Ok so I took the drive and bought a cricut and videos but I can not get the stupid thing to cut right. Linda makes it look so easy but all my pieces are looking horrible. Can any one help me? My pieces are coming out ragged no matter the pressure speed blade depth or length of line I let the gum paste set out and the blade is getting clogged after every cut. please help Im just sick at how much this machine was and I cant get it to work at all.
Thanks

Do you have the deep cut blade and housing? Are you letting the gumpaste dry a bit prior to cuttings? Do you have the speed of cutting on the lowest speed available?

I was thinking did you have the blue blade on?

I have the same problem. My CRICUT has set here since the day after I got it, because I can't seem to get it to cut any gumpaste nicely. It's ragged, or makes a mess of the paste! I use the deep cut blade and have played with every setting of pressure, depth, speed, etc! I'm frustrated with it as well!

I haven't tried mine yet (have only played on paper so far), but have you tried letting the gumpaste dry for just a few minutes first?

Hi! I use the cricut and I do fine with gumpaste but I like fondant better. I roll out the gumpaste or fondant and place it on the mat the day before I cut it. I just store the GP in a 2 gallon storage bag over night. I use the deep cut blade with the speed on medium and the pressure on 5. HTH

I have the deep blade and i used like all the settings. I rolled my gumpaste super thin. I dont have a pasta roller. I know everyone says you need one but all this stuff is really adding up. I rolled it out to the point you could start to see the lines on the mat through the paste. Now I'm thinking that my gum paste may be crappy. I live in a SMALL little town and the only option I have is to buy Wilton brand or order off line. I ordered gum paste powder through decopac because it was so much cheaper. They said that it worked great and all you do is add water. Sounded easy I'm not so sure that its that "great". Can you use Wilton brand? I have a huge wedding show coming up and I really want to use this thing to make some cakes. No one in this area uses one YET. i wanted to really get going on it before it catches on here.

can you use wilton brand gum paste? I cant get my hands on tylose powder right now no one sells it here.

I've had my cricut and videp since sept. last year and I just am getting the swing of the SCAL I have yet to try cutting (I have the stuff to do it). I'm afraid to try it but I have to now that I see cricut is selling the machine and the word is out BIG TIME here. Wish me luck I'm trying the fondant or gumpaste this weekend. And YES this stuff adds up. People wonder why cakes cost what they do, they are not only paying for the ingredients, but think of all this added cost we have. I want a fondant sheeter like on TV hahahahahaha I can't get any homemade fondant to work right and to buy it and ship it you have to be a millionaire here. Oh the good news I FINALLY got ok'ed for a sign in my yard last night , had to go before my town trustee board to get it. I wanted a 4x8 we live highway and people fly by , but they said 2x3 is what's allowed and we compromised on a 3x5. Hope this brings in some much needed business!!!!

I have the best luck with wilton fondant in my cricut. I have the cheapest machine with the deep housing blade. I was afraid to invest in the expressions and not use it. I'm still getting the hang of it, and i have found that i have to clean the blade often through the cutting process. Oh i do roll through a pasta machine, it gives me a consistent depth that i'm unable to achieve with out it.

Hi... Just saw a demo with Jennifer Atwood... they develop their own gumpaste recipe because of some people having the same problem... she will share her recipe if you register to her blog/newsletter...

HTH

dalis4joe..........................would you share the web site address? Thanks

Hi.... I sure will... here you go... they are already using the cake cricut and are doing seminars on it throughout the US.... HTH!
http://www.cuttingedgecakeart.com/index.php

Someone here on cc tried putting the fondant/gumpaste in the freezer for a couple of minutes before putting it throught the cricut. I tried it and it was the first time I was able to make a cut after several very frustrating attempts. I couln't believe it, I didn't think I would ever get fondant to cut properly and also felt I had wasted so much money purchasing the criute. Might be worth a try.

Sweet Southern Ladies teach Cricut classes and roll out all of their gumpaste WAY in advance, put the sheets on flexible cutting boards like you get at the Dollar Store and freeze them. The ones we used had been out of the freezer for several days (at the very least) and they worked fine. I really think that the gumpaste you are using is one of the main components. Martha and Becky use Linda McClure's gumpaste and they swear by it, but you would have to purchase it. I doubt that she is passing out the recipe.

Linda's recipe is included in her first dvd. Maybe the second too , but I only have the first one.

Good morning everyone - please excuse Jennifer and my extended absence from the board as we went to the National Capital Area Cake Show in Virginia and then to the American Bakery Expo 2010 in Atlantic City.

I already sent rachpizano a message to try and help her. As far as the gum paste recipe is concerned, the recipe Jenn and I use is very close to the one the Sweet Southern Ladies use - we had to modify it a bit to suit our needs.

I personally never liked putting the GP in the freezer, but it seems to work for some people. My problem with having to put them in the freezer for several days is what happens if you need them for a cake now? That's why we always stayed away from the freezer ...

We offer hands on classes in several cities across the United States and are working on more of them.

Tobias

I just bought the basic Cricut, but wonder if it's going to be a good thing. Are there cartridges available for it that have cake-compatible designs? I see there's now a "Cake Cricut" that's billed as being "food safe" and "without ink". The inference is that the regular Cricut isn't food safe. Anyone know? I'm definitely not going to pay $399 for the cake one. I use Nic Lodge's GP recipe. Anyone know how that works in the Cricut? If not, can you post a good recipe? Also, can you recommend a cartridge that does nice, "scroll-y" designs that would be good on a wedding cake? I have to say I'm a bit opposed to the whole thing. I prefer to be more "hands on".

in my experience, which is pretty basic, it sounds like the fondant or gumpaste is too soft... the quick and easy test is to take a piece and add more icing sugar to it .... kneed it in and then roll out and try again - remembering to leave it dry for 3-5 min on mat before cutting... my fondant/gumpaste is not very pliable before I put it into the pasta machine to roll out and it works well....

Nicholas Lodge GP recipe works GREAT!! Just rolled it as thin as you can so you can see the mat's lines. Let it dry a few minutes. Slow speed, med pressure, and if you see a jagged edge flip it. If you need the piece to be as it comes out, (letters for example), use the "flip it" button. Pick up any gum-paste left and roll it again. Each time it looses more moisture and gets better to use on the cricut!

Ck our results here:
http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1877404&done=2

Cake Central deleted the photo because they do not have a cricut album unless it is on a cake!
Here are the results:

daliluscricut.shutterfly.com / pictures / 8 (without the spaces between the slashes)