has anyone done them...and if so...how far in advance can you make them before putting them on a cake???

One can make wafer paper (sometimes called rice paper) b'flies. They are easy and very real looking. They can be made months in advanced.

I ordered mine from fancyflours...you can see the picture of the cake I did with them in my photos. I actually used them on two cakes, but the second was so similar to the first I didn't post it here.
You can make them very far in advance if you want. They're easy to do, but cutting them out took a lot longer than I thought they would!


Jodie

You can make them with gelatin - they really look nice, and you can keep them a long time too. I have never seen any that look as pretty and real as these do. I am posting the link to the instructions for the bows and flowers, the butterflies are the same technique.

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-630413.html

Here is one I made from using this technique:

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1361256

I'm looking for the same thing, since I have a large cake that needs to be covered in butterflies. I've seen the gealtin ones but I pefer the look of the wafer paper, thin and natural looking. Does anyone have any tips or ideas they can share with us. I pm someone but she hasn't gotten back to me, that was last week too.

The gelatin ones are the thinnest ones I have ever seen, as thin as rice paper, IMO. (and easier to work with) I apologize - the one in my pics is the first one I made, after doing a few of them, they look much nicer.

on the site that we can,t mention.. you know.. sugar..... craft..... com.. but you put the words together... don,t know if this will go thru... she sells them.. and on the site... tells you exactly how they are done...hth

You cut out the wafer paper ones, bend them gently, paint them in piping gel and put in an egg carton to let them dry and hold their shape. Then I used edible glitters and dusts to paint mine.
What else do you want to know about doing them?

Jodie

There is a tutorial on the rice paper butterflies on this site. I tried them for the first time last week foe a cupcake bouquet and they turned out great..I just followed the tutorial....
http://www.cakecentral.com/article16-How-To-Make-Realistic-Edible-Butterflies.html

HTH,
Ashley