Hi Everyone, I have a question for those of you who make your own figures. I have a wedding cake in June and the bride would like the bride and groom topper water skiing. I haven't been able to find any,( I know that's her job, but it would narrow the theme of the cake, so I just thought I'd look around on the web to see if I could find any out there) It's a second marriage and she wants a fun cake. I was thinking of trying to make them myself. For those of you who make them, how do you charge? Ok, now I think I'll hope over to youtube and watch some tutorials.

paulstonia - It sounds like that might be a fun cake to do. I make figures for a hobby and haven't really sold any, but I can tell you they can be very time consuming. You won't have much invested in the materials for making a figure, but you have to be sure you get paid for your time. Check out some of the websites that do custom cake toppers. They can be very expensive. Good Luck!

I create figurines and sell them all over the united states. I have been doing them for a year. I will tell you it is very time consuming to create them especially the custom bride and groom toppers. I charge based upon the complexity of the design and how long it takes me. Such as a bride and groom, when I create them they have to be created in segments so that each part will dry properly I would never want one to come apart on someone. My pricing is based upon the materials which is usually minimal like price has indicated. I add up the hours involved in creating the figures and then charge an hourly fee for my time. My bride and groom toppers begin at $200. The reason for that is the time involved like I said, especially for figures that are standing or in a position that requires alot of extra work to make them look natural. To get them standing and to remain that way will require making them in segments so that each piece is fully setup before moving to the next step. There are many sites that do hand made cake toppers that my give you some ideas, alot of them are done in clay but the way I look at it a figurine in clay is created the same way as it would be in gumpaste and some of them are charging several hundred dollars. I hope I was able to give you some ideas with the pricing. I wish you the best!!

Price, and donnalane, thanks so much for the advice. I took a look at your pictures and both of your figures are just adorable. I've only made animals so far, so I'm not sure I'm up to making people but I've always wanted to try. I'll give it some practice before I even mention it to the bride. Thanks again.