For all those having trouble with the clay gun, either the one that you squeeze or the one that you turn the lever up on top...try mixing in a little shortening into your fondant and it will make it very soft. It won't dry up and you'll be able to squeeze it through with a ton less effort. I used to have the same trouble and then I read this trick somewhere on here and it's made a TON of difference.

i bought the wilton roll and cut mat for like $10 and everytime i used it my fondant kept sticking to it. so i bought ayard of vinyl at walmart and it works like a dream

Ditto avenje. Ever since I started mixing in the shortening it works MUCH better!

I agree..the wilton small cake leveler is awful!!
Edna

Thanks avenje i will give that a try.

I would get rid of all Wilton brand pans. My magic line put them to shame. Also the Agbay puts the witon leveler to shame.

I have to say that the wilton fondant roller/cutters embosser stuff that came with the classes is all crap. Never used it beyond the class. Unfortunately my DH went and bought boxed lot stuff on eBay for xmas and I gained to more of everything. His heart was in the right place...

I sold all my character pans on eBay....and went shopping! I will say I definetly won't be buying the tilting turntable.

Hey...too bad we can't just mail all this crappy stuff back to Wilton H.Q.......think they will ever get a clue??

thanks Kayla1505 for the vinyl tip. I didn't think about that!!

OMGoodness, guess what my next purchase was? A wilton tilting turntable. I am soooo glad I looked through this thread. Won't be wasting my money. I too have the wilton fondant mat that is useless, but my biggest waste was buying a practice board from wilton--stupid, hard to clean, just junk in my opinion. I have the opposite experience with character pans-that's what everyone wants, and I'm SICK of making stars-I want to create something awesome

Character pans -hands down. But in my defense, I bought them all while I was still just a "hobbyist".

I don't think all Wilton products are crap. For the price, there is no comparison to their tips.

For the beginner/intermediate decorator, their equipment is adequate.

with the exception of...

the tilting tt(I think if it had a center prong ...this would be nice to hold them smaller cakes too), the ribbon cutter(they've been aware at hq of the problems with this since it's been on the market and still no genius to solve it...hmmmmm), that embosser thing(I don't understand the angle)...

I would say that it was the Wilton's oval pan set.

They still sell the set but they no longer manufacture the friggin' separators for them and you have to hunt far and wide for someone who still has them aaaaaaaaaaaaaand the most popular size, you have to hunt even further for!!!


oh oh oh....I haven't heard anyone mention the romantic castle cake set....

I never use my 3D pans (duck, bear) I've used them once each and they just take up WAY too much space.

I actually like my Wilton TTT But I don't use it for tilting I just use it as a pedestal to get the cake up closer to me so it's more comfortable to work. Makes it easier on my 6' frame!

This has been a very educational thread. I have never seen a Wilton tilting turntable, but now I know I don't want to. I looked at the Agbay leveler online and saw one for $250. Don't know if that's the only one they sell, but I'll stick to dental floss unless someone knows of another good leveler for a lot less!

Thanks everyone!

Hands down it is the wilton turn table! It was really expensive and I too, nearly lost a cake 2 out of 3 times I used it. It wasnt that the cake board slips off the thing, it was my cake sliding off the cake board. So maybe it's not that the turn table is so bad it is the IDEA that your cake will stay on at a 60 degree angle that is the problem LOL!

I too am a little disappointed with the sugarveil. Maybe I just didnt get the hang of it. It is a lot of money and I feel bad that my DH bought it for my birthday nearly a year ago and i have hardly used it.

I love my sugar craft gun. I agree that it could be a little more user friendly (I wish it was bigger!) But I use it very frequently.

I like the tappits. They do take some practice though.

Merissa,

I would love some hints on the tappits. I just got some last week and tried to use them for a cake and ended up going a different route. The letters looked horrible. I couldn't get crisp edges.

Thanks!
Amy

ummmm....what are tappits?

I ususally use fondant with a bit of tylose mixed it (to make it more like gumpaste). Roll it out thinly. Let it sit for a few minutes to dry a bit. Sometimes I rub a little cornstarch on it for good measure.

Cut them out and if they stick I hold one end of the strip down on the counter and pull back on the other. Let go and it sort of slaps down and they usually fling out. Hopefully they dont fling off onto the floor (sometimes it happens) I think You are supposed to be able to "tap" them out, but I find I usually need a bit more. It is best to let them sit for a while before picking them up to not distort if you can.

Thanks for the tips on the tappits ... I have the JEM and FMM (the pink ones) and well, I hate the JEM ones more than anything and the pink ones, well, it broke when I was "tapping" them out!

I will try again, thanks for the tips Merissa!!!!!

So far that the JEM tappits is the only thing I really regret buying, they were so expensive and very hard to use!

Thanks Merissa! I will try them again. Which tappit did you use for the Dora cake? It was adorable.

where can you buy good tappit?

I have to ditto the Large Wilton leveler. What a disappointment.

Also, I'm happy now that I never brought the tilting leveler OR the fondant mat.

Their tips are great.... most other stuff I'm not happy with. (I thought it was ME at first...) glad to know it's not.

thanks for the tip on the PME luster spray! i have to prepare a proposal for a wedding cake and the colours are gold & white.

I was thinking that i would cover a cake with some fondant that was coloured with Americolor's gold and then apply the luster spray for added sheen!

has anyone ever used Americolor's gold?

I see everyone talking about the wilton fondant mat...If you need a small mat for making flowers, cutting strips for bows, or anything smaller than cake size, Walmart sells a 2 pack of red silicone mats for around $8. One is 9x13 and the other is smaller. They're intended to use as a pan liner while baking, but I never have. There are ridges on one side of the red mats, but I use the other side, with the inches marked on the edges, and the ridges have never shown up in my bows or flowers.

[quote="KathysCC"]Wilton just came out with a new line of baking supplies. I found them on display at Michaels in yellow packaging.

quote]


It was from this new line that I purchased the Wilton cake lifter. THAT truly has been grand. Only about $10.00, and it really actually works! One thing that I like about it is that the handle to the metal board is tilted so it works really well to put a torted layer on another.

But, this reminded me of one more Wilton thing I cannot stand (not including the ribbon cutter, which I agree 100% about) -- the fondant letter shapes. They are flimsy and the letters that have holes in them are so poorly put together that the letters come out looking uneven whether you have done it right or not! When will I ever learn -- Wilton stands for

Wasted
Items
Left
To
Oxydize
Nightly

Okay, so this isn't the best acrynym, but I'll keep working on it -- regardless -- Wilton is TERRIBLE!

hmmm...mostly just lots of little things (um, junk)...

wilton pattern press set

wilton doll picks (huh?!?!?!?)

wilton ribbon cutter/embosser

pasta machine to roll out fondant

...yet to use my airbrush....

wilton cupcake stand

wilton mini egg and wondermold pans



i will be cleaning out my cake cabinets and listing lots of this clutter on ebay this week!

Wow! Let us know when you do-- I am starting out and do not hate Wilton products so much yet!