Hi everyone,

if somebody could help me with these I'll appreciate it.
Yesterday I made some stars and a moon on a stick on MMF. I had also made a baby and a teddy bear, but the problem is that the MMF is not getting hard. It is still very soft, so at this point I'm still not able to lift the stars because they bend. I still have them on a flat surface waiting to get hard. The same w/ the baby and the teddy bear.

Any suggestions?

thank you
Maria

I always add tylose to my fondant (I use regular fondant, not mm) when I make anything out of it.. It helps to speed up the drying process. Isn't it raining in Calif?? The humidity in the air may be keeping it from drying. The would suggest sticking them in your oven with the light on and see if that helps.

You can also try putting them in the refrigerator. the cold is drying,too

Humidity plays a big factor. Noticed it between the last 2 times I played with MMF. I tried making a ribbon bow about a month ago and it was humid out and nothing really wanted to dry. I put a fan on them and they dried out somewhat. I made MMF flowers about 2 weeks ago when we had a heat spell and those dried like none other.

Fondant, especially marshmallow fondant, is not the best medium for this kind of decoration. It would be fine it the decorations were just to lay flat on the cake, but not for what you are doing. I find that the Wilton fondant is a bit better because there is a hardening agent in it. But you are best off adding a hardening agent like tylose or gum-tex powder to your decorations, or better still making them from gumpaste. Or, 1/3 to 1/2 prepared gumpaste to the fondant. Or even better, using molds and candy melts or chocolate that will truly harden up and still be edible.
Fondant wasn't designed for this kind of work, even though we push the limits with it. I find marshmallow fondant even less suited to it than regular fondant. But the thing is, fondant works best for thinner more delicate decorations like roses and such. The thicker and larger the decoration, the more problems. Standing decorations up vertically, even more of a problem.
Hugs Squirrelly

You said a mouthful! Thanks for the explanation. It probably would have taken another year to figure all that out on my own. I liked making mmf roses and cutouts. I didn't want to add tylose or whatever to the fondant as I think that defeats the purpose of edible decorations. I think I will give the candymelts a try.

Are the Wilton candymelts worth buying? Meaning: do they taste and smell like chemicals?

Can't help you there, I can purchase Merckens cheaper than Wilton, so I don't know what the Wilton ones taste like. I buy Neilson chocolate ones for the chocolate, but they are only available in Canada.
Sorry!
Hugs SQuirrelly

my mmf decorations always dry hard in about 2-3 days...and if i leave them longer..like my roses i've had for about 6 months, they are like ceramic now...i love it

I agree Cakefairy18 about roses and thinner decorations, just not stand up big figurines that are unsupported standing up on a buttercream cake and such.
Hugs SQuirrelly

All this information is very helpful, I did a standed up fondant helmet (whit gum tex added) and it was A HELL!, finally it was ok, but oh my God.
Can somebody give me a recipe for make just little amounts of gumpaste?? Thanks

In toba garretts book she said the easiest way to make gumpaste is use a batch of fondant and add 1 tsp of Tylose to it and VOILA you have gumpaste. I haven't tried it though.

I made the recipe of Nicholas Lodge's website and used their CK Tylose and it came out but it was sooo tough, I mean like it was hard for me to use by hand, took a lot of elbow grease to manipulate it, so I then mixed it 1/2 and 1/2 with MMF fondant and it came out PERFECT like playdoh that sets up and holds shape. I'm really happy with it.