Making gumpaste roses......ooh....my back hurts!

On Saturday, I took out the gumpaste I made last time using the Wilton Gum-Tex. I was skeptical when I touched it. It was a bit on the hard side.

However, I kept on thinking about the advice given by this lady from a renowned British sugarcraft company that sells Celsticks that we should knead and re-knead gumpaste that has turned hard to soften it. On the container, Wilton even states that if the gumpaste has become hard, we may add some shortening before re-kneading.

The left rose is the 1st one I made and turned to be the best looking one.


The second rose.......hmm........the quality went downhill from No.2 onwards.

As it turned out, I didn't need any additional ingredients as my hands were naturally wet enough to soften the gumpaste. I actually just discovered that my hands are wet during my first fondant class at Mis's Creative Cakes. Kak Mis, the owner/instructor/sugarcraft extraordinairess told me so after observing my fondant at the time.......plus the trouble I was having with it....he...he.

The results. The red dot is the colour which didn't get properly kneaded into the gumpaste.

I only did about 5 very tiny pink roses and already my lower back hurt. How am I supposed to do bigger tasks with gumpaste if this is my condition. Oh, I need to be more resilient.

The pink roses are just 'exercise roses'. Of course, I want to do the whole rose spray thingy which brides just love to put on their wedding cakes. Later....later.....just not this day. My back needed that rest.