I am doing a turtle cake and have found one on Cake Lava that I really like. However, I'm trying to figure out how they did all the connected circles. I'm thinking maybe they were painted? Any ideas?

http://cakelava.com/wedding_gallery.html

The actual cake is on the 4th page and is the 3rd cake down on the very left column.

The circles look like fondant to me. And the toppers are probably fondant that has been dried for stiffness and attached to a wire, skewer, or stick.

They look like fondant cutouts - but I'm not the expert here!
HTH