Ok I feel dumb for not knowing this but I am terrified of tring gum paste and royal iceing because I don't know anything about it! but which one can you leave out for long time or seal it with something to make it last for a very long time so they don't decay or go bad.?
And for fondent can you use chocolate molds to do little pieces? and any tips on makeing things easier would be greatly helpful..TIA..
Lisa

Hey Lisa...I myself really don't use royal icing. I always use BC or/and fondant. When I use fondant, if I can't mold it by hand, I may use cookie cutters, molds, or anything that will give me the look I am going for. I always look at fondant as play-doh, it becomes whatever you want it to I am sure that someone here can answer your question a little better..but this is just my opinion...LOL Good Luck!!

Beth

Hello,
Don't feel dumb! Everybody is nervous about starting new things. Don't be with these though. Both can be left out as long as they are sealed very well! They will both dry out if left unsealed.
With gumpaste, I use either the premade Satin Ice brand or I have used Wilton's gumpaste mix which you add water and powdered sugar to. It is great for making flowers and decorations that will last forever. You can use chocolate molds with gumpaste to make little decorations or they have actual gumpaste molds you can get too (try www.firstimpressionsmolds.com ). As far as I know you don't have to store gumpaste in the frig or anything and it will last for months. Just keep it in a cool dry place.
With royal icing, I use Wilton's recipe for that and have no problem with it. I find that you definitely have to follow the recipe to the letter though and the amount of water you need to add will depend on the humidity that day. Royal icing is affected greatly by humidity and you just have to not put in as much water. You have to keep it covered at all times though, even when your using it. I keep a wet towel nearby to tuck the tips of my decorating bags into so that is doesn't harden in the tips. Royal icing will also last quite awhile but you have to stir it really well if its been sitting awhile because it tends to seperate. You can also keep royal icing decorations for a very long time after they are dry. Just make sure they are in a tight storage container and in a cool dry place.
I hope this wasn't too long and that it helped a bit,
Heather

Not sure what you mean. But if you mean before you use them, well personally, I don't find that Royal Icing keeps well after it is made up. Sometimes I cover a bowl with a damp paper towel or preferrably, a damp dish towel, and then enclose the whole thing in a plastic air-tight bag and use it the next day. Or some people refrigerate it well sealed and re-whip and use it, up to a week or so. This doesn't work well for me, likely has something to do with humidity. So I tend to use my royal icing within 24 hours when possible. I make it with meringue powder or a mix, I don't use raw egg whites anymore due to salmonella concerns.
Fondant will keep for somewhere up to about 3 months when really well sealed - I double freezer bag it.
When you make up your decorations, well air dry them well and completely. I find for thicker royal flowers and such it takes a week to two weeks for them to dry well. Fondant, usually a week for thicker things.
How long do they keep? Well keep them in a dry cool place, anything under 75F works, out of the light including room lighting and sunlight as this can cause the colours to change. I store them in a cardboard box. Since I make a lot of my flowers in fondant on a toothpick or wooden shiskabob skewer and some on wires, I use a sheet of styrofoam insulation and just poke them in it. I cut the styrofoam to fit a large cardboard box. I dry a lot of my fondant flowers either upside down or sideways so the petals don't droop. Usually I take a sheet of styrofoam and put it over a large surface container like a pot or a big Rubbermaid container and stick them in the styrofoam upside down.
Royal icing and fondant flowers keep at least for a year, probably even longer. I have some fondant flowers from 18 months ago and they are still fine.
Don't be afraid to start. Of the two fondant (or gumpaste) flowers are likely the easiest because you are really just piecing together bits of fondant, it is sort of like using Play-Doh. I use Royal glue to adhere things, that is one teaspoon of meringue powder to 1 tsp. of water, brush on with a small decorator brush. I use this to make sure the centre bulb of a flower sticks to the wire or toothpick I am using.
Royal Icing flowers take more skill, you have to be good at piping. However they are not difficult either. The trick for many is to use a foil lined lily nail. Always use the cheaper foil, the lightweight foil or the flowers will break when you go to remover them should you use the heavy duty foil.
Other Royal Icing decorations like lattice hearts and fine work, pipe them. Let dry for at least 24 hours, flip them over and re-trace your piping on the other side. This will give them added strength. Then let them dry really well, again, I try to allow about a week.
Always make about 1/3 more decorations than you think you will need, because you do get breakage.
To strengthen fondant decorations, I tend to use Wilton fondant because it has a hardening agent added. Sometimes I add a bit of a hardening agent like Gum-tex to it. For larger flowers and for figures, you need to use gumpaste. For larger sculptures or figures you need to add supports like wooden dowels or toothpicks to say, hold a head onto a body and such.
For piping Royal Icing animals and such, again, you need support inside. Usually toothpicks will do.
Hope that helps. Oh yes, I have never taken any courses in either and yet, I was able to follow methods from books and improve on some, just by experimenting, so it can be done. I would suggest setting aside a fair amount of time for experimenting and to do a large amount of decorations, for future use. For example, often I will set aside a week to do Royal Icing flowers, a few weeks to do a few hundred fondant roses and such. Fondant and gumpaste flowers are very time consuming, but well worth the effort.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

I took an advise from this side and pop my royal icing stuff into the oven for a few minutes at 170 F (lowest setting on my oven). It hardens really fast and shortens the drying time immensely (spelling?)

Thank you so much ..for all the info..it helped alot .I am gonna do a sugar egg for thanksgiveing and practice useing royal iceing and I am gonna make little(flat) snowmen to put on our Christmas cake.. and practice flat creations (flat, I mean put parchment paper and make stuff like u can buy @ the store Like the happy birthday lettering and animals) of coarse they won't look like them but just to give u an idea of how i am gonna practice them

Good for you. Don't let fear of anything new stop you, you are going to do just fine!
Hugs Squirrelly