I am making a dinosaur - rather one of those flying prehistoric monsters, a raptor I think it's called.  So I am making it out of rice crispies but I am trying to shape it on a wire.  How do you get the rice crispies to stick to the wire and what is the best recipe to use?  I used 10 oz of marshmallows, 6 cups of treats, and only 1 tablespoon of butter.   But it cools of really fast and doesn't want to stick much onto itself even.  More marshmallows?

yes more marshmallow--

i use the regular recipe less one cup krispies plus a shot of vanilla

i mold it hot into the general shape really pack it tight with buttered & re-buttered hands--

it's a little independent --works against you --gotta arm wrestle it

keep packing and smoothing until it cools enough to hold a bit and set into a former or a mold

check it in a few & make sure it din relax on yah

and have the supporting wires & whatever planted in there as you mold

then it's gotta sit for overnight at least so the marshmallows mellow in there and do their gelatinous thing

then you can trim it and finish the detail on the sculpt the next day

i use a microplane to smoothy smooth the surface out

i don't know how they mold that room temp stuff on tv and often it fails them but anyway...

some people add melted choco for some boost (i don't)

but it def needs an over night to set before handling/continuing

Thank you!  I did try it once already but could not get the mix to stick to the wire skeleton - it just kept "dancing" around the wire....I tried wrapping the wire with floral tape.  That didn't help either. 

I really feel that I need that wire in there as this creature sits on just part of the cake's edge and sort of wraps itself around.  It has a long tail too, that goes around the bottom tier and I feel that if I don't put a wire in there it'll snap too easily.

Any suggestions on what kind of wire and/or how to treat it so the mix will stick to it?

can you switch to wood?

i mean rkt are sliceable when they finally set up too

how big is it?? oh wraps around the tier? wow

oh --make it in pieces and snap it together with popsicle sticks?

maybe

yah I made a tire--prolly 16 inches (laying down though)

and it was plenty flexible till i got the fondant over it <whew>

I always use melted candy melts to glue the rice krispies together and fill in gaps. I've seen people on tv shows do it too. It makes the RK dry rock solid.

Thank you.

I've been reading alot of different posts on the subject.  I don't think I want to use butter cream but I do want to use fondant as the final coating.  Do you know what to cover the RKT sculpture with first?  I heard of brushing with melted candy melts, cooling, smoothing, but then what?  The fondant goes right on top of the cooled candy melt?  Does it stick?

AIt will stick,but if the surface is bumpy you'll get bumps showing through the fondant,somale sure to smooth it down. You can wet the surface of the rice krispies a little before sticking the fondant on and that will help it stick.

What did I do wrong??

I took a wire and shaped it in general form, mixed RKT, pressed and pressed it on. Allowed to sit over night. This morning there are pieces on the counter...pieces just fell off.

I used 6 cups of Rice Krispies which I processed a bit in the food processor (coarse chop, no dust).

10 oz of marshmallows

2 tablespoons of butter (instead of the 3 the recipe calls for)

Why did the pieces fall?

And also, it is still slightly soft, not terribly, but a bit. Is that ok?

From here I microplane and sculpt the shape, the brush with candy melts, allow to cool, then add thin layer of shortening (or not necessary?) and cover with fondant right?

I am going to do it again, with no butter. 

gravity not butter is your issue

(you have two posts going?)

Yes, I see what you mean about gravity.

I messed up with the posts, so I ended up with 2.  Not sure how to "consolidate" them or if that is even possible.

I just tried a mix of cereal, marshamallow, candy melts, and very small percentage of butter.  Went on much easier, minimal drooping from gravity, and drying faster.  See how it turns out.

got my fingers crossed

AWhen you're putting the rice krispies on the wire,mix in a bunch of melted candy melts in with it, then it will dry hard. Don't wait to coat them with the candy melts afterward. The candy melts help hold it together on weird shapes.

When you use the candy melts instead of marshmallows do you use the same amount?  10 oz of candy melts instead of 10 oz of marshmallows?

Also, is the working time shorter with the candy melts?

Ok, I just want to make sure I am understanding you correctly: so you make the RKT recipe ( cereal, marshmallow, butter) and then you have an undetermined amound of melted candy melts on the side.  As you grab some of the RKT mix you add a little of the melted candy melt and press piece in place.

OR

you don't mix in the candy melt, you just use your hands to shmear it on the pieces as you....  (I think this is what you are saying, just wanted to get it right before I try one more time).

I did a mix of RKT regular but added about 20% candy melts to it.  I wrapped the figure in plastic (to secure pieces in place and to protect from humidity) and placed it in the freezer for 1 hour.  It came stiff and very "handable",  I microplaned it, but the stiffness it had wore off after about an hour and it was a bit soft again - not terribly though.

So now I want to try it again only covering it with the candy melts as I go.

Thanks for your patience in explaining!

Either option would work, but option two is basically what I do.