make the recipe for clear gelatin in a ring mold or bowl of your choice. Then make the Colored Base Gelatin to make the colored flowers.
You can use a clean sterile syringe and straight needle or you can check out some of these beginner tools on Amazon to get you started:
*Yes, I have an Amazon Influencer’s account and make a tiny commission off of your purchase. Honestly, it’s not much, last month (December 2020, I made about $20.00.) I greatly appreciate your add clicks and purchases, they help to offset the cost of running a private blog.
Clear Gelatin
Equipment
- medium saucepan
- medicine dropper
- bowl
- small whisk
Ingredients
- 3 Tbsp clear gelatin powder
- 2 C sugar
- 4 C water
- 1 tsp citric acid powder
- 3 drops clear food flavoring
Instructions
- Mix gelatin with 1 cup of the cold water in a small bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes. In a saucepan, heat sugar with citric acid powder and remaining 3 cups of water. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat when vapor begins to appear above the surface. Do not let it come to a boil. Take off heat.Add gelatin to saucepan and stir until completely dissolved. Using a medicine dropper, stir in just 3 drops of food flavoring. Go ahead and taste it to make sure flavor is right. Pour into desired containers and leave in the refridgerator until set.
Colored Base for Gelatin Flowers
Equipment
- Syringes
- Needles or Flower Tips
- Pan on the stove with a warm water bath to keep gelatin from setting up
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp gelatin powder
- 3 Tbsp cold water
- 1 Cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 Cup sugar
- 1 drop food flavoring
- 3/4 Tbsp white food coloring
Instructions
- First, make the clear gelatin recipe and make sure it is set before you begin creating the colored gelatin for the flowers.
- Mix gelatin with cold water and let stand for 5 minutes.
- Heat sugar with 1/2 Cup of cream in a sauce pan, stirring constantly. Remove from heat when vapor appears above the surface, do not let it boil.
- Add gelatin and stir until completely dissolved, then add the remaining 1/2 Cup of cream.
- Stir in one drop of food flavoring.
- Mix in the white food coloring using an emulsion blender, or a regular blender if you don't have an emulsion blender.
- Put back onto the stove on a very low heat to keep the gelatin warm. Stir occasionally.
- Get the clear gelatin out of the refridgerator. Cut a small circular hole in the middle of the top of the set clear gelatin.
- Pour some of the colored gelatin base into a small bowl or glass. Color it with food coloring.
- Using a syringe and a needle, inject the colored gelatin into the clear gelatin base. Play around with different techniques and designs and colors. It is easier than it looks and fun to create.
- Keep the colored gelatin woarm in the water bath while you are creating with other colors. You don't want the gelatin too hot or too cold. Also having boiling water in a couple other cups in the water bath is good to clean the needles and syringes when needed so they don't get clogged.
- Have fun!
