Wafer paper can be tricky to work with, and a lot of common mistakes come from treating it like real paper. It isn’t paper, it’s basically a sheet of starch, and because of that, you can’t handle it like real paper. These are some things that you should keep in mind when you’re working with wafer paper so that you don’t ruin it!
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Wafer paper isn’t paper.
Wafer paper looks like a sheet of real paper, but it’s made of potato starch, vegetable oil, and water. It shrivels up when it gets wet, it tears easily, and cutting it with scissors the same way you would cut regular paper can make it crack and rip.
It’s also not the same as rice paper, which is a term that’s used for a few different things that are NOT wafer paper.
You have to handle it gently, and with dry hands, to avoid damaging it.
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Wafer paper and water are enemies.
Another common issue comes from getting wafer paper too wet. Different liquids behave differently on it, but water is especially destructive.
When water is sprayed on wafer paper, it takes a moment to absorb, but once it does, the paper quickly turns into a sticky ball of starch. It will stick to itself, and there’s no way to fix it once that happens. Even handling it with damp hands can ruin it, so dry hands are essential.
Vodka behaves better because alcohol evaporates more quickly. It still softens the paper, but as long as you don’t put too much on the paper, the vodka will evaporate faster than water does. It also dries faster and becomes transparent the same way that putting water on it does, but it gives you a little more time than water will.
There’s an even better option than vodka. A simple glycerin conditioner, just water mixed with glycerin, softens the paper without making it too sticky. The glycerin creates a slight barrier, keeping the paper flexible and less transparent compared to using plain water or vodka. You can bend it, attach pieces, and work with it more easily without it collapsing into mush.
Click here for a recipe for wafer paper conditioner using glycerin. It’s easy to make and will help you handle the paper a lot better.
Click here to see my list of wafer paper tips on Benable.
Printed wafer paper will smear.
Printed wafer paper has its own challenge. The printed color sits on the surface, so it can smear if it gets wet and the color can rub off. Handling it carefully is important. Paper that’s pre-colored and dyed through the sheet doesn’t have this problem because the color is embedded rather than printed on top.
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Wafer paper shrinks as it dries.
Another mistake many people make is not planning for shrinkage when making flowers. Wafer paper contracts as the starch dries, especially after applying moisture to attach pieces.
A flower that looks nicely shaped when you’re making it can curl backward as it dries, leaving it too flat or oddly shaped. The petals need to be positioned so they will contract into a realistic shape, not collapse into a flat form. Make sure to position the petals a little higher than you want them to be so that shrinkage will end up with them in the right position.
Wafer paper is fragile.
Being too rough with wafer paper is another common issue. Because it isn’t real paper, it can tear very easily, especially when wet. Wet wafer paper can become stretchy and gluey, and trying to shape it before it dries can make it tear.
Cornstarch helps by drying the surface slightly, making it easier to handle while still keeping the flexibility from the glycerin. Untreated wafer paper, by comparison, cracks easily if bent the same way. You have to find the happy medium between wet enough and too soggy, and learn how to handle it when it’s workable so that you don’t ruin it.
High humidity is not wafer paper’s friend.
Humidity is also a major factor that can ruin your wafer paper flowers. In humid environments, wafer paper absorbs moisture from the air and softens or melts it depending on how bad it is.
Putting steam on wafer paper demonstrates this dramatically, causing delicate and smaller pieces to wilt and collapse. For people living in very humid climates, wafer paper may not be the best medium for cake decorations unless they are working indoors in controlled, air‑conditioned environments. Planning for humidity can help prevent ruined decorations.
On the other hand, paper that’s too dry can be really brittle, so if there’s not enough humidity in the air the wafer paper can end up being easy to crack. Working with wafer paper is a balance between keeping it flexible enough to work with, and dry enough to not end up shriveling up!
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