What kind of surface do you use when working with fondant/gumpaste? I have seen in videos where some use a small board underneath. Wondered if anyone had a cheap alternative to the more expensive ones?

Surfaces?? Well, I just STARTED using the liners that go on kitchen shelves(matting) to stabilize my wilton mat on it while working on my sugar pastes..and it works GREAT!! AND CHEAP! You can buy in $1 store or Walmart( I bought at walmart) and mine was like a table runner size,,so I cut it into 4 for the width under my mat. I roll out my sugarpastes either on my counter or table with these mattings.

What a difference b/c I was getting frustrated with my mat moving all the time and I used towels and etc under and it wasn't working enough for me.
Hope this helps you and this is what you mean? I thought about the vinyl matting you can buy too,,but my wilton one does good..so no sense of spending the extra $$ if not needed..that's up to you though. I heard you can roll your fondant between 2 sheets of vinyl you can buy at walmart, and lay across cake..but again,,my way works well! I'm so glad I got the shelf liner matting..what a difference!!