I am on the fast track to inpatient therapy!

I got my Cricut cake a few weeks ago. Played with it some, no success. read all the posts, advice, watched you tube videos, etc. No luck. Left it be for awhile (2 weeks). I decided to try again today. It should come with a bottle of Xanax.

I tried gumpaste regular, frozen for 30 minutes, air dried at 10, 20 and 30 minute intervals. I tried fondant, I even tried Kopykake frosting sheets (with the directions for their "frosting sheets").

The only thing i was successful with were a 3 inch simple border (yet it still "tore" and "ripped" the edges.. see pic) and a couple doilies, one out of frosting sheet (notice the oil lines in it, necessary to keep the sucker on the mat) and one out of gumpaste.. but still had the "torn" edges.

my measure for "success" was trying to do a "filagree". I did it about 50 times (no exageration), once or twice for each method with varying speeds and pressures. I cleaned the blade between each cut. I got this for the "detail work" capabilities. yet it scrunches up or crinkles...

All I have now is a Cricut mat with a lot of cut marks.

Anyone tried Sugar Veil? Does it cut or stay in place better?

I am really hoping I don't have a piece of $400 cr*p.

I do understand there is a learning curve. I do understand it takes lots of practice. I do understand how to use all the fore mentioned sugar mediums...

ANYONE THAT HAS GOTTEN THEIR CRICUT TO WORK PLEASE RESPOND!

Your Truly,

A Sugar artist on the edge...

PS, please note that I mean no offense to anyone with mental illness or in therapy. Just making a point.

No help here. Mine is still sitting in the box, unopened, sitting on my cake table. I'm surprised my hubby hasn't asked why I haven't tried it yet. I'm waiting for me to have time while he is gone for several hours so he can't see me struggle with it if I can't get it to work. I don't want an, I Told You So discussion!

anyone?????

Just from what I can see in your first picture, your fondant looks too thick. How thin are you rolling it?

Not able to help but look thru some other cricut posts usually you will find a pattern of people who have insite and pm one of them directly. Sometimes they are not on line when your post shows up and they do not see your post right away. I am sure they would be willing to help you thru this.

chefjulie... so thin you could see the lines thru it, to thicker...

I have had really good luck with my cricut cake! I roll my fondant out to about 1/8" then put it on the mat and roll it again. I can see the circles through the fondant/gumpaste. I don't freeze mine, but I do let it sit until it is firmer. Now, yesterday I did have a little trouble, because it was really hot and I didn't have the air in the house turned down very low, and the crisco was warm, so I mixed my fondant (fondarific) with gumpaste 50/50 -rolled it out on the mat and let it sit all night, then cut it this morning. It was perfect! I think you will be ok - if you roll it thinner, and let it sit longer. HTH

I have read posts where people said the fondant was shifting and bunching up and it came down to the amount of shortening on the mat. Someone said to use a pastry brush to put it on the mat. I do that and have had good luck with it.

I also roll mine thin enough that I can just about see through it, and mix my fondant with tylose powder to help the firmness. I only use Wilton fondant, and I have heard that people have different results with different fondant--I just can't speak to other kinds. The Wilton is generally more firm than the others I have tried.

I hope you have better luck with it! It is always possible that there is something wrong with your particular machine....

Linda McClure from deseret designs is giving a 4 hr class in DesMoines on 7/24 ($100) and a 2 day class in Omaha ($400) if you're interested. I don't remember the dates for the Omaha class but it's on their site.

She's also doing one in Kansas City on Aug 1st for the same price.

I also use a pastry brush to put Crisco on my mat, and I have used Wilton fondant alone and with tylose. Both worked without pulling

I was just telling my husband I might want a circut cake.....maybe I should wait it sounds like it would drive me insane.

Hi KakesbyKitty, I am also, no help. But, I did enjoy reading your post.

When all the buzz started about this decorating method I purchased Linda McClure's DVD, Creative Designs. Never even looked at it. But, an impluse buy of the DVD was a much cheaper lesson than the impluse buy of the cutter!

If you would like the dvd PM me your address and I will be happy to send it to you.

Hazel

KakesbyKitty, it will work out fine. Just don't give up. I had a hard time trying to find the right balance for it to work too. I have found the only thing that works for me is mixing Tylose Powder with Wilton fondant. I have tried other fondants and gumpastes to no success. Once I mix the Tylose and fondant together I let it set for a couple of minutes and then I roll it out really thin. And once I have put in the mat I let it dry. I hope this helps! Goodluck!

