Its lovely to be part of such a talented group of people!! the work on here is fab!

so grateful for the tips for the figures and hair will remember for next time! I just did a bride and groom and their dog for a wedding last week, and the brides hair was a bit 'woolly' but luckily her hair is like that anyway and they loved the cake! The wedding cake photo in my photos.

will have to use the smaller holes on the extruder next time to make it finer! In fact I think I will have a practice now!

I haven't read through the whole thread, but check out the clay books -- fondant is like a sugar clay and all the same principles apply. Lorraine has awesome tutorials too. Check YouTube, there's a whole clay figure subculture there! Lindy Smith has some good info in her books and of course there's always the people here on CC!

Hi, I'm sure this question must be lurking somewhere in the depths of the forums but I'm having trouble finding it so thought I'd ask again.

Would someone be able to give me some basic instructions on how to go about modelling. I tried it last year and it was ok at the time but I don't think I stored the figurines properly because they wen't really brittle and I spent most of the morning glueing things back together with icing sugar

I'd used a sugarpaste mixed with CFC a little bit at a time - any suggestions, if so, please don't abbreviate things, I'm a true novice but wanting to make a retirement cake next week with a man next to a camper van.

Lou
xxx

Awesome tips! Thanks so much...gotta keep watching this one!

LouRogerson wrote:

It's normal for the pieces to become brittle after they dry, especially things like strands of hair, fingers, etc. You just have to store them carefully so they won't get bumped or knocked over.

Thank you all for the great info

FlourPots..THANK YOU so much. I never ended up making this cake and I just noticed all this wonderful information that you posted. Your lady figure is awesome!!!

when doing the figure with her legs hanging over the edge of the cake would you sit her on a toothpick that goes into the cake? and would you leave her off for delivery? i dont think she would travel too well on the cake edge especially if it was a bc iced cake. any thoughts on this??

You're welcome nina...I wondered if you had ever made the cake...
Glad you like my little figure...I've posted another one since...they're so much fun to do!

sweetcakes...never actually made one for a cake, but I would use a toothpick or two if needed, and I wouldn't travel with her on, even if secured.

thanks so much for all the help everyone, this thread is great

Nina, I am glad you posted the question, b/c I was just coming in to ask the same thing LOL..

Flourpots.... thanks so much for your detailed info... I'll PM you if I make it this weekend. I got some of the tutorials from Aine2 too, but haven't been brave enough to try it.

Anna

Floupots....do you nuke your fondant and get it really soft before putting it in the extruder? I have that same extruder and have a hard time getting out my fondant.

LuvLyrics...that's cool...good luck with yours.

ddaigle...I ALWAYS microwave my fondant before putting it in the barrel...if it has tylose though, it comes out funky...without tylose, it's usually fine, but I just started coating it a little with Wilton glycerin (after it's been heated in the mic and before putting in the extruder)...I absolutely love it, it feels like baby oil...I won't extrude any other way now. I did this for all the yarn in my recent basket cake, and the hair on my most recent little figures.

I haven't tried it with fondant that has tylose yet...but I'm hoping it'll make a difference.

My fondant already has Crisco in it...I add a 1/2 cup right in with the MM's when I'm melting them. Best tip I ever read here...by jeking.
(If I plan to dye it a dark color I add 1/3 cup instead)

So, I don't add any more Crisco before extruding...and I used to just warm it and put it in...now I coat it in glycerin.

When I say coat, I mean I cover the opening of the Wilton bottle with my (clean) finger and turn it upside down...what's on my finger, I smear on the piece...I might do that one more time if it's a larger piece, but that's it, never any more, or it'll come out on the strands.

Thanks for all the great info!

Im new to gumpaste... but love this tutorial and tried to give it a go.. BUT I dont understand how the brown capri part is attached to the body? Do I make the legs seperate and then attach when dry? If so.. then how do I attach? Do I attach right away?

And why is she so shiny? was she steamed? My fondant gets dry and hard pretty quickly. Thanks for any help!

Jennifer

subing

I'll try to help jenbug1...

First...definitely not steamed...never even tried that before, LOL.
In person, she looked closest to the final photo...some shine on her clothes, shoes, purse, and hair - but not overly so.
I never once wished I had toned her down...and believe me, that's exactly what I would've been feeling if she had looked too shiny.
Pic 4 is way off...it could be lighting...not sure...I'm terrible at taking photos.

The capris & two lower legs (with shoes) are separately made pieces. The capris are not covering legs...I'm not sure if you thought that?

I attached the capris to the torso pretty quickly, but the legs were quite dry when they went on...and I just used plain water to do it.

Fondant mixed with tylose is much easier to work with than gumpaste, in my opinion.

Thank you SOOOmuch. I made a person, and shewas awful. actually the clothes looked good, cute shoes, had made a scarf to cover up the awful neck/attachment, but my pants split in the back and the torso fell off. But myhead was awful. it looked... dumb. the hair was wonderful though, I was modleing after a girl with brown hair with blonde highlights and made a brown rope and put in a few yellow peices, then as it extruded it mixed in. great for foks with highlights.

I hope I can do this- I mgiht practice tomorrow.

FlourPots thanks so much for the reply. I dont know why I said gumpasate.. I am using fondant mixed with tylose. I made the legs (capri pants) and sat them on the edge of a cake pan to dry in a sitting shape.. is that what you do?

You did such a great job on the tutorial.. my torso looks great and using the spoons for the boobs and belly were perfect! Im gonna keep working on her! Im afraid she is gonna fall too pieces though! We'll see!

A lot of great ideas. Can't wait to try them out.

You're welcome

I started off the capris on the 6" pan in the photos, but that was mostly for size reference...since I was planning to use that pan to make a few layers of cake, I moved them to the plastic bowl in pic 4, for the rest of the steps...of course, I could've just used another pan, mine are all the same height, LOL!

(I intended to go all Pink Cake Box & sit her on a cute decorated cake, add a few cupcakes around....Ha! I didn't do any of that!)

Good Luck...can't wait to see her!!

chellebyerly...I bet she wasn't that bad at all. The scarf was a really good idea...and your hair idea is brilliant...seriously...I don't think I've ever seen that done before on a figure.

Did you use water to attach your torso? I did...I also put a can of soup behind her back to keep her in place (before adding her shirt).
Also, you can glue the entire bottom of the shirt to the thighs and behind...I didn't, but it sort of stuck anyway and really secured everything.

Love your figurine FlourPots. So cute. Great tutorial. Thanks. It's great info for any type of figure.

Thanks BORIKS03...I never received notice that anyone had posted after me!

I came here because I just checked out Lorraine's blog and wanted everyone to know that her next tutorial, available at the end of this month, is of a pregnant woman figure!!! I can't wait!!

Take a look, she's so cute (click to enlarge): http://extra-icing.blogspot.com/

Now we all can learn from the pro!

great pics! and what a help!
thanks a bunch
Jodi

Flour pots I am so glad you did repost because i would have miss this information. Thank you so much for sharing this information.

the lady is very beutiful especially the hair. I'm wandering how to make the feet inside the shoes. I can't figure it out. sorry just a newbie.

these are great I've got to try this. Just got a dumb question what's a PME people mold?

You're welcome, guys...

Sandy28...not a dumb question at all...I've never tried them, but here's what they look like: http://www.globalsugarart.com/product.php?id=20833&name=People%20Mold%20%20Family%20Set/4%20PME

olsen...her feet, where the toes should be, are pointed...then I placed the brown triangle shape on top, and connected it to the bottom sole. Hope that makes sense.