Gum tex, gum paste, sugar paste, modelling chocolate, mexican modelling paste, fondant....im sure there are hundreds of others.....would anyone mind sparing me a few moments to give me a break down of the range available and their practical uses, it would be greatly appreciated! thank you

Repost:
Sugarpaste is any item that is a mixture of icing/confectioners/powdered sugar and a liquid.

Gumpaste, flowerpaste, sugar plate, pastillage, mexican paste, rolled fondant/fondant icing/RTR, etc are all examples of sugarpaste.

Different items are called different names depending upon the recipe and place of origin.

Loosely speaking, the general term, sugarpaste, has come to specifically mean all cake coverings that originate from "soft white" icing that was developed around the turn of the 20th Century . This is now: rolled fondant [US] fondant icing [UK] RTR [AU] but other terms are also used eg plastic icing [AU, SA].

Materials such as gumpaste, flowerpaste, and mexican paste are moulding materials which generally contain various gums that strengthen the ornamentation and items. Sugar plate and pastillage are also moulding material but are generally super-hard and used for structurally designed items.

Additional:
Modelling chocolate [mixture of chocolate and glucose syrup] is used for modelling - it is also called chocolate plastique and candy clay ..

Gum Tragacanth, Gum Arabic, Karaya gum, Xantham Gum and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) are used in modelling compounds as thickeners, emulsifiers and strengtheners. Each has different properties and different strengths that work differently depending upon the recipe, what you are doing, and the effect required.

Gum Tex, Tylose, Cellogen Powder, etc are brand names of CMC powder ..

thankyou so much!!