Okay, so I am trying to practice my gumpaste roses. I can't find tylose so I decided to get the Wilton Gumpaste mix to make my gumpaste. It worked fine. Yesterday, I used my impression mold and made a cross and then made the center cones for about 6 roses. Today they are dry so I decided to make the petals.

I can't even get the stuff rolled into a smooth ball. It keeps cracking and won't smooth out. I've tried cornstarch, I've put shortening on my hands to help and it just falls apart. I'm rolling a ball and it looks like the cracks are almost gone and then....boom! it just falls apart.

I haven't had this problem before. Can anyone helps me figure out what's going on?

I've never used the mix before. I've only used the Ready-to-Use stuff by both Wilton and Satin Ice and not had this problem. Hope someone can help.

I was dealing with that too.. I kneaded in a bit of shortening into it and that seemed to help more than putting the shortening on my hands. HTH

Thanks! I mixed a little fondant in it and it was better. When I start again tomorrow, I may try to mix some shortening in. I'm wondering if I just ended up working too much cornstarch into it.

Yeah, it's just way too dry. Add some fondant, shortening, or even the smallest bit of water. You need to get it hydrated.

kneading more shortening or a little water will help, also try using powdered sugar instead of cornflour, it doesnt dry the paste out so much.
good luck

I also had this problem and I added a little corn syrup to the gum paste. It got a little sticky so I just coated my hands with shortening and kneaded the corn syrup into the gum paste.
Hope this helps.

Thanks everyone!

Now for a crazy update. I was practicing roses for a groom's cake for Aug. 2 for a co-workers son. She came by this morning and said that her son got married this weekend.

Apparently, there was a lot of drama with "her" family so they just got married. They are going to have a drop-in shower on their original day and may just have a sheet cake. Oh well. I'm still going to practice my roses though.

If you use tylose and water as your gum glue then a small amount of this into your gumpaste. Kneading in some glycerin will help too. Glycerin will also add some stretch and smoothness to your gumpaste.

A dry gumpaste prevention trick is to roll out the gumpaste on a VERY thin film of shortening rather than starch or powdered sugar.

HTH

Michele