I made a bride and groom figurine for my cousin's wedding just gone (pics to follow) but made tham about 3 weeks ago thinking that I'd need that long to get them right. As luck had it I managed to make them perfect first time and so just kept them in an open box to harden up.

They were made from sugarpaste with some Gum Tragacanth added to make the sugarpaste less pliable. However 3 weeks later and the bride and groom were very brittle with the slightest touch causing parts of them to fall off, requiring a big fix up job on the day

Has anyone got any suggestions on what I can do in future, or whether I modelling them with the wrong materials, I've only just got into cake decorating so am doing a lot of trial and error. I've seen flower paste in the shop but it's very expensive compared to sugarpaste.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Louise

I use fondant (sugarpaste) with just a little Tylose powder added. Little pieces on the figures such as bows or strands of hair will be brittle and break easily, but if handled gently they should be ok. I have figures that I have kept for about 3 years now! The are somewhat faded, but have held together fine. Aine2 is the expert. Take a look at her pics. She has some tutorials you can purchase and some how-to videos.

Here's a link. http://www.extra-icing.blogspot.com/