I'm moulding fruits for as a cake topper in marzipan but I'm finding that they don't dry hard (like gumpaste) and are sticky on the hands. Even after colouring them they remain that way. Is there anyway to prevent this? Is there any technique for drying them even to a semi-hard state?

i find ps better than crisco for handling. you need to keep your hands as clean and dry as possible or it just gets worse.
eventually they do start to set up a bit, i did a lot of bits at christmas, tat were about for a week or two, but i think they were still very soft inside.
i have mixed it with fondant so its a bit easier (more familiar?) to work with, maybe a bit of gumpaste would help it to dry better for you?
xx

They do stay a little soft. You can glaze them with a mix of powdered sugar and vodka to give them a harder outside...try it on one first and see if you like the finish when it's dry, before you do them all that way.

I usually make my marzipan with a lot of rum and amaretto in it, so that it does dry, more than marzipan that's just made with almond meal, PS and corn syrup.

Thanks a lot for your replies I will try the suggestions. By the way, I'm not sure what PS (the abbrev.) stands for? Let me know, please. Thanks again.

Sorry...it's powdered sugar. A lot of the popular abbreviations here, if you hold your mouse pointer over the abbreviation, a little caption will pop up that tells what it stands for...just in case you run into others that aren't familiar.

I tried pointing the mouse and it does work! Thanks a mil again.