I need to make a crow to put on top of a cake... something like that

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_9jvZAZBAf0w/SWXnuG-bE9I/AAAAAAAABXk/xpk9zffD044/s400/carrion+crow_300_tcm9-139740.jpg

And I was thinking of making it out of RKT, but how would I do with the legs?? That's no the original picture I'm basing on, its legs are only in one angle.. they don't have those little "pieces" of leg making the top half of leg. It goes in an angle straight to the body, like that \\ \\ lol
How could I support this on the cake? Using bamboo skewers for the legs and cover it with RKT? I didn't want the legs to be straight, but I have no choice I'd do it.
Does anybody know how could I give them that ANGLE ??

I would get some very sturdy wire...much thicker than floral wire. I would use pliers to bend it to the shape shown in the picture in red. Form the RKT bird on the wire. Cover the legs with fondant.

Insert some straws (I would use wide straws, not skinny ones, as this needs to be a stable base.) into the cake. Pull them back out and remove the cake plug that's filled them. Reinsert the now empty straws into the now empty holes in the cake.

Now, fill the straws with melted chocolate or candy melts. Let set til beginning to firm up. Insert the wired legs into the firming choc. If you have one of those aerosol freeze cans, you could give it a blast to set it while it firms up. Or you could somehow prop it up while it firms.


Edited to add: I would make the RKT s light as possible...don't crush or compact it too much. And use as thin a coat of icing/fondant as possible. I might even use bubble tea straws. The goal here is to have the top be as light as possible and the base as stable as possible. I wouldn't travel with this structure though. It should be fine if you're just moving it around your house, carefully so the bird doesn't rock back and forth. That's where your danger will be.

Wow!! Thank you so much!!! I will try to get the wires... It really looks like it's gonna be very stable like that.

I have one more question, how could I apply the feathers? I mean, I'm making gum paste for the big ones that I'll try to do separated, so should I cover the crow with the same gum paste or should I color fondant? I thought about gum paste because I can roll it thinner than fondant, so it'd be lighter. I just had never covered something with gum paste. It'll be a challenge, I guess.
The chest feathers I was think about using an amount of fondant or gum paste and sort of pinch with scissors. I don't know if it'd work lol... I don't think I could make give the effect of feathers using tools, that's why I have to make some separated, but this it'll make the piece heavier...

Thanks again!!!

If you use Nicholas Lodge's gumpaste, you might be okay as it stays workable longer. But some gumpaste recipes will dry too quickly for you to really form/smooth/cover the bird.

In either case, I wouldn't snip feathers as that will mean you'll need a thicker coat of fondant/gumpaste. I would just drag something pointy over the whole body, kind of like you would if you were trying to give the impression of hair, but gentler. Remember,a birds underside looks very smooth, and you want to give just the impression of feathers.

Then, you can make some gumpaste feathers to layer on the back and for the wings. But don't go overboard on detail. Too much detail on a thing like this will make it look overworked.

Another thought, if you aren't determined that it all be edible, is to use Styrofoam instead of RKT. It's much lighter.

Good luck with it. I'm anxious to see how it turns out!