If you're looking for detailed instructions for making edible creations, a good place to start is on websites devoted to Asian cuisine.
For example, Simply-Thai.com has photos and step-by-step instructions for how to make fruit and vegetable edible creations such as a daisy flower from a carrot slice, a leaf from a cucumber and a rose from a tomato.
They tell you about the carving tools you'll need to make these edible creations (although many of them can be made simply with one sharp pointed knife), selecting your fruits and vegetables for carving, specific preparations and treatments, and storing your edible creations until serving time.
It's not surprising that some of the best edible creations come from Asian cuisine. The art of food carving is a highly regarded art in many Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, and China. Thailand, in particular, is recognized as a leader in the art of edible creations.
Thai cuisine is known for its intricate edible creations such as the lotus flower papaya shown in the photo here. (The photo is from Spice Cuisine and if you go to their website you can see more gorgeous photos of award-winning edible creations.)
The art of fruit and vegetable carving has gained increasing popularity in recent years. Many cooking schools and even five-star hotels now hold Thai cooking classes that highlight fruit and vegetable carving.
According to an article in the online magainze Benjarong , fruit carving in Thailand has been around for centuries and was originally exclusive to meals prepared for the royal family. This emphasis on meals needing to be attractive as well as highly palatable continues in modern Thai cuisine. The writer explains:
"Thais are very proud of their cuisine and often even simple roadside stalls will invest time into the presentation of their meals. Fruit and vegetable carving is at home and is even included in the national school curriculum to preserve Thai cultural arts. I once watched a sixteen year old boy carve a watermelon into dozens of rosettes within half an hour. When I asked him where he had learned this skill, he gave me a teenage shrug and said he started learning in primary school with potato stencils. I remembered with slight humiliation, my childhood potato stencils consisting of unsymmetrical circles and squares, not garlands of flowers."
Note: This article was selected for the Carnival of Recipes.