. I'm in trouble. I made a batch of Nicholas Lodge's gumpaste for a cake I'm making for a family party on Sat. My gum paste is dry and I've been neading it for an hour and have worked crisco into it but its not doing any good. It doesn't hold together. I don't have time to make another batch, my add ons won't harden in time if I don't do them tonight.

You might try heating it in the microwave and then continue to knead it.

Put it in a large zip loc bag and before you seal it, spray it with water. Then knead it in the bag until the water is worked in. It should soften up enough to use.

Since posting I've added a little glycerine and I've been adding crisco to my hands and kneading its starting to get workable but I'm concerned it will never dry out if I add too much.

you need to wait 24 hours for the tylose to properly activate. it seems dry and crumbly when you first make it but will be elastic and spongy the next day.

hope you were able to work with it!

Neither glycerine nor crisco contain water.

For "dry" crumbly gumpaste you need to add either plain water or egg white (also in the Lodge recipe).

Both glycerine and crisco prevent the paste from drying properly after you have shaped it.

No, no more crisco--that ruins Nick's gum paste recipe. It will never be right if you've kneaded in a lot of shortening!
Water is also not the answer--it creates sugar crystals.
Nuking it makes it initially pliable, but it cooks it and makes it quickly unworkable.

To moisten this recipe, you need to add in egg white, very small amounts at a time. I suggest doing this to 4 ounce balls of the gum paste as you go.

HTH
Rae

Yes, listen to Rae, add egg white.