I am working more with fondant and making characters for my cakes..but I have a question, and I hope it is a simple one....in all of what I have read, I see various wording being used, and what I am trying to determine is this, are they all one and the same, or are they each a separate and different item? and if they are different, how do they work together? what is the best uses for each of them? I am trying to figure out if there is a way for the toppers/characters that I make for my cakes to be permanent.....like if I do one for a sweet 16 cake, have the topper be able to be kept as a keepsake by the birthday girl....is this possible? thanks for helping me with this...

Hi, I make my own gumpaste to make models.

Now, Tylose can be added to fondant and you have to knead it really well and leave it aside. You cannot make things straight away.

I use CMC powder to mix with fondant, which is same as tylose, but once you knead it into fondant, you can use it straight away.

You can keep the things that you make with these as long as you like. But if you make anything with fondant alone, you can't keep them a long time.

I love tylose! I use that when I need to make letters, numbers, figures, etc.

thank you all for your help... now I can start "playing around" with my figurines/characters...

How much tylose would you add to the the fondant per pound?

I didn't know that you had to put aside tylose and gum paste mixture. how long would you recommend?

Thank you Bashini, I am going to attempt my first gumpaste figuirine in a couple of days. Woody from toy story. Feeling a lot more confident now. Just hope he turns out ok!