This is all so beautiful. Thank you so much for being so generous with your information. I spent hours reading through this thread yesterday and just had to try it. I'm too impatient to wait and order an impression mat so I am using plastic cutting boards (one has a bit of texture, one is smooth). I have a feeling though that I painted it on too thick, it's driving me crazy that I have to wait until tonight to see. At my kids' request, I colored the gelatin red and added red luster dust, the color looks great. I'm pretty sure that I will have to send Santa a link to the Cake Connection website
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i've used acetate sheets and have gotten good results.
it's like impressionist painting. you can also use glass that has texture or a pattern for a nice effect.
i love the look of a thicker gelatin as the color is bolder but sometimes it takes days to dry. if it's too thick, it's difficult to remove and has a rubbery texture.
Thanks for the advice, Loucinda, they are both FINALLY dry. The thin one was dry yesterday morning, but the thicker one was still tacky even yesterday afternoon. I checked again this morning and it had popped off on it's own (so cool ). I REALLY need to practice getting the consistancy even, but I'm excited that they are both dry and flexible. DogLady, I do like the darker color on the thick one for bows and maybe flowers and I think I would love the look of the thin one for insect wings and butterflies. One thing I learned is that if a cutting mat has even a slight knife mark in it that will show on the gelatin sheet, too bad b/c I really like the smooth texture on my flexible cutting mat.
OT, DogLady, I LOVE your black lab. We have a black and a chocolate lab, they are such amazingly kind dogs (esp. with my 2 yr old).
One thing that really helps with getting the whole thing the same thickness is to use the heating pad to put the mat on. That way the gelatin stays in a liquid state until you are completely done. That helped me a lot when I started using it.
Post some pics of the items you make with your sheets, I would love to see them!
I just ordered all the stuff to make the butterflies flowers and leaves I cant wait to try it... Any day now... 
Can you attach the gelatin to modeling chocolate by any chance? I'm going to try making a Tinkerbell out of modeling chocolate in a few weeks, and I thought the gelatin would make beautiful wings!
hello, i dont know what im doing wrong but it didnt work, it just dried away. Can you give me like the amount in tsp and amount of water. Thank you
Can you attach the gelatin to modeling chocolate by any chance? I'm going to try making a Tinkerbell out of modeling chocolate in a few weeks, and I thought the gelatin would make beautiful wings!
Great minds think alike, lol. I'm planning on doing the same thing for Tink for my Peter Pan Gingerbread project this year. I'm also using gelatin to make the windows on the Jolly Roger.
Last year the hard candy coating on my Emerald City melted away when the temperature was not controlled properly at the event. Not going to let that happen again! Florida humidity STINKS!
dogluvr
on their website:
http ://abc.eznettools.net/cakeconnection/index.html
under "gelatin book & supplies"
go to "book, tools & misc"
the bug body is listed there.
i have it and it works very well!
hth
Will the gelatin windows melt if you use them as windows on gingerbread houses? What would you use to glue the windows onto the gingerbread?
jam, Gelatin windows are used all the time for gingerbread houses. They are attached to the already baked gingerbread as part of the decorating. I just had never used the stuff before now. You can actually buy gelatin sheets already scored for window panes. But why pay that price when we can make them yourself! 
I am planning on gluing mine to the inside but I have seen where people glue them to a frame and then attach them to the outside.
I think I may have asked this months ago on this thread, but I can't find where I posted it! lol There are so many pages! I used this technique before to make the see through plastic on a bag of chips, and I had run into some problems, though I made it work.
I painted the gelatin on a silpat and it tries to separate from itself, leaving holes. I know some are using heating pads to keep it warm and I thought that may help, but it doesn't seem like it is just because of the gelatin setting up - it actually pulls away from spots on the sheet! I haven't had time to play with this technique, so I thought I'd ask if anyone has had this problem. It seems so easy, but I don't know why it is not cooperating!
I think I may have asked this months ago on this thread, but I can't find where I posted it! lol There are so many pages! I used this technique before to make the see through plastic on a bag of chips, and I had run into some problems, though I made it work.
