Hi,
I am attempting my first ever gumpaste shoe today and wanted to know how many days your prefer to let yours dry before placing it on the cake.
I thought I would decorate the shoebox tomorrow and then add the shoe later on in the week if needed? (cake's not due til sunday).
What do you think?

I wait 24 to 48 hours, depends on the humidity as I live in the Memphis area and sometimes it takes longer.

i would let it dry until the last possible minute then again ive never done a shoe before, let me know how it turns out.

i would let it dry until the last possible minute then again ive never done a shoe before, let me know how it turns out.

At least 4 days.. the longere the better..

If you are using 1/2 fondant 1/2 gumpaste to make the shoes you only need to make them 1 or 2 days ahead of placing them on the cake. The Booties Baby Shower cake in my album has a pair of painted booties on it and I made them the day before placing them on the cake. The holes for the shoestrings were plenty dry enough to run the ribbon through them without any damage.
If you are using 100% gumpaste they are going to dry even faster than my pair did.

It takes them at least 48 hours to dry. I use 50% Fondant and 50% gum paste. Hope this helps

Curvy, it does depend on how thick your fondant is. I would normally make mine with at least a week to allow for drying time, the heels are really the problem, they can feel hard but then may still be soft inside. Just leave putting it on the cake until the last possible moment, or if you can leave the supports for the arch on right up until you deliver it. Also be very careful how you handle it. Because the heel is usually thicker than the rest of the shoe, it can cause the sole to break if you hold it like you would a normal shoe, from the toe of the heel, just be gentle and you'll be fine, if it breaks you can always glue it back together.

I didn't give mine quite enough time to dry so it was a little unstable when the girl picked it up.. which really made me nervous. She says it didn't break or fall, but I bet it did. The heel was the problem just like franjmc says.

You cannot make it too far in advance. I'd even make them a couple weeks in advance next time... especially if there's going to be humidity. It was incredibly humid when I did mine and I know that made a huge difference.

I'm glad this topic came up, I've been wanting to make gumpaste shoes. It's my next project!

humidity definitly plays a part, its been raining here for days and its really slowing down dry time (like a week plus).
I recently switched to Bakels gum paste, anyone have any experience with it? Seems like it takes a LOT longer to dry. Curious to hear others thoughts!

Okay, I used 100 % gumpaste, and have let it dry for a solid 48 hours and it does SEEM dry, but I am waiting another day or two before I put it on the shoebox cake. I only made one, so want to be really careful with it so it doesn't break. It turned out really pretty, a tiny bit lopsided, but it'll do for my first try and a charity give away cake!
Thanks everyone for your advice!

I have given up on gumpaste. It is so humid here, that I've had gp pieces that were dry and solid one day, become a soggy, sticky mess the next. I've tried all the commercial brands. The only thing yet to try is Nic Lodge's recipe, but I'm lazy LOL!

I've had much much better success with mixing commercial fondant and tylose powder! Dries faster than gumpaste. The only downside is you can't roll it quite as thin, but since I don't do flowers, it's not really a problem.

Thanks franjmc! I'll have to try it! Looks easier than making gumpaste from scratch!