i am trying my hand for the first time with figurines. my first try was pretty good but i'm still so uncomfortable since i know nothing!!!!

i just have a couple of questions to help guide me:

1. how far in advance can i make "people" and figures? i have my nieces birthday cake due sunday and i would love to make them as far in advance as i could. If YES, how are they then stored?

2. i have researched some on CC and it appears that some of you use fondant only for figures while others use gumpaste/fondant mixture and others just gumpaste. Which is recc.... and if you say gumpaste/fondant what the ratios?

THANK YOU ALL IN ADVANCE!!!
Mar

Making the figures now for Sunday is definitely not too soon! As a matter of fact, I like to make mine at least a couple of weeks ahead to give them plenty of time to dry. You can still make them for Sunday, but the sooner the better.

I use Satin Ice fondant mixed with a little Tylose powder. I don't really measure, I just put a little Tylose on my board and knead it into the fondant.

What type of figure are you planning to make?

You can make fondant figures way ahead of time. I make mine weeks in advance if I have time and I place them in a glass curio cabinet that I have saved just for this purpose.

I either use a 50/50 mixture of fondant/gumpaste or just recently I didn't have any gumpaste so I mixed some tylose powder in with my fondant (about 1 tsp to about a tennis ball size piece).

When you use a mixture the figures will harden quicker and get quite a bit harder then just plain fondant. Same with the tylose it speeds up the drying time.

If the kids will eat the figures I'd do them in just plain fondant so they won't be "rock" hard.

I agree with dkelly. My grandsons love to eat the figures so when I'm making them a cake, lots of times I'll just use the straight fondant, but adding Tylose does makes working with the fondant a little easier in my opinion.

Thank you all so much. i knew i could count on you!!! I am trying to make little figurines for a pool cake... one in an intertube... one climbing out.. one with just the legs out of the water (so it looks like their head is under-water).. anyway............... i had no idea they should dry first before applying them. Will i run into a problem doing them so late? and also, so did i gather that i should leave them out to dry, not store them in a container?

I will sometimes leave them on my table on a board and cover them loosely with a cotton towel. Do you live in a humid area? Humidity can effect the figures.

Your idea sounds so cute. Be sure to post a picture of your cake!