Please Help! My Fondant Figures Are Drooping!
Decorating By Mama2RubyG Updated 4 Jul 2011 , 2:46am by teresamariegross
Hi, I'm working with fondant for the first time and have made a couple of animals with Wilton Ready To Use fondant. They turned out great, but I set them in an airtight plastic food container and after a couple days, they are still very pliable and losing their shape. I thought they would harden up after a couple days, is that not true? Maybe the environment is too warm (kitchen), should I be storing them in the fridge? Or, should I not even be trying to make them ahead of time?
Your time is truly appreciated, thank you!!
If you want your figures to harden you need to keep them out, storing them in an air tight container will prevent them from hardening.
You can make them in advance and leave them out to air dry. You can also add tylose powder to the fondant to aid in the drying time or use gumpaste.
1. You need to add tylose to the fondant to make it stiffer. Fondant is not really the preferred medium for modeling (without the tylose, CMC, or gumtex.)
2. Keeping your figures in an airtight container means you are completely preventing air circulation and making absolutely sure they will not dry out - exactly the opposite of what you seem to want to do.
Ditto what the others have said. You need to add tylose or gum tex to your fondant to speed drying, and you need to keep your figures out to dry. I normally set mine on a sponge, especially if I have skewers for sticking them into a cake later on, and cover them with a food tent:
http://www.crateandbarrel.com/kitchen-and-food/serving-utensils/food-tent/s195581
I bought mine at the Dollar store, I have a couple in plastic and couple in mesh. I normally use the mesh ones in the summer. They allow for full air circulation while offering protection from dust etc. and curious fingers. I've even used then to protect smaller finished cakes that I didn't want to put in the fridge.
Wow, thanks for the all the fast replies! I'm actually kind of embarrassed, common sense would dictate that storing them in an air tight container would keep them from drying out, but I guess all those years of repeatedly having it drilled into my head that EVERYTHING should be stored that way resulted in me doing just that! I've set them out now, I DO love that tent idea, too!
I really don't have any hobbies, nor did I ever consider myself artistic in any form or fashion, but I am having a BLAST decorating cakes! I am so glad I came across this forum!
Never feel embarrassed, we all make mistakes. The first fondant figures I made, and, oh so proud of, turned into little fatties lookin like they needed to go a diet! 
And... ditto on the food tents suggested by the PP. I've got a few of them. I use some for dinner parties,when the food will be on the outside tables, and some I keep separate for my caking. The're the handiest thing ever for circulation, keeping out dust, & outside night bugs!
[quote="warchild"]Never feel embarrassed, we all make mistakes. The first fondant figures I made, and, oh so proud of, turned into little fatties lookin like they needed to go a diet![quote]
I thought my first fondant person looked good...until my sister pointed out that it looked like a vacant-eyed, red-mouthed blow up doll. 
(Innocent little me...it didn't occur to me that that's exactly what it looked liked until she said it 
)
[quote="Coral3"][quote="warchild"]Never feel embarrassed, we all make mistakes. The first fondant figures I made, and, oh so proud of, turned into little fatties lookin like they needed to go a diet!
I thought my first fondant person looked good...until my sister pointed out that it looked like a vacant-eyed, red-mouthed blow up doll.
(Innocent little me...it didn't occur to me that that's exactly what it looked liked until she said it )
Hahaa! Been there done that! My DH was my worst critic when I started out.
Him.. It looks too fluffy, the face is to fat, it looks like an old lady, uh, the colour of the hair looks wrong, you need to make it lighter, blah blah blah.
After the first few times of me ignoring his not very welcome, "expertise", he learned reeeeeely fast he'd best keep his opinions to himself! 
If I have something I want to dry very hard I use gum paste instead of fondant
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