Hi everyone

This is my first time posting for help so i hope i am doing it right. I need to make gumpaste people for an upcoming wedding cake. I have made animals and stuff but when i tried to make strawberry shortcake figure she sank over night and got fat... i have this problem every time.. my figured get fat!! I use gumpaste. How do i make people not get fat?? is there any tutorials out there? I have attached a photo of the people i need to make they will be sitting over the edge as the cake topper...please help!!!

Do you put anything in the middle of them to offer support for example a cocktail stick?

I have tried bunching toothbicks, but when i leave them to harden i come back and they have sunk down... even my animals do it when i leave them? whats going on am i doing something wrong?? check out my website www.pattiscustomcakes.weebly.com in my photo is a photo of some animals and a person i did...there fat!

Patti - your animal figures all look great to me! Maybe if you are in a humid climate it may make it more difficult to dry (?)

Are you leaving them on a cake? buttercream will soften them, add some tylose to your gumpaste perhaps your weather where you live is a factor. If they are sitting on buttercream a long period that will cause them to droop. HTH's

Chippi

I usually make my people with fondant and add Tylose powder to it, to help with the hardening. It's not soft and sticky while working with it. And it gets hard like gum paste. I never had a sinking problem, although when I use marzipan for figures that tends to sink as it's softer. But I lay them on rounded or soft pad so they don't get flat.
If your figures are bigger and work with gum paste you might just wanna stick 'em to hold them up. GL!

I think you are knocking yourself too much. Those figures are well cute! You should be happy with them. At the end of the day they are characatures, not an exact copy, and for that they are an excellent job. You shouldn't need to bunch toothpicks, just one through the middle.

I live in bc, so the weather is not to hot... and i use fondant... so i dont know what the problem is!! Im going to try using some dowels maybe?

what gumpaste do you use?

Your problem is that the gumpaste that your putting on top (like the head) is too heavy to support a soft gumpaste on the bottom. I suggest making the body and letting it harden with a toothpick sticking out and then add the head. You can also use a mix of 50% fondant and 50% gumpaste.

Thats what i did with my srawberry shortcake figure, i let it dry separate and than put it on after, but while it was drying the body went fat...

I also had a sinking gumpaste body problem. I use 1/2 gumpaste and 1/2 fondant. I make the body with a skewer inserted and let dry, then add the head and let dry, then the arms and legs. It's a long process, but happy to say no more sinking or fat bodies!!!

Thank you everyone for your advise

What about letting them dry laying down, on a piece of foam that will support the shape with out making the back go flat.

I took two classes with Lorraine McKay, the queen of figurines and have since started using fondant with tylose instead of gumpaste and haven't had a sinking problem since. I shape the body and let it dry while I"m working on the head. you can even add the head after the body has dried overnight. I would recommend going to her website, she has a ton of tutorials on there.