So I've seen a few ways of rolling out fondant as far as what is used underneath it to keep it from sticking on the counter.... so what is best?
I've seen powdered sugar, shortening and cornstarch....

I have a large piece of heavy plastic, they sell it by the yard for table covering at walmart.....if I am kneading and making mmf I use crisco..if I am rolling out for applying to a cake I use cornstarch and cs...if you use a clean stocking and put 50/50 corn starch and conf sugar, and dab your surface with the tied off stocking, it will be perfect

I am the odd one out here....I only use shortning to roll out big pices of fondant. I use the vinyl mat (from walmart as PP said) I lightly grease it with shortning - I warm my fondant up a tiny bit in the microwave first, then knead it on my vinyl mat - check to make sure there is still shortning on there before rolling it - then roll away! I then lift the entire mat up and turn it over to get the fondant on the cake. By using the shortning, the fondant never gets any dry dusty spots and it is always flawless.

Here is a pic of the last one I did (this past week):
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1467595

Ive tried greasing my counter with shortening when rolling out, but it always seems to stick because there is so much friction. Rolling it onto a rolling pin was difficult for me when I tried it. I can see how rolling it on a mat would be easier. Maybe Ill try that next time. I just flat out dont like using PS only because it makes such a mess in my kitchen. I hate that powdery dry look too. Loucinda, that cake is beautiful. May I ask where you found the isomalt? I havent been able to find it in my area, but maybe Im not looking in the right place.

Just dust your surface with powdered suger, and use parchement or wax paper on top and roll over that, just make sure the paper is smooth, unless you want a leather look to it. roll it onto the rolling pin just like that, and once you unroll it onto the cake, you just carefully peel off the paper. easy piesy

You put parchment on top of the sugar? What is the point of the sugar?

I use the sheet of vinyl too, it works great. I wipe my counter top down with a damp sponge and put the vinyl on top, it stays stuck to the counter and doesn't shift. I can also use the sheet to transfer the rolled fondant onto the cake.

I read a post recently where one CC'er had run out of Crisco and used spray canola oil and said it worked, I wanted to try that because I have a tendency to use too much Crisco. I zapped my MMF in the microwave for a few seconds, use the spray and it worked perfectly, it was a lot easier to get off my hands and my work area than Crisco too.

I think I will try the 50/50 method too when I'm working with smaller pieces.

I'm working with a large piece, its gotta cover 9x26x4.....

I would highly recommend the vinyl, it's about $5 a yard at Joanns and you can get any thickness you want. I got a pretty thick piece so that I could use cookie cutters, rotary cutters, etc. on it and not worry. Also the spray canola oil.

That is heck of a large piece of fondant hehe. If I were you, I'd dust my counter with a mixture of cornstarch and powdered sugar and then roll out a piece of fondant. I will then roll out the shorter side of fondant in my rolling pin and then unroll it to the cake.

For the ribbon on the brown bow cake in my pics, I had to roll a 48" by 2.5" piece!! I was real hapy I have my 6' stainless table for that one. I did like Rylan said for a piece like that, after getting it rolled out and cut, I just loosely started rolling it on itself - then unrolled it around the cake!

The Isomalt, I found 3 places that carry it - Sweet Expressions (Kathy Scot) Global sugar art, and Countrykitchensa dot com.