I am fairly new to this site and I was just wondering, what are the rules regarding painting fondant? Do the colors ever bleed? (That one is the most important question I have about this whole subjuect...) What should you/should you not use as far as products go? Gel vs liquid food color vs moistened color dust, etc...Anybody? Thanks in advance for any replies.

Hey there,
Fondant can be painted with gel food colour that has been mixed with alcohol, I use Vodka, and applied with a soft artist's brush. I also use pearl dust mixed with alcohol to paint fondant.
Yes it will bleed, one colour into the next, so if you are doing a 'stained glass' design, you need to wait for each colour to dry. The fondant also must be dry to the touch before beginning (i usually wait 24 hours)....
Good luck
Angie

well, technically my DH painted this cake, but i watched him do it! LOL. he used americolor gel colors thinned just a tad with vodka. he used round and flat angled art brushes. if you let them dry they don't bleed at all.
i'll attach a pic

WOW Shorty56 that cake is GORGEOUS!!!
You should seriously promote this technique as a specialty of your business...Kudoz to your DH...

If you want a more watercolor effect, you can use airbrush colors and paint those on. I prefer that since they are already in liquid form and I can add a drop of each to mix colors.....I also had a 10 pack for the longest time with no airbrush so I had to make use of 'em!

And they sell this airbrush gold that is fantastic for adding gold effects without using/messing with dusts & vodka. I use two coats and it looks like real gold - way cheap too. I think the bottle was $8. HTH