I am trying to make a loopy bow out of gumpaste! The school colors are red and grey. The grey loops came out fine .. but I'm having tons of trouble with the red!! I can't get the gumpaste red enough (just a darker pink) .. so I made them white and then attempted to paint them with Wilton food coloring. This seemed to work and they look ok ... but they aren't drying!!!!! They are still sort of gummy!! Will they ever dry??? Is there a way to get red gumpaste??? I read something about dipping your brush in vodka first .. but does this help with drying?? Is there anything I can do with the ones I already made to get rid of that gumminess???? Please help! Any advice would be mush appreciated! THANK YOU!

Yes, mixing the food color with vodka does work. Try wipping off the color with a papertowel carefully and see if that will paint the loops.

Yes straight gel food color has glycerin in it which is a softening agent and keeps things moist, next time mix it with a little vodka or everclear alcohol which helps it dry much quicker.

A few things to try - a hair dryer, try it on low heat first and be careful OR sit the pieces in front of a fan OR place the pieces in a really low oven (120-150 max) to dry.

HTH

edna has a great video on coloring red gum paste, i think it's on we bake cakes