I add a tablespoon of glycerine to my MMF. I live in a dessert zone and haven't had any trouble.
Recently I was laying a piece of MMF over a board coated with piping gel and I got it on crooked, so I scraped it off and went ahead and kneaded it again with the piping gel and it came out wonderful! So great that I want to experiment with adding piping gel to my MMF instead glycerine.
I use a lot of toothpicks and gumpaste glue when I make figures to be sure they don't fall apart -- and I use 50/50 gumpaste and MMF.
More AWESOME ideas!!! You guys rock!! I wish I could give out a bunch of hugs right now!!! 
Is'nt strange how some of your best ideas/recipies totally come from chance/accident??? I love that! Thanks again!
First of all....let's look at the positive!!! You live where there is no humidity so you probably have a great hairstyle!!!! I live in New Orleans so it tends for a lot of bad hair days!!!!
Try adding crisco!!!! This should really help make them soft!!!
OMG!!! Too funny!! 
and I do have natually curly hair, so that would be quite a frightening sight to see...let me tell ya!! 
I don't have any fabulous ideas for you that weren't already mentioned.
I just wanted to tell you that I too have felt like giving up on many occasions! Take a break if you need to, but don't give up, it happened to everyone I promise!
Thank you so much for the vote of confidence and support....it feels soo good to have somewhere to go where everyone understands how you feel! I wish there was a forum like this for all of life's issues!!! The world would be such a better place!
I can so relate! I have the oposite problem with to much humidity. I just posted my frustration about my stuff basically melting and them saw your post!
I plan to keep trying ways to compensate, I so want to create beautiful flowers!
Liz
Awww...well I'll be rooting for you as well...we will figure it out!! I want to get to the point where I can make awesome flowers too, so we have to just keep trucking along!!! 
Hi Jhanssen, I live in Ft. Collins too. I know what you mean about the dryness here and working with fondant/gumpaste. I found that adding shortening is really the best way to go. I just keep adding it to my hands as I'm working with the figurines. I have even taken some shortening and just smoothed it over the dry spots, lightly rubbing it in until it smooths out. I love making things out of fondant because my hands get so soft from all the crisco I use on them. LOL Don't get discouraged! And don't put so much pressure on yourself about this. I'm sure your daughter was happy that you tried to do something extra special for her cake! And I bet it was delicious!
Fort Collins too?? Really??? Well it's about time!!! I'm gonna have to take a look at your Gallery and check out my competition !!! She was very happy of course, and I always put a lot of time and energy into making sure my cakes taste good as well, so at least I found comfort in that part!! Nice to know I have a neighbor here now!!!
My figures actually start out ok, but by the time I am done assembing them, I can already notice some hairline fractures... which grow and grow! My people end up looking like they have spent waaayyyy to much time in the sun!!! Only they are still white
! Hehehehe... maybe you need to start painting them bronze and selling your cakes to people who tan too much!
You definitely want to assemble while it's still wet and at it's most supple. Keep adding more Crisco as needed, and definitely consider another small humidifier for your workspace. Try not airdrying them as much also. And I absolutely stand behind the liberal use of alcohol in your modelling. I can't guarantee it will improve your results, but it will make you appreciate the humor of it all!
Well....I may have had to make a trip to the local liquor store for some more "cake decorating supplies" But you are right....I bet I would have thought they were AMAZING but the end of the night....and since it was a mermaid cake, I could have always went with the explanantion that she was the victim of a shark attack!! 
Macsmaom is onto something with the piping gel. I took a class with Earlene Moore and she was a strong advocate of kneading piping gel into fondant and gumpaste that didn't have good consistency. I find this to be a messy process, so I put some Crisco on my hands and add just a little piping gel at a time until I get a consistency I like.
Also, I use Nick Lodge's recipe for gumpaste and use a bit less powdered sugar. Then, I often add about 1 part Satinice or Pettinice ready-made gumpaste (not fondant) to 2 parts of the homemade. Nick's recipe dries a little too quickly for me, and the ready-made ones NEVER dry, so the combination of the two together seems to give more workability. The recipe is on Nick's website: http://www.nicholaslodge.com/gumpaste.htm
Hope some of this works. Don't give up. Keep trying thingsintil you find something that works for you!
Macsmaom is onto something with the piping gel. I took a class with Earlene Moore and she was a strong advocate of kneading piping gel into fondant and gumpaste that didn't have good consistency. I find this to be a messy process, so I put some Crisco on my hands and add just a little piping gel at a time until I get a consistency I like.
Also, I use Nick Lodge's recipe for gumpaste and use a bit less powdered sugar. Then, I often add about 1 part Satinice or Pettinice ready-made gumpaste (not fondant) to 2 parts of the homemade. Nick's recipe dries a little too quickly for me, and the ready-made ones NEVER dry, so the combination of the two together seems to give more workability. The recipe is on Nick's website: http://www.nicholaslodge.com/gumpaste.htm
Hope some of this works. Don't give up. Keep trying thingsintil you find something that works for you!
You know....I have been looking for that Nicholas Lodge recipe!! I have it written down somewhere but I haven't been able to find it!! So thanks so much for the link!! And I think I will try the Piping Gel idea, it sounds like a keeper!!
Thank you for all of your support!!! It really lifts the spirits you know? I will try the humidifier idea I think. I just have to be careful not to add too much humidity....I don't want that problem either!!! I need a comfortable medium I guess! BTW...you have some gorgeous cakes in your gallery!! And I love your pulled sugar rose!! I can't wait to get some of the equipment for doing sugar work!! It's so awesome!!
You're so welcome! Nope you don't need to trade one problem for the opposite.
Thanks so much for you kind compliment. 
{blush} I can't wait to get some 'sugar pulling' equipment too! The only piece of 'equipment' I have now is the small no-brand-name silicone mat I bought at Target for baking.
I can't help at all, but just wanted to say that I've never even worked with gumpaste and I've worked with fondant only twice (and it was VERY minimal!), so I admire the fact that you even work with those mediums! So as Melvira said, NO QUITTING!! You're doing things that I wish I knew how to do!
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