I am new here but hope to some day be even half as good as you guys. I have purchased some cake dummies to practice on but I have a question.
They are simple styrofoam forms. Should I coat them or cover them with something before I use them? It seems like I could have a real mess on my hands if I don't. Any guidance you can give would be greatly appreciated!

i covered mine in fondant 6 months ago and they still going strong!!!

some people cover them in plastic wrap, others in icing.

Hi!

If you want to cover it in fondant all you need to do it sprinkle a bit of water or smear a little piping gel on the dummy before hand and then put the fondant over that and it should stick, and when you want to remove it i just read a good idea in another post by another cc'er that all you need to do is put in it a plastic bag and smash it on the floor and the fondant will break off and then you can reuse it again lol

If you are using buttercream you will want to cover it like said above in plastic wrap so when you finish you can just peel the plastic off with the buttercream and throw it out and reuse the dummy again

HTH

Oh also forgot to add if you are doing fondant it is a good idea to soften the top edge of your dummy because it might be too sharp and the fondant might break, you can soften it just with a ruler or some sort of object so you get a very slight rounder edge.

Thanks!