I've been starting to use gumpaste more often and now I am faced with a slight problem.
When I started out with cakes, I bought Wilton Gumpaste (obviously, who didn't XD) I realized how unrefined and hard it was to work with, so I started making my own using Nicholas Lodges' recipe (yours basic gumpaste) but it is extra labor + inconsistent in results.

My question for you guys, do you swear by scratch gumpaste or by premade gumpaste? Maybe a doctored fondant?
I've heard great reviews of Massa Gumpaste, please share which gumpaste you use and why. Is it worth to spend the money and cut the labor out?

Thanks for your contributions! I appreciate it!

Thanks for posting. I am going to try gumpaste leaves soon...and wondering what everyone's favorite recipe is as well.

I've only made marshmellow fondant pieces....would love to get a "delicate" look.

I buy ready-to-roll fondant (Bakels) and mix in tylose powder as advised buy my local cake supply shop. Easy to work with and does what I need it to do.

I love the Wilton pre-made gum paste for items that I want to dry very hard & very fast & I like being able to keep some on hand in the freezer for emergencies.

I love Nick Lodge's recipe for flowers & leaves.

For very delicate items, I love Platinum Paste because it dries almost translucent and stays flexible longer so that flowers can be positioned very naturally.

I love ChocoPan gum paste to mix with any pre-made fondant. It creates a beautiful product for draping and thin bows.

I love Wilton fondant with 1 tsp. of Tylose per pound for making figures and thicker decos that need to have supports or stand on their own.

I love Albert Uster's new fondant, FondArt. It, too, can have tylose mixed in (about 3/4 tsp./lb.) when needed.

Rae

I make Nick Lodges or wilton premade(not the can). Teach with this at Michaels and the students love it and do great with it. Sometimes i mix Nick's and Wilton premade. Love it.hth

The problem I run into with nick lodges gum paste is that when I attempt to thin out a petal with the ball tool on the wilton sponge, it does not roll over the surface, it rips right through. Anyone else experienced this?

Personally I use the Wilton pad currently, and I always had the same experience with the Nick lodge gumpaste. Exact same. Finally got fed up and switched to the Linda McClure gumpaste, and I never looked back!

Yep, the pad makes all of the difference when working with Nick's paste.
No doubt that it's a delicate paste, but it yields great results.

Linda's recipe is very nice, too, but it is more complicated to make.

Rae

Such great info on gumpaste. I tried figures with the wilton recipe for gumpaste. For my VERY first time working with gumpaste, I guess it went okay. I don't have much experience to measure against....

Since I still have the ingredients...maybe I'll give the wilton recipe another go for the leaves. I don't think they are too technical - - I should be fine.

But, thanks for all the tips & OP thanks for posting the question! Always something new to learn...

I make my own and have tweaked the formula enough that it stays workable longer and isn't super fragile when it's dried, so I only use that. I used the Nick Lodge recipe in pastry school (it's just a traditional recipe I think) and tried it again recently. It's really nice to work with, but IMO it's too brittle when it dries. But I'd only use homemade, I wouldn't use commercial gumpaste. It's so much cheaper to make it yourself.

I swear by Wilton pre-made gum paste for everything that needs to dry light, hard, and fast. I will mix a bit of fondant in to make figures because it dries so quickly and the fondant keeps it from doing it too fast. But I swear by it. It's especially great for bows.

I soften petal edges on the light colored/softer/non-fabric side.

As long as the paste is properly made & rested, it should be fine. Try dipping the ball tool in some corn starch before using it.

If it's humid, cold, or the paste is sticky, it will tear. The corn starch helps to stop that.

Rae

If you don,t have the cel pad, etc. You use the fun foam( michaels, etc. ) I teach with that at michaels. I don,t like the thin pink foam in the kits. I get different thickness. Really great to thin and stretch and ruffle, etc. any petal. The students work with the wilton paste and the fun foam great. I furnish fun foam for them and give it to them, until they want different. They have no trouble with the ball tool. Nick uses wilton ball tools in his class also. If it is good enough for NIck, it is good enough for me. lol!!! So try the fun foam for working your petals, leaves, etc.

I've used the extra thick fun foam (great when traveling to classes) and it works well. I only use the white, as sometimes the colors can come up onto the white paste. I find that a light dusting of CS helps so that things don't stick.

The new Wilton plastic ball tool is much better than the old green one that needed to have the seam sanded off, but I still swear by my metal tool

Rae