I would like to start working with gumpaste. I went to JoAnns yesterday to look at the Wilton products. My questions are: is glucose the same as corn syrup (because that is what the label on the glucose said it contained) because I would rather buy a bottle of corn syrup than the pricey little container of 'glucose', is it better to use tylose or that gum stuff, and did someone on CC once say you could just add something to fondant and it became gumpaste?? Any other hints to get started would be great. Thanks!

Hi there, I haven't made my own gumpaste. And I know some subtitute glucose to corn syrup. So should be similar.

Yes you can add a 1/2 a teaspoon of tylose/cmc to fondant and knead well. That becomes gumpaste. You also can use 50/50 store bought gumpaste and fondant.

Here is a great video on how to make gumpaste from our fellow member aine2. There are lots of videos and she sells some lovely online tutorial, which I'm sure going to help you a lot.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kQtehRE7VQw

HTH.

So you can use a 50/50 fondant gumpaste combo.. does it have to be the premade store bought gumpaste stuff? or could i use the wilton kind thats in a can that you add water to and then combine the two? sorry, im still new to this and i want to makes sure i get it right.

Hi, I haven't tried that before. I have tried mixing the premade store bought ones.

Sorry, not much help there.

I can't imagine it matters which kind you use for 50/50, I mean: I'm sure results will vary due to the quality of the final gumpaste, but that would be true regardless of whether it was premade or you made it yourself.

I use 50/50 with MMF and Wilton premade gumpaste, just because it's convenient and cheap and I don't make cakes often enough to invest in high-quality gumpaste. Theoretically I could even use Wilton fondant since it's firmer than MMF, since once I'm doing a 50/50 piece it's a given that it won't be eaten. For anything meant to be consumed i.e. I want it to stay soft, I try to go straight MMF but I hate modeling in straight MMF, it's so squishy.

For what it's worth, the 50/50 performed far superior than fondant+gumtex. You got a lot more stretch and it dries great, very sturdy.

I am going to check out Aine2's video though, she is my hero and I can't wait to see that tutorial.

i love to mix wilton premade fondant and wilton premade gumpaste ... it works beautifully for me.. i love nicholas lodge recipe for gumpaste also... that works beautifully too. i mix the wilton fondant and wilton gumpaste when i make animals, people etc.. hth i really don,t like the wilton gumpaste powder in the can... it makes different everytime you make it.. of course it depends on the weather, etc.

I have to second you on aine2 being your hero.. Her figures inspired me to start working with fondant. So far I have only worked with straight fondant, but I'm thinking of trying a mixture like hers (hopefully it will make the sculpting a bit easier). This is the pic of my second attempt at sculpting with fondant.

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1264489

Teena_Marie, that little witch+cupcake is sooo cute, I can't believe you got that to work for you with straight fondant. Try 50/50, you will really love it, it's just easier to use.

i am definately going to try a combo of the two. i will make sure to post picks when i do, maybe ill try tomorrow when im feeling a little less lazy.. lol

I totaly agree with ceshell. Aine2 is my hero as well. If it isn't for her I won't be making any figures at all.

Teena_Marie, I love that cupcake and the witch. That is so cute.

Pugmama1,
I too am new to gumpaste. I made it from scratch for the first time yesterday. It came out great. For me it was alot of kneeding though! Great to get the heart rate up. LOL I don't want to spend the money on glucose, so I use the corn syrup instead. As for the fondant I found a recipe on this site that says if you are using corn syrup use an extra tbsp. I tried it with the recipe that I use and it works wonderfully for me.
I am currentlly taking the Wilton gumpaste class and of course they want you to use the gum-tex. So far so good though!!! HTH

Thanks everybody! I think, since I have some fondant on hand, I will try the 50-50 with the pre-made gumpaste (coupon of course) and see what happens. It was great to get up this morning and see some replies so I can get started on this. Thanks so much!!!

That little witch is just adorable. Believe it or not, my hubby is the talented one with figures and I like the flowers. I use Rhonda's Ultimate recipe for fondant and for the figures and flowres, I add 1 tsp. Tylose to 12 oz. of fondant. It works so well for me that I stick with it.

I have a good tip for drying flowers. I have a stack of those round white plastic artists pallets that have a series of round indentions in them. These work really well for holding flowers to dry. They are really cheap and nothing sticks to them.
The other thing I like is those big, square open cardboard egg carriers. We have an Asian market that always has them. They hold 18 to 24 eggs and if you slice those points off at various heights, they are just great for drying different flowers. The bigger the flower you want to dry the deeper you slice off the points.