I have a situation and I'm hoping for a bit of guidance from some gum paste pros :).

I've made NL gum paste several times and absolutely love it.  No problems.  However, I made a batch a couple of days ago and I think I made a big boo-boo.  I used liquid egg whites because I had some left over, and thought, "Hey, why not...I mean, it's egg whites, right???"  WRONG.

They made the mixture way too wet and loose, and I had to add a lot of extra powdered sugar just to get soft peaks before adding my tylose.  Like, 2 cups extra.  So I kneaded it out, added a bit more PS, and thought it was OK.  Double-wrapped it and let it sit in the fridge overnight, as usual.

I've found that it's still way too sticky and soft.  Sticking to every cutter, sticking to my Cel board, etc.

I've kneaded in a bit more PS a little at the time, but now I'm having other issues.  It's drying out way too quickly.  I barely have time to ruffle, thin, or frill before the edges start cracking.  DANG IT.

So anyway, just wondering if I need to try working with it a bit softer so it won't dry out so fast.  Maybe knead in a bit of water???

This is a massive batch of GP (just got in a TON of new cutters I want to try--yippee), so there's no way I'm tossing it out.  

Again, just wondering if any of you have any thoughts on how to rescue this batch.

Note to self--ONLY USE REAL EGG WHITES FROM NOW ON lol.  TIA!

Hi - I did the same. My paste is sooo sticky that I cannot use it. Very frustrating. I'm going to dump it and start from scratch . I think we really have to use real egg white ... I guess we learned the lesson. 

I searched the Internet a bit and I found a Nicolas Lodge Video how to make his Gumpaste.

There is also his recipe printed with some other options. I just remade the Gumpaste based on those instructions and it come out beautiful . You can find it on Craftys.com

Hope this helps.

It would be a shame to toss your gumpaste , use it for rose, peony, magnolia centres and  also you might be able to use it for orchid centres. If you made a lot of the gumpaste divide them into smaller packs, wrap well, place in ziplock bags and freeze for future flower centres. I think you will not be able to salvage it for flowers, it is not worth the aggravation.  

Thanks for the replies :).  I'm happy to say that I did manage to repair it to some extent.  I kneaded in a bit of MMF until it felt more workable, and just experimented with working it and seeing how long before it started to dry out.  I think I may have hit the magic spot, because I've used it so far for rose leaves and a simple 5 petal blossom, and it seems to be working out great!  Whew...hated the idea of having to scrap it.

And great idea about using it for centers.  Never even thought of that, but I guarantee I'll keep that in mind for future reference.  Thanks!

while your gumpaste was too sticky, my was too dry, each time i added shortening it became too sticky and kept sticking to my board, when i did not add shortening it crumpled and i could not roll it out...any help on what to do???  I am trying to make flowers and wanted thin petals

This is how dry it it when I start kneading it, its dry and crumbly, 

I added egg whites and it became too sticky, I added Veg Shortening too but no luck 

can any one help me plz 

I was planning to make a peony and I wanted to try  Nicolas Lodge's gumpaste because of how thin the petal roll out but I am having super bad luck!!! any one some1 help me please...

I  think you might have added too much icing sugar or a little too much tylose. I have found that there is such a variation in amount of egg white in each egg that I end up not using quite a bit of the measured sugar. So once you break up the egg white,  add the sugar holding back a cup or so, keep beating,  'til  fairly stiff and shiny peaks only then add the measured out tylose. Beat only for a few seconds. You will find that after adding tylose the paste suddenly becomes stiff. Turn out onto to a board with a little icing sugar, grease your hands only and knead the paste. Stick two of your fingers in your paste and when you pull out it shouldn't feel sticky or pinch the paste and your thumb and finger should't feel sticky. If sticky add a little more icing sugar on your board, grease your hands again and knead. Keep doing this until paste is not sticky.

Then wrap well and let mature overnight. When you add too much shortening to paste that is already gone hard it just makes it oily. HTH.

Bumping this because I've tried 3 batches yesterday and I need help please!

I am not sure why this is happening, you might be adding too much tylose. Shortening should not be too much either just a tad to keep your hands from sticking.

I suggest you should try another batch maybe just half recipe and leave your paste softer.

You could leave it out to mature.

But keep in mind to knead only small amounts before using, pull and stretch to make pliable.

Once kneaded keep airtight or it will go rock hard. HTH.

There is a link on you tube by Edna la cruz where she walks you through making the paste.