Help! I have a cake due next weekend and on the top tier the customer is requesting to have hands ( about the size of an adults) to cup something in them. Does anyone know if I should make them from gumpaste or will that be too heavy to stand up on the top tier? Maybe RKT covered in fondant? I would really appreciate input on this one.
Thanks

I would use candy clay or modeling chocolate--maybe a combination of that and gumpaste.

I might use some dried out twizzlers for some internal support. Not the kind that tear apart in little strings but the old fashioned kind.

I'd make two or three.

But are they laying down or standing up on the top of the cake?

If they're laying down I'd delete the twizzlers.

I wonder if you make a mold out of plaster of paris, and once dry cover in plastic wrap and mold fondant or gumpaste into the mold. Or make a sugar mold. Here is the recipe for the sugar mixture: 2 cups granulated sugar mixed with 4 teaspoons of water. Place sugar in a large mixing bowl. Mix sugar, making sure there are no lumps. Make a well in sugar and add water (If you are tinting the sugar , blend icing color into water at this point). Rub mixture in hands and knead for about 1 minute or until well blended and mixture packs like wet sand. Be sure there are no lumps in mixture. Note: Keep sugar mixture covered with a damp cloth when not in use. Pack into mold. Allow sugar to dry at least 24 hours ( Time varies by size of mold) Carefully remove the molded sugar from mold. Do not squeeze or it will crack. I have never tried to make anything of this size, so I'm not entirely sure how long it would take to dry. Good Luck whether you try this method or not.

The hands will be standing up, like you were gonna cup them to hold something in them.
I have never used either the modelling chocolate or the sugar mold methods. How would I use the twizzlers as support?
Could I start with a wire internal structure?

Sure you could use wire.

Depending on the crowd I'm making the thing for-- I go either way--either all edible or not. Sometimes you can't avoid it--using non-edibles I mean.

If you air dry the twizzlers you could use them the same way you would use wire. It's just a thought--not positive how it would work out--I'd try it though for hands.

Thanks K8Memphis, I will give it a go.
Thanks for the help it is greatly appreciated!