Hello everyone,
This is going to be a dumb question for sure. I am in the process of making a bow for a wedding cake. She wants the bow to be black on the outside and white on the inside of the loops with silver luster dust. Now I have painted them and let them dry. Some have dried almost 1 week and some 24 hours and both seem to be tacky to the touch as if they never dried.(they are hanging over my heat ducts) I was wondering if they will ever dry (wedding feb. 25) and if not how do I put the luster dust if they don't dry. Won't the dust just clump up or what?
Any advice.....
Sylvie
Several questions come to mind:
1. What did you make the bow parts out of: fondant, fondant with gum-tex added, gumpaste, pastillage ? Pure fondant will dry the slowest.
2. How did you make them bi-colored? Have you already painted them with something?
3. Is it unusually humid where you live?
If I were making bi-colored bows, I would use either gumpaste or fondant with gum-tex added. I would color some fondant black and roll it thin. I would then apply it to some rolled out white fondant (also with some gum-tex mixed in). I'd cut the pieces to the right width and form the loops (or the whole bow, depending on the size and application). I'd place the bows/pieces on a cookie tray lined in parchment and I'd expect them to be bone dry in 2 days (or less, if it's dry in the house). To paint the bow, I'd mix luster dust with lemon extract.
Hope this helps.
Rae
Well, if you didn't add a hardening agent to the fondant, they may never harden up. That is the problem we are doing things with fondant that were meant to be made with or work better with gumpaste. Even one third gumpaste to two thirds fondant works better. The humidity in the air is a big factor. Sometimes even adding some Gum-tex powder or tylose to your fondant is not enough.
I don't understand them feeling tacky though, they might still feel a bit like they are not going to keep their shape but tacky doesn't sound right after that length of time. Perhaps too much paint? Kind of hard when she didn't want the whole thing black, colouring the fondant black and then using a charcoal lustre dust would have been a better thing to do. Did you use the black colour on its own or mix it with something? I am asking because the colour on its own never dries, it must be mixed with alchohl or extract to set . Honestly, I think you will likely have to re-make these, just doesn't sound right for them to still be tacky. What did you use for your liquid that you mixed the colour with?
Lustre dust will go clumpy if these are indeed tacky. I have a suggestion, kind of a last ditch effort, try a hair blower on cool or low setting. People use this method to set lustre dust and colour, it might work. People will likely suggest turning your oven to 200 and turning it off and putting these in the oven but you know, after the length of time these have been air drying, I don't think that will do the trick. but I guess it is worth a try.
Hugs Squirrelly
Rae and Squirrelly,
First off, they are pure fondant. (didn't know about gum tex thanks for the advice tho) The loops of the bow are rock hard.(they have been drying for a week or so)
Second, I used Vodka and black wilton gel. Possibly I didn't put enough vodka. I think that would be it, cause when it was thinner I didn't get a real black it was sort or transparent so I made it thicker.
Third, I live in northern canada where I am freezing my behind off right now.
Now, do I start over 
cause this is the second bow I try (first one was a trial to see if I can make a bow) OR do you have any other suggestions.......
Thanks
Sylvie
Oh, Sylvie, I know how you feel to have to do this yet a 3rd time ! If I were in your shoes, I'd do them again with gum-tex added to the fondant and I wouldn't paint anything black. I'd color some of the fondant/gum-tex mixture black and make the bow the way I described above. If you paint the black on, adding the silver luster dust later may lead to streaking and more tackiness.
Good luck!
Rae
Rae and Squirrelly,
First off, they are pure fondant. (didn't know about gum tex thanks for the advice tho) The loops of the bow are rock hard.(they have been drying for a week or so)
Second, I used Vodka and black wilton gel. Possibly I didn't put enough vodka. I think that would be it, cause when it was thinner I didn't get a real black it was sort or transparent so I made it thicker.
Third, I live in northern canada where I am freezing my behind off right now.
Now, do I start over
cause this is the second bow I try (first one was a trial to see if I can make a bow) OR do you have any other suggestions.......Thanks
Sylvie
Hi Sylvie,
I am in Ottawa, Ontario. The humidity levels here are usually too darn high for fondant on its own to harden up. The cold won't be the issue, high humidity will be. I usually use Wilton's fondant which has a gum hardener in it, when I want to make decorations. I add about 2-3 tsp. of Gum-tex to about 10 ounces by weight of fondant. I don't like marshmallow fondant for this purpose. But honestly, I would say that you would be best off adding 1/3 of prepared gumpaste to 2/3 of prepared fondant or using all gumpaste. If you are in an area of high humidiy, tylose is sometimes a better choice of hardening agent, you have to buy it on-line from the U.S.
Perhaps it is a question of the colour itself not setting. I had this problem before when I tried using the colour on its own. I had to add a bit of extract or alcohol to it. Perhaps the ratio of colour to vodka wasn't right.
What a heck of a complicate bow she wants, makes it difficult for you. The easiest way would have been to actually colour the fondant black, add extra powdered sugar so that it didn't stick to your hands and then use the silver lustre dust on the part she wants silver. But she wants part white too, so that makes it hard. I think I would be tempted to have the white fondant lining the black as was suggested.
