Ok...I've worked with fondant (Wilton and MMF) for covering cakes and simple decorations - like cut out flowers/letters.
Now I'm working on a cake for my ds's 1st birthday party. My bright idea involves LOTS and LOTS of fondant. LOL So the first thing I did was go buy Satin Ice in the bolder colors that I need. LOVE it - easy to work with/tastes great!
But all my cutouts have cornstarch all over them - how do I get this off? I don't necessariy want them shiny - but definitely don't want them powdery. LOL
We're doing this theme:
I'm doing a 4 layer cake - approx. 8" block and I'll put one animal scene on each side. I have everything cut out except the borders and the zebra.
Some more questions - the stripes/dots on the backgrounds - would you have somehow made them into the background square - or paint them on? I did my squares solid and now I'm not sure how to add the lighter color...
I cut out darker circles and stripes for the giraffe and tiger - but I'm planning on just painting the zebra's stripes - sound ok?
Can I use liquid color to 'paint' with - or should I get some kind of dust to dilute...and for that matter can I dilute the liquid color some so that it will dry faster?
Any other tips for working with Fondant...tips on my cake? Sound like it will work?!
I used a damp brush and went over mine. It covers and gives a slight sheen without being shiny. I liked the effect.
Use a brush to brush off the extra cornstarch or a damp papertowel.
For dots, use a tip and press into the rolled fondant. You do this a few times and your dots will build up inside the round section of the tip. The use very little water and apply them onto your fondant. Or you can also use some RI that is very thin and brush it on. For the stripes your best bet is using a ruler so that they come out even. I think as far as your Zebra goes, you probably should stay with the theme and cut those out as well. Just make them pointy on one edge like an olongated triangle.
To "paint" on your fondant you can either use a gel or a dust and mix it with an everclear alcohol, vodka or lemon extract works well and smells better. Dilute your gel until you get your desired effect.
Another tip, is that when your working with fondant, you want to make sure you cover the pieces your not using or they will form an elephant skin as it starts drying. A ziploc works well.
Also, when your put your tiers together, mortar the joint of them with royal icing and smooth out with a wet finger. This will give you more of a professional look.
Thanks weirkd!!! 
I did a Safari themed cake recently and for my zebra pattern, I rolled out my white fondant to the desired thickness and then took my black fondant and rolled long spaghetti like pieces and laid it over the white. Then I covered the whole thing with a piece of parchment paper and rolled over that. It created a really natural zebra stripe because it freeformed under the rolling pin.
I'm with KathysCC, I don't use cornstarch to roll out my fondant - I only use shortening!
~Chelle
OK, same here, I use cirsco instead of PS to avoid my fondant from sticking, but now that you already have the powder on them, I would use a DRY brush and just brush it off.
For the backgrounds, I woud cut stripes in different colors and then with the rolling pin go over it to make them blend together and then cut the square for the background, same with circles, cut out the cirles and insert the darker color ont the empty spots and go over the with rolling pin.
Now, if you already have the other animals with cut-outs, I would do the zebra with cut-outs as well, BUT that is just me, I don't like to mix techniques (painting - cut-outs) again, that is just me.
If you decide to paint the stripes, then just dilute some black gel in some vodka and you should be ready to brush the color on the fondant.
HTH and LOVE the theme, can't wait to see pics!!!
It seem like I remember one of the Duff kids mention once that they spray the finished cakes with a light airbrush of vodka to take care of any cornstarch, etc on the finish and give it a little shine. I've never tried it, but it seems like it would work.
-Lori
i use shortening to roll out the fondant as well, BUT there are times when using a cutter, that its almost necessary to use cornstarch or p.sugar on the cutter/counter so it doesnt stick. in that case, YES you can spritz it with vodka if you dont have an airbrush. just spray lightly and from a distance so you dont get drips. if you dont have a spray bottle, lightly dip a brush in the alcohol and shake it or wipe it off a bit on a paper towel and brush the surface with the alcohol damp brush. dont use water, it will cause a stickiness that you dont want.
i agree that you should stick with the same method for the zebra stripes.
I bought a piece of vinyl at Joann's last week and was really pleased with the results. I put a VERY VERY light coating of crisco on it, not enough that you could even see it. It worked out perfectly and was a joy to work with. I could hold the vinyl vertically and gently pull away the vinyl as I eased the fondant onto the cake sides. I could also roll out my fondant all at once, stack it up on multiple sheets of vinyl and cover the whole thing with plastic and get each sheet as I needed it.
I can't even imagine the hassle of trying to get cornstarch or 10X off my fondant, I've always used crisco but the vinyl lets me use a lot less.
Thanks for all the tips!
So what you all are telling me is suck it up and color some fondant black. 
I didn't buy black satin ice - but I have chocolate and/or purple...I might just use one of those and paint it black...I really don't want the mess of coloring black! LOL
As for the edges - if it works out right (and I know it probably won't) I was just going to do a bead border of buttercream on the edges of the block - hoping that will be enough to meet the edges of the fondant - but if not I have the stuff for royal icing.
And thanks for the tips on the stripes/dots. This time I'll just have to paint them on - my background squares have been cut out for a couple days already - they're drying...good thing I cut them out early too - we're *finally* getting some rain!
Cake is DONE! Pics are in my gallery. Must be good 3 were favorites almost as soon as I uploaded! LOL
I learned a lot on this one. I probably shouldn't have let my backgrounds dry - I should have done those the day I did the cake so that I could put them directly on the cake.
Definitely stack the cakes and MEASURE LOL. I was sure I'd made my squares too small - they turned out too tall - and almost right on width. And how the heck do you paint with royal icing? I thinned mine with water and the painting still turned out lumpy and streaky. Over all, however, I was very pleased with his cake. Several people didn't bleieve that it was his cake until we cut into it!
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