I painted the gelatin on a silpat and it tries to separate from itself, leaving holes. I know some are using heating pads to keep it warm and I thought that may help, but it doesn't seem like it is just because of the gelatin setting up - it actually pulls away from spots on the sheet! I haven't had time to play with this technique, so I thought I'd ask if anyone has had this problem. It seems so easy, but I don't know why it is not cooperating!
I had that too. What I did was I painted it on, waited a minute or so, then did another layer. I think it had more to with te gelatin being too thin (and cooling down when I waited a few minutes) rather than the second layer.
HTH
That is what the problem is, your gelatin is too thin. It needs to be about the consistency of fingernail polish. The heating pad does help keep it a consistent thickness though - and I kind of keep an eye on it as I am painting it on the mat - you can see if it is going to want to try to make a hole as soon as it is brushed on. I just immediately add more gelatin to that area.
That is what the problem is, your gelatin is too thin. It needs to be about the consistency of fingernail polish. The heating pad does help keep it a consistent thickness though - and I kind of keep an eye on it as I am painting it on the mat - you can see if it is going to want to try to make a hole as soon as it is brushed on. I just immediately add more gelatin to that area.
Do you mean I need more gelatin and less water? I went by the recipe. I do think it was about the consistency of nail polish, it painted on easily though started setting up quickly - does it need to be warmer so it doesn't set up so fast? I'll have to do it again and check - it was late and I can't remember for sure. I still would like to know why in the world it was all deformed and not a flat sheet though!! lol
My experience has been that if you are painting it on something that is not stiff (rigid) it will tend to pull on the edges as it dries because it is actually shrinking while it dries. This is also why it pops off, all by itself, on a rigid mat. HTH
I wish I had one! (heating pad that is!) The first time I did this it was on a rigid cutting board, and I had the same problem and thought it was because of the mat - I guess maybe it's the consistency. I'm not sure what to do, I need a flat sheet and don't have a heating pad - could I put it on a warm stove? (being careful of course!)
I'm new to this forum but I wanted to say I just spent several hours reading this entire thread and I am absolutely going to try this!! I already talked to my husband and he's already telling me he won't be my guinea pig for this lol Good thing it's not 100% necessary that these gelatin figures be tasty!!
I am very excited to find this gelatin thread because I just made a homemade butter cream fondant cake for my niece and it was a huge success! I am fairly new to this so I am looking forward to trying new things and making beautiful cakes! If I had known about this site before I can only imagine the wonders I would have created!!
With Christmas coming I am looking forward to seeing pictures of everyone's work, I am so impressed with both the Cindy's will to go ahead and try it and figure it out!! I do talk to friends about baking and cake decorating but it's nice to get more than one point of view. I am so glad to have found somewhere that I can see others trial and error before I attempt any of these crazy and wonderful ideas myself!!
Thanks for existing!!
Hi, Ceeis
welcome to the wonderful world of gelatin 
I just love doing this. Believe it or not, I've made gelatin bows and put them on presents. People just get such a kick out of it.
You will just love it here at CC. everyone is so helpful and inspirational.
Be sure and post your pics 
Hi, Ceeis
welcome to the wonderful world of gelatin
I just love doing this. Believe it or not, I've made gelatin bows and put them on presents. People just get such a kick out of it.
You will just love it here at CC. everyone is so helpful and inspirational.
Be sure and post your pics
I have read about using them on gifts and that is such a cool idea!!
I am looking forward to learning and having a great time reading around the site. It's very cool that people post their pics too, I have some but I'm hesitant to post them as of yet. You guys and gals can call me Cee, everyone else does!! I just figured CeeisforCake would be a neat name for this sort of forum lol
For big pieces like that, I don't think it works too well. It wants to start shrinking as it dries. You can try it though and let us know how it worked out!
And welcome to you both to CC - like Nannie says, everyone has to start somewhere - absolutely post your pics!!
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