Ive never used fondant before, but i need to make butterflys for a cake and i wanted to try it. How would i use different colors for the butterfly,and do you think it will get hard enough that it wont have droopy wings. Can any of you give me some pointers that i might need so i dont screw this up? thanks

Dandy
I made butterflies out of gumpaste(the cake is in my pix) but fondant works the same. They are real easy! You'll need to add Gum-Tex to your fondant so it will dry hard. You could also make these out of Gum Paste which is the same texture as fondant but it dries rock hard without having to add anything to it. Color your fondant the colors you want for the butterflies. I made different colored ones so I just seperated pieces of the gumpaste and colored each one and then wrapped each ball in siran wrap air tight till I needed it. Get a cookie cutter of a butterfly. Have some corn starch available. I took a shirt box and cut it into 5" wide strips and then I folded the cardboard to form a "V" shape. You'll use this to set your butterflies in to dry if you don't want them flat. I think they look more realistic this way. Put a sprinkling of corn starch on the card board "molds" so that when you put your butterflies on it they won't stick when drying. Roll your fondant (or gumpaste) to about 1/4 inch thickness. use the cookie cutter to cut out the shapes and then carefully place them in the cardboard mold to dry. Once they're dry (which will take a couple days) then you can pipe on the bodies with royal icing and let them dry. You could add designs on the wings too. You can either pipe the anteni (sorry if spelled wrong) or use stamen. If you use the stament - put them in when the royal icing is still wet. Hope this helps.

BJ, darling cake and I love the butterflies!

BJ, thank you soo much, i think i will try gum paste, do i buy it or make it? Im printing out your info so i dont forget anything. lol thanks!

Samsgranny - thank you for the compliment.

Dandy - you can make your own from scratch but I buy it. I buy it from my local craft store - Michaels. It comes in a can and it's in a powder form. You just add water. It has directions on the box. The cake supply stores sell it already made (kind of packaged like you find pre-made fondant). Good luck. Let me know if I can help you with anything. I'll be away from ALL computers this Thursday through Sunday. Going on a much needed mini-vacation. I'll be back on line Monday morning bright and early. Good luck.