All you talented cake artists out there....please help! I havn't been doing any cakes for almost a year (work and life took over and my love of caking took a forced back seat!). But now I have a project I committed to a while ago coming up and I don't even know where to start! This cake is for a beautiful disabled client who's dream of meeting her pen pal family overseas is coming true and they are visiting her in Canada. Long story shorter, she wants several elements incorporated in the cake and I could so use some inspiration from all of you out there! Here are the elements she's like in the cake:
-herself in her wheelchair at the shore of a lake (would need to make her look wet, like she'd just been spashed)
-the family (couple and young son) maybe playing in water with her?
-a white owl (in a tree?)
She has given me free reign to do what I want, but these are the things that are important to her and I'd like to make her day special. But, for one thing, how do I make a gumpaste wheelchair!?
Help!
If anyone has any ideas, they would be welcome. I'm not a professional and this cake is a gift. My previous cakes are here http://cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-photos-by-maddiseeyore.html if you'd like to look. Thank you soooo much for any help!!! The cake is due Mar 27 and I'm starting to panic!!!
Jackie

Sounds like you have lots of gumpaste, modeling chocolate in your future. I would go online and do a search for simple wheelchairs and start making the pieces one by one with gumpaste and royal icing. Make your figure out of modeling choc. For the water, either piping gel or fondant with lots of lustre dust. Yep, I would do the fondant for water on this one since I would be afraid of piping gel breakin down parts of the wheel chair. Leaves of the tree and branches I would do in gumpaste as well. Good luck with this cake, I'll be watching for other tips. I could be way off on this. (I have a bad habit of making things harder than they have to be) Ugh!
At least you can go ahead and get started now on this one. Time for experiments.

Thanks for your reply keonicakes! I guess I will have to do a lot of experimenting!

I realized I should have put this post in a different forum so I'm going to put in in the Cake Inspiration one instead. Oops!

Wow - your cakes are incredible. As soon as I saw your panda figures I immediately saved them into my favorites You will have NO trouble making a wheelchair and the other elements of the cake - hope you post a picture I can't believe you were able to stop baking cakes for a year with your talent!!! I have work, school, stress and I'm not a fraction as talented as you yet I can NOT stop baking no matter how hard I try to stay away from the oven

Thank you for the comments luvmysmoother! I'm thinking I'll eventually figure out how to do the wheelchair but I have to admit figuring out how to incorporate all these things into one cake has me stumped! If you or anyone out there have any thoughts on the design don't hesitate to pipe in!! I'm coming up blank here and panic is going to set in fast!