Very Sad....killer Humdity Strikes Again!

Decorating By Bossy Updated 24 Apr 2008 , 2:28am by elainec

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Bossy Posted 29 Mar 2008 , 2:38pm
post #1 of 19

I made rubber duckies and bunnies cup cake toppers out of gumpaste. Put them in a airtight container with silcone packs, checked them a couple days later and they were fine. Had my son house sit for the weekend and he must have peeked at the toppers and not closed the container very well or left it open a while. Needless to say when I went to put them on Monday night, all the little critters looked like they had put their heads down to play Heads Up- 7 Up! The bunnies had basically melted like snowmen on a warm day (boo hoo hoo). I saved as many as I could, reformed them and placed them back up, put some more silcone packs in the air tight container and left them for a couple of hours. After that they were hard enough to go on the cup cakes which I put in the frig. to keep hard until I had to take them to the meeting. I posted a picture of what was the best saved 2, but they are still very sad looking. I'm just so frustrated with the humidity turing everything into half melted looking blobs that I want to scream!

Frusted in Florida,
Liz

18 replies
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pinkbox Posted 29 Mar 2008 , 2:47pm
post #2 of 19

Im so sorry to hear that... I too have issues with the humidity and am working through them too.

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JenniferL Posted 29 Mar 2008 , 2:52pm
post #3 of 19

I checked out your picture and think they look great! Sorry about your humidity issues. I"m sure that's frustrating to work with. That's a smart idea to use the silicone packs... I've never heard of that.

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Bossy Posted 29 Mar 2008 , 3:17pm
post #4 of 19

The silicone packs make a big difference! The items that they are sitting next to get hard much faster (hard is a relative term here in FL). They release no toxic gas, and the silicone is safe as long as it's in the little packects so it dose not accidently get on the food and eaten. Everything seems to come packed with them in the boxes here, so I do not have to buy them.

Liz

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minorfan Posted 29 Mar 2008 , 3:30pm
post #5 of 19

I am in Tampa bay area of Florida so the humidity is usually 80-90% here. Sea fog is also a problem.

The best ways to deal with the problems that I have found is to keep the air conditioning on. Then when done with an item I put it in a ventilated draw and let them dry out. Air Conditioning has to be on in the house. Usually takes a couple of days to dry out.

Got paper organizer cabinets so I have many short drawers to store things in. Have stored some for a few months with no problem. If I put things in an air tight container they seem to sweat and fall apart.

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vickymacd Posted 29 Mar 2008 , 3:42pm
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Please, don't get me wrong, because I do sympathize with you, but I'm in Michigan and we are just getting rid of yet another 4 inches of snow! Humidity sounds wonderful right now! ha, ha.

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Bossy Posted 29 Mar 2008 , 4:16pm
post #7 of 19

I like the idea of small drawers to store the items in! I just bought an eight drawer, wooden one from Fred's last week for $20 to organize all my cake decorating stuff in. I may have to watch for them to go on sale again, they are $80 bucks in catalogs. I think the air conditioning would work great in a newer house. Unfortunately, I have a historic (we call it histerical) 1926 house, and even with the air on, humidity seeps in! Someone needs to invent a dehumidited, multi drawer cabinet so I can store all my creations!

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minorfan Posted 29 Mar 2008 , 4:36pm
post #8 of 19

I am looking for a blue print cabinet to be able to store more items - large flat drawers only 2 inches deep.

You can get a dehumidifier for the room you keep the items in to let them dry if no air conditioning. A friend uses one since they dont like air conditioning. Just dont put in direct sun light and not in air tight plastic boxes.

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Bossy Posted 29 Mar 2008 , 11:18pm
post #9 of 19

vickymacd I totally understand! I lived in Flagstaff AZ very breifly where it's high and dry. I had a good hair day everyday, but did not decorate a cake while I was there to see what the differences are.

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beachcakes Posted 29 Mar 2008 , 11:42pm
post #10 of 19

I'm sorry that happened to you - I've had that problem with melted gumpaste.

I'm not in FL, but I'm near the ocean and everything is always "wet". I have a dehumidifier for the kitchen when it gets very high humidity. Just wanted to let you know I have better luck with fondant mixed with tylose powder than I do with gumpaste.

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rozdei Posted 29 Mar 2008 , 11:48pm
post #11 of 19

Liz,

I agree with everyone else, I do not put my gumpaste/fondant figures into airtight containers until they are completely dry (after a couple of days) and I don't put them in the fridge. I don't have a problem with my figures and I live in Florida too. Know what you mean about the humidity.

