Slide Show On How To Make A Face! At Last It's Ready.....
Decorating By aine2 Updated 4 Jun 2013 , 2:17pm by NHQUEEN
Lorraine, thank you so much for taking the time to help all of us here in CCland that aspire to be like you! You make this look soooo easy. I will need to practice for MONTHS and MONTHS to make such a cute little nose. I think I'll print this out and laminate it, so I have it forever!!! (Or until I get good enough to not look at directions....so, when I'm 90!)
Honestly, Thank you for your wonderful gift.
Thanks you so much for the wonderful tutorial. I think figure modeling is my favorite part of decorating and I really learned a lot here. Your work is exquisite, and the tutorial is so clear and easy to follow. 
They're right... you really should write a book. I can hardly wait to put some of your techniques to good use. Thanks again, for taking the time to share! 
Thank you so much for taking the time to do this for all of us here at CC!! You have such wonderful talent and it means a lot to have you share with us!!
Ditto what everyone else has said! Your cakes are fabulous!
I have just one question - how long does it take you to make one of your little characters?
my gosh! i've been waiting for this!i just saw this thread and just found out that it is here already! 
...thanks aine! i saved it already in case i do not find this thread again!
I have just one question - how long does it take you to make one of your little characters?
I have been asked this question sooooo many times and all I can say is that it depends on the amount of detail the piece requires. The little characters can sometimes take twice as long as the the bigger ones. It also depends on what kind of clothes I put on the character. For instance, a jumper with long sleeves will take less time than if I put an open cardigan with a blouse collar and buttons, then pockets on the cardigan etc. I do get carried away with detail sometimes but I think that is what the attraction is. If the body is made with the legs crossed or in a position that requires some support until it dries, then that could delay the character for 24 hours. Then the head gets made and positioned and again this has to be left for 24 hours as putting the hair on adds more weight and will dry the head tilted. So you never complete a whole character in one sitting. Little ones with royal icing for hair can take 2 to 3 hours. Characters on chairs take up to a week as the chair has to be cut from paste and positioned and then covered and detailed and left to completely dry. That could take 2 days. Only then can you start building a character onto it, again in stages so it is a long process but it allows you to make other little bits and pieces inbetween. That's how long it takes me....I don't rush anything so it may take someone else less time. You need to be patient working on a character but it is worth the effort in the end.
This is a bit of a long explanation but I hope it helps! Thankyou for your interest. I thought everyone would be tired of looking at my characters by now but I'm happy to see different!
Tired of them? I LOVE them! I have one other question for you....when you build the body, many people have expressed that the figure becomes heavy and they have problems either getting the limbs to stay on or with the body just being to heavy to be supported by the cake underneath.
Do you connect your limbs with spaghetti? Is there ANY way to make a belly not so heavy? Besides a strict diet that is. 
The other thing is your clothes don't cling to the body, they hang (like real people). Do you prop the clothes in that position for them to dry?
Okay, sorry, that's a lot of questions.....I feel like I am talking to a famous person!! (squealing with delight )
Do you connect your limbs with spaghetti? Is there ANY way to make a belly not so heavy? Besides a strict diet that is.
The other thing is your clothes don't cling to the body, they hang (like real people). Do you prop the clothes in that position for them to dry?
I only use spaghetti for the head. For the limbs, just the smallest amount of glue to make the paste tacky and not soaking wet, otherwise the limbs will slide off. (been there, done that!) To attach them, use a little twisting action initially to connect the body paste to the limb paste and then get the arm or leg into the position you want it. If it is raised, then a piece if sponge should support it until it is dry.
The clothes start off as rectangular shapes mostly and I cut away what I don't need, allowing most of it to fall into position. If I don't want a tight fitting look, I use my paintbrush to tease away the paste from the body and just my finger tips to tweak certain areas. It's trial and error with this mostly and sometimes a pure fluke when the paste falls in a way that you never wanted it to but it looks better than you had thought!
For characters on chairs and beds, I make the design onto a cake card and I put dowels in the cake below to hold the weight. If I make a character directly onto a cake, I've never found it to be too heavy I have to say. The characters aren't huge really and I find that working with a lot of paste is more work than working with less....which makes sense I suppose! It just means that you have to be lighter fingered and more patient with the piece you are working on. Does that help at all?
thank you sooo much for sharing. For those of us, that are just starting out, some techniques for decorating, can be very intimadating. You have taken some of the fear out of triing new things, I hope the first time i try to make a face, i do you proud . once again thank you for you great help 
Lorraine, great tutorial. Where did you get hair thingy? Do you think a gralic press would work? I'm thinking I would have to push half way and add more mix depending on how long I wanted the hair. I suppose I could use one of those play-doh extruders. Been so long since had kids not sure if holes small enough. Guess I will make a trip to toy store. Thanks again, and I love your work.
Lorraine, great tutorial. Where did you get hair thingy?
I'm glad this tutorial slide show is still being useful. I thought it had disappeared!
The sugar gun was purchased in a craft store. Do you have a huge craft store called 'Micheals'? Perhaps they would have one. Otherwise I'm sure you will get one from e-bay. It's a great tool to have and worth the effort. A garlic press doesn't give you the lengths of hair that you need if you are going to create a longer style, but it has it's uses for other things so don't give up on it.
I need you to get to stop caking it up for a little while and start posting more! I need you to get to 100 posts so that I can nominate you! Thank you for sharing!
I need you to get to stop caking it up for a little while and start posting more! I need you to get to 100 posts so that I can nominate you! Thank you for sharing!
What a great expression "caking it up!" I'll need to use that in future! However, you're much too kind but thankyou soooooo much for your appreciation.
thank u soooo much for the slideshow aine2!! that is sooo helpful and i can't wait to try it out!! :0)
Great tutorial!! I have already bookmarked it on my computer!
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