Hi,
I'm really new at this, so I would love a little help from you.
I am planning to do a Bear in the Big Blue House cake for my daugther's 2nd birthday... I was thinking about making the little guys and the blue house with fondant, but everytime I start sculping it seems like the fondant doesn't hold its shape, the figures start to "get fatter" like the dough is too soft for 3d figures..
I saw that gumpaste would be better for this kind of work, but the thing is I live in Brazil, and I don't know what tylose is, so is there any other recipe or anything I could substitute it for making the gumpaste?
Also, what is knox gelatin, an ingredient needed at the pastillage recipe, and would this, the pastillage, be better for sculpting 3d figures?
thanks

I can't help much but here is a bump. And welcome to CC

I don't have the answers to the gumpaste/pastillage questions, but I have read on here that some CC members will add fixodent to their fondant to get it to dry quicker for figurines/molded items. Don't know if you have this stuff there, so I am including a link so you can see what it is. Jen

http://www.fixodent.com/productsAdhesiveCreams.jsp

Edited to add...the CC members who used this, said they used the powder form, not the cream.

Is this the same as corega?? to keep dentures os place??

I believe that it is the same. fixodent is a brand of denture adhesive that comes in powder or cream form here in the US. I just got dentures a year ago so I'm learning more about the stuff than I care to. Fixodent has a light taste to it, although it does taste like dentist stuff and it will nauseate you if you swallow too much of it. Would not recommend consuming anything made with it. I used to put too much adhesive on mine and would end up swallowing it unintentionally and everytime I'd end up nauseated. I'm glad to know that you can use it to make gum paste though cause I always have it on hand, LOL.

You should use a mixture of half fondant and half gumpaste. Start from the feet and go up. Let the feet and legs dry a bit before moving on. You should also insert toothpicks (or dry spaghetti) for support. The toothpicks should stick out a little to give you something to attach the next piece to and offers support.
Pastillage is good for constructing houses and such, but not good for figure modeling, it dries way too fast. Knox gelatin is a brand of gelatin here in the States.

I love Bear in the Big Blue house. I would love to see the finished project when you are done with it. I found it very funny that people have put fixodent in there fondant.

Yes, fondant is too soft for 3d models. As you've read, you can turn it into gumpaste by adding either tylose or gum traganath (spelling?). If you can't source these locally, you can order them over the internet. I have also bought 'mexican modelling paste' from a website in the UK (almondart) - it's really nice for modelling.

Adding fixodent to the fondant could work.

Pastillage sets very quickly and so is difficult to sculpt. It's good for making structures like houses because it sets very hard and you should have enough time to roll it out and cut it.

Regards,
Cris.

I was wondering what is pastillage?

Pastillage is usually made with gelatin and it dries super hard. It forms a crust really quickly...so maybe not the best for figures but it's good for large pieces.

What about using modeling chocolate for figures? I had some on hand so I tried it for a knight figure I made recently and I really liked working with it.

Courtney

Really? So you think that chocolate can work? I was thinking that I would have the same problem that I have with fondant... Yesterday I tried one recipe called milk marzipan which included evaporated milk, glucose, sugar and powder milk, it was a disaster, much much more soft than fondant. I was thinking about trying marzipan...

Modeling chocolate is definitely not soft once it's set. It can melt a little if you work with it for too long, but you can cool off your hands or let it rest for a few minutes to let it harden up a bit.

Courtney