~Julie~

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tonedna Posted 29 Mar 2008 , 11:51pm
post #12 of 19

I live in florida...This is how I do. My gumpaste I dont put in airtight containers until the gumpaste is completely dried. The fact that the gumpaste is not dried before you store it in an airtight container might be the problem. I usually let it dry for a whole week in an open tray and then I store it in a container. I had never have that problem.
Edna icon_biggrin.gif

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angienajjar Posted 9 Apr 2008 , 4:19am
post #13 of 19

Hi,
I live 11 degrees north of the EQUATOR and know about humidity 6 months of the year...!!!
When I make gumpaste flowers, I put them to dry in a LIGHTED box that has 3 wire mesh shelves, with a receptical and 40Watt bulb on the top on the inside. My hubby made the box from plywood, and a couple o f hinges. I would suggest you get an old kitchen cabinet - remove the wooden shelves and replace with a heavy mesh shelf that was cut to size.
I leave the light on, plugged into an outlet, and my flowers stay there sometimes for weeks depending on the need.
Hope you understand this, and if not PM me and maybe I could explain even better if I know your questions. The box would be a fantastic investment.
Good luck - Angie
p.s. I also use Nicholas Lodge's recipe (12 tsps tylose) which is a great inhibitor for humidity, and minimizes the sugar breakdown.....

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beachcakes Posted 9 Apr 2008 , 11:48am
post #14 of 19
Quote:
Originally Posted by vickymacd

Please, don't get me wrong, because I do sympathize with you, but I'm in Michigan and we are just getting rid of yet another 4 inches of snow! Humidity sounds wonderful right now! ha, ha.




I certainly don't envy you your snow, vicky! But I just wanted to let you know that humidity ain't all it's cracked up to be & isn't only for the tropics! Here in NY it's humid alot, even at 40*! icon_sad.gif So don't be too jealous of them LOL!!

I have better results with fondant mixed with tylose powder, than straight gumpaste. And never, ever, EVER make pieces out of MMF!!!! I too, keep a dehumidifer in my kitchen for when it's really bad, since I don't have AC. When dry, those silica gel packs work great in an airtight container. When you take them out, they can soften up a bit from the humidity in the air, so do it at the last minute if you can!

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Bossy Posted 11 Apr 2008 , 9:51pm
post #15 of 19

Thanks Angie! I understand the box completely!!! We made one like it for the copy paper at work so it would quit jamming the machine. I'm making my box this weekend. Does the light fade the fondant?

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angienajjar Posted 14 Apr 2008 , 9:04pm
post #16 of 19

Hi Liz,
No - the light does not fade the colours at all.....that is....excepting the colour blue, which tends to fade to a lilac with or without a lightbox. I have found that dry dusting my flowers with petal dust after they are dry, not only enhances the flowers, but also keeps the tinted paste from looking faded. I also understand that steaming locks in the colour, but seems to me that steaming my gumpaste in a land of humidity would be counter-productive.....so, I simply dust and the colour stays just fine - up to 6 months for intense colour....good luck with your box - its invaluable in humid weather.
p.s. I have also stored in a shoebox in the refridgerator, and replaced from fridge to lightbox for 24 hours, and they are good to go.....

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elainec Posted 23 Apr 2008 , 4:33am
post #17 of 19

I like the box idea also. I live in Alabama, i mix gumpaste with fondant, make my flowers and leave them out for a week to dry. I bought some
scrapbook plastic containers at Michael's that store
the pieces very well. The are recangular and thin. You have optional sections that can be inserted and if it is flowers, I use them to keep everything separate. Our heat and humidity here is absolutely horrible and our temps in South Central Al. are often higher that yours, along with the high humidity!

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Bossy Posted 24 Apr 2008 , 12:26am
post #18 of 19

elainec- I know about your humdity, I temporary lived in Dothan one summer! Thanks to everyone's suggestions, my first little fondant doll lives!!!!!! I added the powder gum base to my premade fondant/gumpaste mix, let it sit in the light box a couple of days propped up so it would not sag at first and then transferered it to a plastic box, and praise the Lord, she is still sitting up. I did get first hand experience with pink fading (ugh). But that can be fixed with some dust. Now I'm working on a butterfly thing to go with her on a mini cake. Will take a while now that spring break is over and I have to go back to my day jobicon_sad.gif.

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elainec Posted 24 Apr 2008 , 2:28am
post #19 of 19

Bossy, Thanks for your comment. Will keep this in mind. It is nice to have someone reply to a new member. icon_smile.gif

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