I just got my KA roller today. I tried to make sure that I had cornstarch on my gumpaste, but now I have gumpaste stuck to the roller. Should I have used shortening? What do you do to keep yours from sticking to it? Now it makes everything else stick to it. AND...the first piece I put through over and over again, kept coming out with oil on it. I think it's not doing it anymore, but is this normal for the first time use?

Oh, and how do I get it off? Toothpick and fingernails aren't working too well....

TIA!!!

I just used a lot of powdered sugar and put it on with the brush that came with the rollers. I didn't have any problems. You may have to wait for the gumpaste to completely dry to get it off. I didn't have any oil coming off on my stuff......

Did you roll your gumpaste into a thin sheet before you fed it through the machine? Most problems like this result from the mistaken assumption that the pasta machine will magically transform a ball of gumpaste into a sheet of paper. It doesn't.

Try running a folded, damp paper towel through a few times to help dislodge the gumpaste. If your machine came with instructions for removing the roller for cleaning, try that.

It is normal for some black residue to come off during the first few uses. Roll a piece of scrap gumpaste or fondant through to clean the roller before you roll out the good stuff.

Edited to add: Don't use shortening. It will just attract dirt and gunk everything up.

i was told always to apply with a cloth towel... a little shortening.. and yes... to dust the g/p... i have always done this for 14 yrs.. after each use.. i dampen one end of the cloth.. have my paster roller on no.1... hold cloth under rollers.. not on top.. dry with the towel.. then put the shortening on one end litely and hold under rollers . never on top.. i turn the machine on low. with each of these methods. never have a problem.. so a damp cloth will take off the g.p that is stuck.. be sure to go under rollers. the dry.. then use shortening. i clean my after each use this way.. ready for the next time is use it. i learned this from rosemary watson some years ago.. hth

Well, there ya have it. Never use shortening and always use shortening. Aren't you glad we got that cleared up? LOL

Thank you all! I must admit, I only put the starch on the paste itself, not the roller, and yes, I started it in a ball. =( I'll try the damp papertowel to help clean it and follow all of your suggestions the best I can. I wish I would have inquired first. I'll let you know when I get it right. =)

I dust my gumpaste only. I've never applied anything to the roller itself. The way I see it, the roller needs to be as clean as possible.

To be perfectly honest, I don't clean my machine after each use because all that's on it is a little cornstarch. (I have a motorized pasta machine that I store in a box when not in use.)

I prefer corn starch to powdered sugar because corn starch makes stuff slippery. In my experience, powdered sugar tends to dry out the gumpaste.

This is what I do with my with my gumpaste.

Knead and warm up my gumpaste in my hand, then dab some cornstarch (I have my cornstarch in a CLEAN, NEW knee high tied shut - works great) on my counter and roll out the gumpaste fairly thin. Dab a LITTLE cornstarch on both sides, have my pasta roller set at 1 and feed it through. Then I move it up to 3 and feed it through and then to 5 as that is the number I used mostly.

You have to start at 1 and move up. You have to roll out your gumpaste first and you need to dust lightly with cornstarch to prevent sticking. Not a ton of cornstarch because if you see that you have cornstrach all over your rollers then you are using to much. I never have a problem. If the pasta roller does not want to accept your piece of gumpaste then you need to thin it some more. Do not apply the cornstarch directly to the rollers.

I do not use shortening as it just makes eveything greasy and messy and gums up the pasta rollers and you don't want all of that shortening in your gumpaste and all over your rollers.

To clean the pasta roller I remove the pasta roller from the KA and clean with the brush. If I have used the roller a lot I take a damp paper towel, fold it in half (this needs to be flat) and then turn the KA on low and run the damp paper towel thorugh several times and sometimes I run a dry sheet of paper towel through after the wet one.

DO NOT EVER try to wipe the rollers with a rag, towel, paper towel (damp or dry anything) as the rollers will grab the rag quick as a wink and you will have runied your pasta roller. No, this has not happened to me but I know of people that it has happened to and it "ain't pretty".

I have learned these techniques from Jennifer Dontz - Sugar Delites and Sharon Zambito - SugarShack - two of the best in the business.

This is little bit off the subject but I'm wanting to get a clay machine which to me it looks like a pasta machine can we use the clay machine for gumpaste and fondant too?
Plus do alot of you use them all the time?
Thanks for the input.

I use my pasta roller ALL the time. Making fondant ribbon, rolling it out for making roses, rolling it out for using tappits for letters... I couldn't live without it.

I do it the same as Peridot, but I do use a damp paper towel to clean my rollers, but I never run it through the rollers. If you want to clean it from teh top, crank it in reverse and wipe back and forth... if you want to clean the underside crank it in forward and wipe it the same way. You want to make sure that there is no way for the paper to go through the rollers because if it's too thick, you will bust the motor since the towels can't thin out like the gumpaste/fondant can.

I used to use shortening, but it causes more problems than it helps, so just a little corn starch. Powdered sugar can make things sticky and it's just sugar with cornstarch, so I skip the sticky sugar part and just go with the corn starch... same thing when rolling out fondant.

Thank you again everyone! The damp paper towel cleaned it beautifully! And I tried again with just the cornstarch and powdered sugar and it didn't work very well. I did put a bit of shortening on my fingers and worked the fondant and it went through very well!

Thank you thank you!

I went to go get one at Micheals but the box of the machine said not recommend for food the ony ones they have is called clay roller they look just like the pasta machines.
so my question is does anybody have one and use it for the gumpaste/fondant to make flowers, ribbons,etc.?
thanks

I bought one and it works fine for fondant and gumpaste. I have only used it for this and cleaned it really well when I got it so I am not sure why it is not okay for this application.

Thanks to greengyrl26 and Donnagardner, I would love to get the pasta roller attachment but right now it's on my wish list. that is why I was asking about the clay machine because I saw it at Micheals. but at lest I know if I go that way it can work for gum paste and fondant
But maybe down the road I'll just have to get the Cake Cricut when the ship comes in!! lol