Simple steps in cutting out gumpaste images on a Cricut!

Earlier today I was watching the Ultimate Cake Off on TLC (a recorded episode) and one of the contenstants used a Cricut (original one) to cut out gumpaste and add to her cake!  Looked great but int he end she lost - i think it was because the judges didn't like that she didn't hand make the decorations.... oh well, I don't have her years of experience or talent so I will use my cricut! 

Below is an updated set of steps that explains how to use a Circut (or any electronic cutting machine for that matter) to cut out gumpaste for cake decorating. I have the Cricut so that is what I used. It just takes some patience, trial and error... Once you get the hang of it you can cut out letters and shapes but I would not recommend it for small details. It works best for larger more basic shapes or pictures. For the record I did not come up with this idea. A little over a year or more ago I started finding several threads written by different people on various forums that mentioned it. Based on the information I found I gave it a try, but it didn't work ;(.  So I played and played and then finally found a method that worked for me using gumpaste.  Read a previous post with some additional information.

1. First you need gumpaste. Fondant is too soft and doesn't dry fast enough. If you can't find gumpaste, mix about 1 tbs of gum-tex per lb of fondant.

2. Roll out gumpaste into a thin 'sheet' using pasta machine. You need to get the gumpaste as thin as you can get it without being able to see through it when you hold it up.

3. Let gumpaste dry slightly - just dry enough to hold it's shape but not so dry that it cracks or isn't at all pliable.  This is the most important thing about all of this - too wet and it makes it bunch up too dry and it pushes it ....

4. Prepare mat - remove glue form cricut mat OR use the backside of it! OR get a regular plastic chopping mat found a the Dollar store and if necessary cut it down to fit your machine. Lightly 'grease' with Crisco/shortening - this will act as the 'glue' to hold the gumpaste while being cut.

5. If making a small cut, position gumpaste or image 'between' the machines rollers (so that they don't leave a mark on your image). If making a large cut you need to move the middle rollers to the sides.

6. Use any cartridge you have for your cricut to cut out gumpaste images or use any SVG file you have via SCAL or MTC software.

Machine Used: Cricut Expression
Blade: the regular blade (not the deep cut one)
Pressure Setting: settings vary depending on how dense/stiff the gumpaste has gotten - mine is usually set to 4 but I've also used 5.  What I do is make a test strip of gumpaste and then play with the pressure setting until it works/I get the result I want. 
Speed:  is always set to medium (by default) - I just leave it there.

If you search Google and YouTube you will find various methods for cutting gumpaste and for cutting a cool prodcut called SugarVeil.  Plus a lady who is selling a video she put together. I've never seen it so can't comment on it's content. And Provo Craft (the company that makes the Cricut) has now built and is selling a version of the machine just for cake decorating.  I'm sure others will follow.