I really think the colour is the problem, even fondant without a hardening agent would not be tacky by now, it sounds like it is the black gel that is tacky and yes, if you paint it too much, you are adding a lot of liquid too and this could be the problem also.
I have a rather strange sounding suggestion for you but something that was recommended at an cake decorating convention. The tip comes from Sewsweet2 who is a rather well-known decorator from cake sites. Instead of Gum-tex or gumpaste, go to the store and buy "Fixodent" denture adhesive powder. It has to be the powder. Add about a teaspoon of this to a wad of fondant about the size of a baseball. Knead it into the fondant and use like gumpaste. It will get hard for you and you'll have great ribbons. Someone at the RCCA cake show in Omaha, NE, a couple of years ago, told her this hint. They had checked it out and it is safe to use. After all, you use the denture adhesive in your mouth. Your gumpaste has the added benefit of being a little minty smelling too.
I would first try a hairblower on a cool or low setting on your bows that you made. If there is no improvement, I would start over. Sorry kiddo, I know how frustrating this is.
Hugs Squirrelly
Oh, Sylvie, you'll be fine. You live and learn--and without some trial and error, you don't learn much!
Per the Wilton website:
Wilton Ready-To-Use Rolled Fondant and Gum Tex
Use this recipe for a fondant with extra body and pliability ideal for making drapes, swags, woven and elaborate decorations. Decorations will dry like gum paste.
1 to 2 teaspoons Gum Tex
1 package Ready-To-Use Rolled Fondant --I assume they mean the small 24 oz. box. Start with less if it's dry in your home. Too much makes the fondant brittle. Make a small practice piece and let it dry overnight.
Knead Gum Tex into fondant until smooth. Store in an airtight container or tightly wrapped in plastic.
Double wrap your leftovers and make sure you keep the chunk you're working with completely airtight--it can get crunchy quickly.
Rae
The gum-tex will help it dry faster, but you said they were hard before the painting, so they should have been okay there.
As far as the painting. I did a sleigh in black once. I did thin my gel color with vodka and painted it on. I did several coats to get it a dark black color, letting each coat dry inbetween.
I think if the color is still tacky it wasn't diluted enough with the vodka.
Just a note, I know Wilton doesn't suggest the amount of Gum-tex powder I use but then, their suggestion comes from people on the site because at one time they didn't even recommend doing that. Personally I found you need about 3 tsp. per 10 ounces which is a bit less than half a box of fondant. The one drawback is that the Gum-tex does give a very slight peach hue to the fondant, not really noticable but there. Against the black though, it won't stand out. That is why a lot of people prefer tylose as it doesn't colour.
Hugs Squirrelly
Thanks Squirrelly, I will try the hair blower and if that doesn't work I will go out and get some "fixodent" and start over.
Thank you both for your time and advice.
Sylvie
Before you throw out your pieces to start over, I have two thoughts. I can't promise they will work, but if you are going to throw it out anyway it might be worth a try.
I remember in a demo I saw once the lady was trying to add an dot of color for a eye or something like that. She said if you mess up you can use a little of your alcohol (vodka or extracts) and a q-tip to clean it off before it dries.
So maybe you could use a cotton ball with some vodka on it and wipe over your loops. It might not take all the color off, but it might make thinner and dry, so that you can go back over it with another coat.
Another thought would be to dip your brush in just vodka and brush it over the loops. Again it might help thin out your color some more.
Please remember I have NOT tried these, and do not know for sure if they will work. It sounds good in theory, but theories don't always work out as planned. So I would only try it if you are sure you are going to start over, or if you have a few loops to spare to try it on.
If you do try it, please let us know if it does or doesn't work. 
You know, that might just work. I was thinking the same about brushing more vodka on, but you know, trying to remove it is a good idea too.
Just wanted to clarify this, I don't think I know more that Wilton does, it is just that I was really active on the site at the time when we were all throwing around ideas on how to make fondant more stable and we had come up with the 1-3 tsp. Gum-tex per 24 ounce box. So I think that is when they started to suggest it. But since then I have found you usually need more, depending on where you live of course. Sometimes I find even that amount doesn't help, not with really thick things anyway.
It would be so nice if you could just salvage what you have already done, I know, been there and done that too, haha!
But that is what is so smart about starting way in advance as you have done!
Hugs Squirrelly
Squirrelly, when we do the roses in Course 3, the books suggests 1 tsp for half of the box. Me? I never measure it. If I need something to dry alot faster I add more. I just dump some on it and kneed it in. Again like you said it depends on where you live and/or what you are doing.
Squirrelly, TexasSugar, and Rae,
I am gonna try just the vodka and a brush and brush out the spots that are still tacky. I will give it a day to dry. In the mean time I will make an extra batch of MMF and hope that I don't need to use it.
Thank you so much all of you for your help.
Sylvie
Note: I will let you know if it works
Instead of Gum-tex or gumpaste, go to the store and buy "Fixodent" denture adhesive powder
Silly question. Can you put the fixodent in MMF or is it supposed to only go in regular fondant?
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