Are these essentially the same? I'm thinking about making a bow and have seen many beautiful ones in the galleries. Some say gumpaste and others say fondant. Is there a difference? Is one easier to work with than the other? Taste difference?
I make all my bows with gumpaste... I don't trust the fondant (I use Satin Ice) unless I put some tylose in it. Also, I like to roll my gumpaste thin to get realistic looking bows. You can't really do that with fondant. People don't eat the bows I make. They are purely for decoration.
Still not sure what gumpaste is. Do you make it from a recipe like fondant or do you buy it ready to use?
Gumpaste is usually not meant to be eaten. I'm sure there's a recipe on here for it if you do a search. I usually buy the powdered mix made by Wilton. You just add water and powdered sugar. It dries out pretty quick, so you need to keep it covered when not in use. If you want fondant or MMF to harden faster you can add gumtex, tylose or even powdered fixodent (tip from SquirrellyCakes). Since bows ususally aren't eaten, just find a medium that you like to use. I actually like to mix MMF with gumpaste.
If you add gum tragananth to any kind of fondant, it will strengthen it for modelling work and it can be eaten - but for really edible flowers I'd use a nice stiff buttercream or royal icing myself!
It's non-toxic, so it can go in your mouth. Denture wearers do it all the time, right. But just like gumpaste, it gets hard, so I wouldn't want to eat it anyway. It works well in a fix, no pun intended! Sometimes I can't get gumtex or tylose in my area, but fixodent is readily available. It was a great tip from SquirrellyCakes. Use about 1 tsp of POWDERED fixodent to a wad of MMF/fondant the size of a baseball. I've got a few pics in my photos where I used it: The robot monkey's extremities, Tink's wings, The Holy Grail cross, and the rays on the sun. It's something to try...
That's an interesting thought Kittiskakes! Not sure you can get powdered fixodent here though, just the stuff in a tube like toothpaste (which would have a minty flavour to it - eeeeewwwww!).
Yeah, it's not meant for eating! But you get a nice minty smell!!! LOL 
. It does have to be the powdered stuff though.
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