Okay, so I've got this pasta machine my mom bought for me many months ago. No, I haven't told her I haven't used it yet!

I guess I've just been kinda nervous to try it because I keep imagining putting fondant through it but nothing coming out!!

Can anyone give me a lesson on how to use this sucker? And how not to get your fondant stuck in it? Or am I worrying more than I need to?

Thanks for any help with this!

I would say dust it liberally with powdered sugar.........when you use dough in them you have to dust them good with flour. It's not going to roll it out for you to cover a cake with though....unless the width of the pasta machine is wider than the cake you're covering!

I've never used a manual roller before, so I can't help with the holding/turning part, but you'll want to roll your sugarpaste out thin enough so that you can get it started through the rollers - a sausage will just sit there on top of the rollers. Roll it a little less wide than the width of your rollers - the machines roll out the dough longer rather than wider. You'll end up with a piece not much wider than you started with but much longer. Start out with the rollers set as wide as possdible, and feed it through several times, adjusting the settings to thinner and thinner until you have the thickness you want. Clean/lube the rollers first with shortening on a paper towel held below the rollers while you turn the rollers. That way, the paper towel won't get pulled into the rollers. Dont use too much sugar or cornstarch. The shortening on the rollers will help prevent sticking and won't dry your paste out as rapidly. This method has worked for me...

I knead a chunk of fondant until it's pliable then flatten it out a little. Feed the disk of fondant thru the roller. As to how you roll and hold at the same time - practice. I fed the same piece of fondant through the roller time after time until I got the technique down.

I use a tiny bit of shortening to grease the roller and I also wipe the roller down occasionally (don't forget the underside) with a damp cloth because bits of fondant will get stuck and dry up and snag your fondant.

And what ibmoser said too.

Thanks for all the great advice...I'm glad somebody told me to flatten out the "sausage" first before trying to roll it out. I'm sure you can imaging what it would've looked like had I done this first without asking you guys! Thanks again! I'm going to give this a try this weekend hopefully.

They sell electric motors for the pasta machines which are a big help - you just turn the button on and let it do all the work - just hold the gumpaste or fondant with one hand to feed into the rollers and use the other hand to hold it as it comes out of the rollers. I love mine and it wasn't alot of $. I got mine on e-bay real cheap. I use it all the time to make my gumpast bows. See it in my pix. It makes a nice even width. Works great.