AHi there CC! I recently bought a Makin's Clay Extruder. I tried using it with both fondant and gumpaste and the results are always the same. The fondant or gumpaste ropes always come out looking stretched out, light coloured due to the stretching and very rough looking.

I read some forums here and tried the advices, like coat the fondant or gumpaste with shortening, which i did. I turned the crank very slowly, i made sure i wasn't stretching it out while it was being pushed out.

So what do i do? I need to make a princess tiara for next week :( any advice would be much appreciated! Thank you.

Sorry I can't help you.... just posting to say I get the same results. I know I've used it before and it came out ok/fine, but lately I'm getting the rough edges and stretching :-(

could be the brand of fondant we are using? if you tried all the other suggestions

AIt's frustrating right? :( i used both homemade MMF and the Witon ready made gumpaste. I hope somebody can help us.. Huhuhu

I just received Makings clay extruder  last week and  practiced. I used home made MFF. It is harder than I thought.

I usually use fondant with cmc or tylo added to it, I find it works better than straight fondant or gumpaste. I have used various brands of fondant, so I don't think that's an issue. I massage in a lot of crisco to get it really soft, but not gooey. That helps it come out smoothly, easily, and with no cracking. Turning the crank handle at a slow steady rhythm also helps, and as soon as your string starts coming out, make sure the end of it is on the workbench, not just hanging in the air, so the weight of the length does not stretch it. Good luck!

Thank you, Dayti. What is cmc?

I agree with Dayti.  I end up kneading a lot of shortening into the fondant or gumpaste before extruding.  Without it, I usually end up with those annoying rough edges too. 

AThanks for the tips!! I will knead in more shortening nxt time :) i am in canada and we don't have CMC or tylose here, just the Wilton Gumtex. Don't know if it works the same way.. Wish me luck with my tiara! :)

Hi!

I saw a tip here on CC. That is to make sure that the consistency of the fondant or gumpaste is as soft as chewed chewing gum before it is placed in the extruder. You achieve this by taking the ball of gumpaste/fondant and rubbing in shortening and dunking it in a little bowl of water alternatively and kneading well until the desired consistency is achieved. I have tried this and it worked like a charm!! :) I use to just hate my extruder for the above reasons and now I just love it!! :) I can't remember the name of the thread, I'm afraid....maybe it was  called 'success with the extruder' or something like that. Anyway, hope this helps!!

...oh and good luck with your tiara :)

i have found that if you massage some Crisco into the fondant, make it pretty soft it will come out eaiser. This works for me every time. Good Luck!