I'm going to try to make some poker chips out of gum paste and I have been searching for over an hour trying to figure out if I have to use a powder or if the gel will work? I'm using the Wilton pre-made gum paste as it is my only option in the tiny town I live in. I'd like to cut out the shapes for the poker chips and then paint designs on them. Do they need to be completely dry before I can paint them? Thanks in advance, you all are so helpful! BTW if you cannot tell this is my first time using gum paste lol.

I paint on wet gumpaste sometimes (I am an impatient person) and it works well. It works just fine to paint with Wilton's gel colors. You can thin them with vodka so they don't take ages to dry. You can't use Wilton's white icing color over gel that's been thinned with vodka...or at least it didn't work at all when I tried it, it ends up looking gritty and runny.

Thanks for the quick response! I've got a week until I need this cake, and I dont have any vodka (shame I know! lol). should I use it straight, water it down, or get some vodka tomorrow when the liquor store is open? I guess what I am asking is how long does it take to dry without the vodka?

Wow, y'all's liquor stores are open Sunday? Texas is so behind the times

You can use a clear extract, either lemon or vanilla or almond (wouldn't recommend peppermint because of the smell lingering). Vodka is cheaper in the long run if you're going to be doing a lot of painting, but extracts work just fine too.

I'm not much of a drinker, I'm not sure if they are open on sundays or not! ok, so I'm a bad baker, lol, I dont have any extracts either. do I need to not be lazy and go buy some?

I went and bought some almond extract and got the poker chips and dealer button painted. here they are!

VERY NICE - GREAT LOOKING CHIPS! How thin did you make the Wilton color with the vodka? How long did it take to dry and was your gum paste completely dry?

Thanks! this is my first time doing anything with gumpaste and I'm very happy with how they turned out! Next on to making some playing cards!

How thin did you make the Wilton color with the vodka?
I actually used just a couple of drops of almond extract and a toothpick dipped once in the color

How long did it take to dry and was your gum paste completely dry?
I just finished painting them about 40 minutes ago and they are still a tiny bit damp. the gumpaste isn't completely dry, I made them late last night so they probably sat about 12 hours before I painted them.

They look great!

They look really good, i find alot of this whole cake decorating malarky is all trial and error, ive painted a few things, the first time, it was great, next time, i changed things round and my god did it goooo bad lol! but now its good again LOL! . Your chips look really great! cant wait to see the finished cake x x x

The teacups in my pics are all hand painted with wilton colors. Its alot easier to use a very thin brush. Got mine in the art dept at michaels. The only cup I painted diluting the colors with vodka (or extract, either works) was the small one with pink roses. I think that helped it dry better and faster.

They do look great!!

I am fixing to paint with vodka and food color, so I was glad to read this thread.

It's done! check it out here

Great job!