I'm making a cake this week for my son's 2nd birthday that is planned to be Sesame figures on a sailboat. I can't seem to find anything on making the fur for characters like Elmo & Cookie Monster. I've heard about the scissor method on baking shows but don't remember instructions.

Also- how long should i let the gumpaste sail dry- am i better off trying to keep it completely flat or curved- glue vs. tying onto dowels (i'm afraid of melting and/or ripping through the holes and the sails falling off).
How many back ups should I prepare to have as well.

Thanks!

The times that I've done "fur" before I have used royal icing and a grass tip (multi hole tip). Once, when I couldn't find the right tip and needed grass I rolled out a fondant rope and basically attacked it with some baby scissors. The pony ride cake in my photos is the one with the fondant "grass." If you want to take a look!

Good luck.

I think it would depend on the type of hair you wanted to make. Say you wanted short furry hair I might use the grass tip, but if you wanted say longer shaggy hair I would use a Fondant Clay Extruder.

Hope this helps,
Tammy

In regards to the sails.

I would roll a "thin" piece of Gumpaste (or fondant), cut it into the shape I needed, and then let it sit out for a couple of days with cornstarch sprinkled over it to help it dry.

Then you could use RI (or melted candy) to attach the sails, top and bottom, to the rods.

Thank you! I just started the figures. Big bird was up first. I was using royal icing and i found that when i used the grass tip for a minute or two- it started to get very running and gloppy. I tried refrigerating it for a few minutes - but it didn't help- was still runny. Any suggestions?

Ok, first the idea of the grass tip, #233 is great and it does clog up on you often if you do not make sure there are no clumps in your icing before you fill bag and also you need to wipe tip off, often.

I am going to make a plug for a site that I just finished a trial membership on. It is yummyarts.com or yummyart.com? anyway you get a free month membership and they have 3 videos dealing with sesame street characters in the library. They are kind of differently named and I am sure that that is because of copyright laws, but they are somewhat colored on the edge you see on the shelf it isn't too hard to figure it out. That might help you out and I learned a lot on that site in just a month. I have been trying out a lot of different stuff this month to try to remember as much as I can that I learned. I am hoping that I can join it soon and be a paying member. Good luck.

on how long to let your sails dry? it depends on where you live and how humid it is. I wouldn't think that you would need more than a couple of backups, at the most. YOu will know when you lift up on one gently whether it is dry or not.

Are your hands too warm? Maybe the heat is melting the RI in the bag.

Not really- the bag does get warmer quickly- maybe i'll try wearing gloves. It could be a little humid- not sure. I tried refrigerating for a few minutes but that didn't help and i tried varying the texture of the icing but that didn't help either. Maybe I'll try doing long strands and cutting it. So strange.

Royal icing doesn't melt - it is just egg whites and powdered sugar, so the fridge won't change anything. If it is too runny, you can try adding more powdered sugar to stiffen if, and use a mixer with the paddle attachment to mix it in a little at a time (you don't want to incorporate a lot of air into the royal but you want the mixture to get thicker). It will take some time to dry if it is very humid where you are. You could also try a small round tip, and make very short individual hairs (the royal should be stiff enough to hold a point). That might be easier to handle than the grass tip. Either way you're gong for texture not hair so don't make it long.

Your other option is fondant/gumpaste or even modeling chocolate with lots of little snips from a small, sharp pair of scissors.

HTH. Good luck!

http://cakecentral.com//gallery/1993680
This is the Sesame Street cake i made...i made my characters out of rkt and piped on their fur using royal icing. Sounds like you definitaly need more ps! Good luck!

ps i used the grass tip for all the characters except for big bird... i used a leaf tip on him