Need help with pastillage recipes

Dear Loreta (or someone else),

I am failing miserably with your pastillage recipes and need help. Sorry this is a long post,.

This is my 3rd year making a gingerbread house with my 10-year-old son. He’s a fan of dragons and we’re making our second dragon castle. Last year he made a gingerbread dragon cookie that we glued together and stood up in his display. This year I wanted to try the pastillage for his dragon figure.

I was working on this yesterday and didn’t know if you (or someone else) would be popping in this weekend to answer posts, so I tried yesterday afternoon to make both of these recipes. Here were my questions and problems.

I first tried Deni's. I was confused about when (and how much) of Wilton’s gum tex to add. I tried adding a tablespoon to the gelatin mixture and wound up with a gloppy mess. I ended up throwing this stuff away before I added the powdered sugar. Should I have added the gum paste to the dry ingredients instead of the wet? Should I have waited till it cured to put in the gum paste? Did I put in too much? Does the gum paste only help curing time?

Then I tried Adam’s recipe. I thought I followed it precisely. I used the corn syrup. I wasn’t sure whether it should be refrigerated or not, so I let it sit on the counter overnight. The consistency is the same now as it was yesterday when I completed work on it. I can’t tell if I added too much water – or not enough. It seems to be both too sticky and too hard. I almost have to use all my strength to work it, but yet it sticks to my fingers. Definitely not any way close to modeling clay texture.

So my first question is, which recipe should I have used? Where did I go wrong on the recipe that I did use? Should I throw in the towel and get some ready-made stuff? If so, what should I buy? I really wanted to get it done today, but I could make another batch and work on it tomorrow. I just don’t want to mess up again.

On another note, I have really appreciated your site this past three years. It’s been really helpful. Last year in our local contest, my son won “Best Kid’s Entry” and “Most Fun” award for his creation. Your site sure helped in that attempt.

I noticed that you haven’t added many new pictures to your gallery this year. I run my husband’s web-site, so I know that it can be time-consuming to update. When we go to the contest this year, would you like me to take pictures of the entries and email them to you or not?

Thanks again for all your help.

Teresa