I am working on the figures for a Nightmare Before Christmas cake for a friend. I'm trying to make Jack and I'm having trouble. What is the best approach to do this? Should I make him in seperate pieces let them dry then piece it together? This is my first time taking on a cake like this, it's mostly just practice, but I want to do the best I can.

How I do my figurines is make the body, arms and legs attached...depending on how it will be displayed. I use a skewer through the entire body to support it and leave enough room for the head to be put on. I the place the figure on styrofaom until dry. If I do the body seperate from the limbs then I let them dry first as the weight of the figure will squash the legs....does that make sense??

HTH

There's some figure making tutorials here:

http://sugarsweetcakesandtreats.blogspot.com/

Jack has very skinny arms and legs. If I was going to attempt it I would definitely make him out of gumpaste and not fondant. Gumpaste will dry much harder. Because he is so thin I think I would make him from one piece except the head and hands because they will have to be white. Post pictures and let us know how it turns out Good luck!

It's tricky for me because the only thing I have at my disposal is fondant. I'm new to Germany, and havent figured out where to find the tylose or gumtex, we don't have it at our comissary, so I have to try to find it at a German store. I'm thinking maybe I'll make him sitting down on the cake, then I wont have to worry about his legs being sturdy enough to hold him up.

I made 'Bertie' Badger complete out of fondant without Tylo or gumpaste added and he seemed to harden nicely over 2 days and attached his head, arms and legs with a little bit of water. I also think it depends on the size of your figure. Sorry the only picture I have is of him packaged up ready to go with a cupcake order.