Fairly New To Using Fondant & Gumpaste Please Help
Decorating By lasher Updated 4 Dec 2008 , 5:02pm by tracycakes
I have only been using fondant & gumpaste a few weeks & having a few problems. Can anyone suggest the best way to getting good red, every time I try I can't get a good deep color & when I do it fades. I am also having a problem with other colors fading & the fondant & gumpaste getting really sticky. Is there a way to find topics in cakecentral w/out searching page after page? I want to find a way to make gumpaste poinsettias & other flowers.
Do you make your own fondant? If so Cake Craft makes a color called "super Chinese Red". Its beautiful. I just add it to the melted MM. If you dont make your own Im sure it would be just as beautiful.
with gumpaste, i bought (and its the easiest way) dark colours, then you mix in white to get the right shade. fondant, i really just accept that the colours never going to be that dark!
when i do flowers, its best to make them a little paler than you want anyway, then you can dust with lustre dusts to get the right shade.
what do you use to colour your pastes? if u use liquid, it will become much stickier, but even the gel ones do that eventually, plus your working with warm hands. you can use icing sugar to make it a bit stiffer again, and icing sugar, cornflour or fat can be used on your hands or worktop to stop sticking too (different people like different methods).
the search bit is pretty good, the top right of the page, have you been using that? you can always pm people when you come across a picture of what you want to try too. good luck!
For the search problem, there is a tab on the top called search. Just click on it, and type in a key word. I have discovered that on this web site, less is more. If I want to search for photos of santa claus, I just type in "santa" and then I get a whole bunch of stuff with that word in it. If you want to see more photos than the four it brought up, click on see all photos, and then it will pull up all of the photos that are related to your topic. (I am pretty sure that it is based off of the key words people put in with their photos) If you scroll down to the bottom, then it will have a list of all the forums that have that word in it. Very useful.
As for the fondant problem, color your fondant when you are making it. Add the color with the liquid. Make it a little darker than you want it to turn out. Remember you are going to add a ton of white powder to it. Also, keep it out of the light. I have noticed that the sun fades a lot of colors, and not in a good way. The lap over my table does the same thing, so I just keep the blinds closed and the light off while it is sitting there.
On red, black, I never even color the fondant any more. I hate the texture that it gets and it become hard to work with. I paint them with an airbrush gun, or by hand with a brush and some color mixed with a small amount of vodka, but any high alcohol content/clear liquid will work. Some use lemon juice, but I don't like it. It leaves a taste, and is a little yellow.
Last, you can buy pre colored red and black, and for a darker red, add a PINCH of the black fondant to the red. It's kind of expensive, but it is definately cheaper than the therapy that the red fondant was costing me. LOL
Good luck and I hope this helps!
If you are buying fondant - satin ice is affordable and has a wonderful red. I use that and gum paste 50/50 mix and still have a deep red color that doesn't fade. It's easy and will save you a lot of time trying to mix just the right colors. (just my 2 cents)
I used the red on the horsey smash cake in my photos if you want to see the red. http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1271391.html
On my "Minnie" cakes, I air brushed the fondant red. (although people say not to it still works for me). http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-photo_1239572.html
Good luck.
) I never can achieve that color. Before it was black and red now I got the black but the red. with all this help I think soon will get it, thank you all for all your help. 
I've made both black and red fondant quite a few times using Americolor. Make sure to let it sit overnight to deepen in color and keep it out of the light. Light will make fondant and gumpaste colors fade. I've got extra flowers and decorations made out of both fondant and gumpaste that I've had for several months and the color hasn't faded at all, I've just kept them in a covered box (not sealed) and they are fine.
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