Don't give up. It is worth your patience. I guess I am one of the lucky ones. I watch You tube Videos, took class Demo's at our mini classes, so by the time I got mine, I was ready Set it up, used a box of fresh Wilton fondant to play with and it worked out perfect... I love this machine. I even now use Satin Ice and fondarific and have beautiful luck with my intricate cutouts. What I do, is roll it out thin, let it set up for about 5 to 10 minutes on the counter on the cutting sheet, that goes on the cricut, pick my designs, press button and watch the beautiful cuts happen. Also I use just a slight coating of crisco, not much, because that will cause it to move or slip on the mat , slightly. Also do a 2 on the cut speed and about medium on cut depth. I just did my first wedding cake this weekend with it and was it beautiful. Just stunning. I had so much fun working with the machine. So again don't give up, once you get the feel of the mediums, you will have a big smile on your face, promise. Good luck and Happy Cake Decorating.

Im there with you n will share the xanex!!!!! I cant get mine to work either.... I had a provo demo rep tell me I may have a faulty machine.....I dont know what to think other than Im out some bucks...... I did find you tube vids of linda mc clure saying that she rolls her very form gumpaste out to 1/16th of an inch, covers it with another plastic mat, sticks it in a ziplock bag over night and cuts the next day. I am going to give this a try at some point next week....Will let you know the results......

I do use a pastry brush.. wonder if I have too much or too little?

I ordered some sugarVeil to try it too

I did get some numbers to cut the first time i tried the machine (a few weeks ago) they are on the grad book cake in my photos... but it was the same thing, had to fix all the edges by hand.

what is tylose and what does it do?

I tried Wilton gumpaste and Satin ice fondant...

thoughts?

OK, so it's almost 1 a.m. but I read the post about adding Tylose and googled it... almost the same as gumtex... i have that!

I took a handful of satin ice fondant and kneaded in about a teaspoon of gumtex and it was soooooo much more doable. definitely not perfect yet, but getting there

i timed it out at cutting: immediately, 10 and 15 minutes. the 10 minutes seems to be best, and maybe will even try 5.

here's how it looked. still tears but at least it is working!

Although, now the silver carriage part (that holds the needle and goes back and forth) is rattling a bit... is that normal?

Ok - Progress!! The 15 min. one looks pretty good. I practiced so much when I first got mine I had to get a new mat before I made my first cake! Now I have 4 mats, roll out my fondant, let it sit and then cut! Once you get the feel of the fondant and how "dry" and thin it needs to be, you've got it made. I also found that if you do some intricate cuts, you may need to leave them on the mat to dry a little more before you move them. (or they can stretch out of shape)

Not sure about the rattling?.

Now i didn't read through all these posts and i don't have the cricut cake. I use the regular cricut to cut gumpaste and frosting sheets.

I just wanted to add that when i cut frosting sheets i use a sticky mat and leave the frosting sheet adhered to the backing it comes on. It will cut just like paper with out all the hassles i have been reading about.

Now mind you i haven't tried the cricut sheets just the kopy kake ones. But i don't see why the cricut sheets wouldn't work the same way.

peg818 that is genius! I may get a regular mat and try that too.

the pics i posted last night show that it definitely works, but i still had pulling and ragged edges. The gumtex was definitely an improvement..

But.... still NOT right

I will keep trying. Like someone just said, may need a new mat before I actually do a cake.

OH... I DREAMT/NIGHTMARED ABOUT IT LAST NIGHT... TOLD YOU INPATIENT THERAPY WAS COMING!!!!!

kakesbykitty: Just came home from inpatient therapy, Xanax bottle in hand . Your story mimicks mine to a tee! I am resound to the fact that I will be using my Cricut to just cut plastic stencils for royal icing designs or fondant cutouts via exacto knife. Which, as I figured it, evens out to about 10 Designer Stencil sets. Hubby threatened to hide my Cricut in our 50 acres if I didn't "just walk away" from it

Not all new technology is good. Maybe I'll take up scrapbooking...

I find it very amusing (in a sad way) that there were so many excited threads about the cake cricut before it came out, and now the fever has died down so fast. I guess it's not as easy as they made it out to be

thanks for the info on the classes....

I am far from giving up. I wondered a few years ago if a regular cricut would work for fondant and almost tried it then. I am sure I will eventually find the right texture and medium to get this to work.

Cricut has too many machines out there for them not to offer a solution or suggestion of some kind to make it work for everyone!

Kitty

PS... hubby made me walk away from mine yesterday too. but, after reading threads, later that evening, I played with it after midnight when he was in bed

can anyone say "0bsessed"?

I don't have Tylose, but I'm going to pick up some Gum Tex and a pasta machine and see if that helps my cuts at all. I've pretty much given up on the complicated filagrees. I don't think they will ever cut.