I am making a phoenix and dragon rehearsal dinner cake that is going to be styled after the image I attached. My question is how can I make the fondant on the cake look like the handmade paper with the little flecks and pieces in it? Any thoughts?
I hope I attached the image correctly.

Ok..so this is a long shot but here it goes.

Awhile back i was making a frito cake(it's in my photos)..i needed to get the texture just right and couldn't figure it out. Janet from janetscakes gave me a fabulous tip...crush up graham crackers and kinda knead it into the gumpaste. It was perfect, it gaves the flecks of texture i needed. I just tinted the gumpaste to the color of fritos.
Now what if you tried that and see if that didn't give you some texture...OR...I know some homemade paper has flecks of color in them..how 'bout crushing up some colored jimmies and rolling that in the fondant OR crushing up some sort of colored sugar cookie. Now i'm just thinking outloud..lol.;0)
HTH

Knead it on top of a dusty dresser.

LOL...j/k!

I'm thinking she's on the right track kneading something in....maybe some crushed brown sparkle dust or something...? Then take a VERY fine tipped paintbrush and actually paint in the little hairlines...cuz I'm not sure how else you can get that part.

Those are all good ideas. I like the tip about painting in the little hairlines. I was thinking I need to knead something into the fondant, I just wasn't sure what. I was actually thinking about coloring some wafer paper kind of gray and black, letting it dry, and then tearing it into tiny bits and kneading into the fondant. I wonder if I could put the wafer paper into a blender. This cake isn't due until May, so I've got plenty of time to experiment. And I think it's going to take a lot of trial and error.

A couple of times, while making MMF, I have added gumpaste powder when it's still liquid. Both times I did it at this point, instead of kneading it in once I've added ps, it has made tiny clumps that I cannot get out. The last time it happened the fondant for siding on a birdhouse so it just made it look like real wood. The fondant tasted fine both times, it just wasn't the look I was going for at the time. I think this would work well for an antique paper look.

What about rolling out your paper, then take a paintbrush dipped in various colors, one at a time, and 'flick' the brush with your other hand over the paper?