think it may have been my post? i did those stars with gumpaste the night before, first i took the wire, bent a small hook at one end, dipped it in a mixture of water and meringue powder (edible glue) then while the gumpaste was still pliable, (cut out and rested for a minute or so to slightly hold its shape) i kept the shape on the flat surface and gently pushed the wire into the gumpaste. then i gently lifted them and poked the bottom of the wire into an upside down egg carton to dry upright.(the foam kind) or if you happen to have a foam block, great....they were very thin so they dried by the next day easily.

for fondant, give yourself at least a week depending on the thickness of your decorations, but it does take much longer for them to harden. but i believe you will need to insert your wires while it is still pliable, not wait till they dry.

to avoid the heavier decorations sagging, try putting your wires into a piece of straw or flower spike filled with royal icing or fondant so they dont pull down on the cake.

yes, gumpaste is edible, but i'd have no desire to eat it simply because i think its hard and smells like vinegar (although it tastes sweet) . i think its more decorative, but SAFE to eat it someone feels bizarre enough to do so.

never done a mix of 50/50, but from what i gather here, it is if you want to use fondant for better flavor, the half gumpaste simply helps speed the drying time as well as making it more stable. i think this is more along the lines of modeling not really simple cut outs. but then again, i wouldnt know because i've not tried it, only read about it on here.

if you are adding accents to the sides of a cake (like circles for example)

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=coppermine&file=displayimage&meta=allby&uname=melysa&cat=0&pos=19

i would say just use straight fondant that has not dried. if your buttercream has dried or if you are attaching flat fondant to fondant, just brush the underside with a LITTLE water and it will stick. to cover a cake, i try to roll it 1/4" thick and for decorations, about 1/8 thick. for the shaped decorations like the white daisies that i put on the above cake, i dried them for a week, they were fondant, hardened and i attached them with royal icing.

to dry the fondant...you could lay them on parchment or wax paper, i've even used plastic wrap. you could lay them on a layer of cornstarch (but then you may have a little white dust on them). just flip them over halfway through drying time to so the underside gets air. never put mmf in the oven to speed up drying time, it will melt- as they are marshmallows.

i think that if colored gumpaste is exposed to a lot of light over time it may start to lose its color. i have heard that here but dont know from my own experience because i tend to use them not too long after they are made. for drying my stars on the new years cake, after attaching to the wires, i poked the wires into an upside down clean egg carton and they dried upright.

the only experience i've had with wires is the new years cake so i dont know about using different sizes (from experience). but i would think that it would look best to have a uniform look by using the same size in each cake. i guess it all depends on the look you are going for.

i hope that this helps you out. i am still learning myself!

now i get what you mean about the nesting cutters (one small heart, medium heart, large heart , etc.) my stars were the smallest of the cutters, i tried a medium heart on the 26 gage wire and it seemed too heavy so i didnt use it.


where i put my straw, i already had a hole from pushing a dowel through my entire cake to make it stable. if you didnt have this situation, yes your straw may have cake in it and i imagine it should hold the wires in. in that case, you may not need the royal icing. no the icing does not seep into the cake, it is like pouring cement into a mold. sorry to confuse you- this was my first experience too.