So I have just started to play around with gumpaste, been using the wilton pre made stuff. I find that it dries really fast, and with me just starting to get the feel for the stuff and how it takes me longer to learn to make flowers, its frustrating.

Do you guys suggest maybe I should start with something like 75/25 GP/fondant mixture or even a 50/50 until I get the hang of it? Or maybe just mix tylose with my fondant.

I just made a batch of nicholas lodge GP but from what I read on the forums his GP dries pretty quick too not sure if it is quick as wiltons.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance

get yourself a wet chux cloth , use boiled water to wet it and pop it inside a ziplock bag and seal it up ,( make sure it it flat ) use this to cover your cut out petal that you are not working with at the time to help prevent them from drying out so fast.

I love Nick Lodge's recipe and the Wilton premade recipe. Sometimes i mix the two. That works well also. I teach g/p flowers at Michaels and stress to the students to keep it covered always. Each time you go to work with a small piece to make a petal, leaf, etc. Put a little shortening on fingers and massage into g/p. This is what you will hear and see Nick stress in his classes. It conditions the g/p and helps it not to dry out so fast. I do love the drying power of both. Do as the other posters says also. I do this, now if i have to leave it for a few minutes to do something else. hth

I use Nicholas Lodge. I mix with fondant. I go by how it feels in my hand depending on what I am making.

Gumpaste by itself dries quickly, and if you don't keep it covered it dries even more quickly. For the purposes of practice and until you get enough experience to work quickly, I would mix the g-paste with fondant. I'd start with a 50/50 mix and as you gain experience and speed move to a higher ratio of g-paste till you are working with 100% g-paste. HTH

Thanks for the tips I do always keep my petals/leftovers covered I even massage little crisco and stretch it to get it back to being moist and smooth.

Gonna see how it works if I add a little fondant to it and see if it is more workable till I can do it faster