Does anyone eschew coloring gumpaste with gel pastes in favor of simply mixing in pre-colored fondant? I decided to try out working with a 50/50 mix of Satin Ice GP and Wilton's colored fondant (the small box of four packages) and thought why not kill two birds with one stone? I really don't enjoy the whole toothpick and gloves routine to get my gumpaste colored.

So far my little figures look great, but I'm wondering if anyone else has experience going this route and how well it's worked for them?

Any fading as compared to coloring with gel paste?

And did you stick to straight 50/50? Because I used more or less of the colored fondant depending on how vibrant I wanted the gumpaste to be. I'll be curious to see how well everything hardens - and I definitely want rock solid figures.

And what fondant brand did you use? I like the SI GP (early experience is with Bakels), but I'm wondering if I should switch to the giant buckets of SI fondant instead of using Wilton - it's gotta be more cost-effective.

Last question - am I right in assuming that as long as I have primary colors I can mix pretty much any color I want (other than black and white)? Or do I really need to purchase various pre-mixed colors? I'm relatively new to working with edible molding materials having come to it via Crayola's Model Magic, which I can blend to make my own great shades.

Thanks!!!

If you want the figure to dry properly it is usually not reccomended to go above a 50/50 mix. Your colors in pretinted fondants can still fade in direct light.

If you really like using the pre colored fondant to model with you can use Tylose powder to turn it into gumpaste - just add the powder to the desired fondant color and it will act very similar to gumpaste. This way you can create any shades you like by mixing your colors and add the tylose when you are ready to turn it into gumpaste.

Very good to know. Thanks so much! I will definitely give the tylose powder a try. Is it better to measure it, or can you go by feel when it comes to how much tylose to add?

I usually go by feel.