My girlfriend and I have been asked to make a pirate ship cake. We are comfortable using fondant but have questions about "painting" the ship. Do we make the fondant one color then "paint" with food coloring to make the wood more realistic? Also do we make the sails out of fondant or gum paste? I am trying to upload a pic but not sure if it is working. Also I have no idea where this picture came from so sorry if it is yours.

jimskio

OK how do I upload a pic?

Here's the cake

http://www.flickr.com/photos/15949234@N02/5352098024/
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Hi. I did a pirate ship for my nephew and I "stained" the wood with watered down brown food coloring. I made the wood grain with a fork and cut each plank of wood individually. I used a paint brush and just kind of painted the wood planks and used a paper towel to smudge it around. I thought it turned out pretty realistic looking! You can see the pic on my profile. Good luck!

Hi,Iam a newbie and get a littlte confused,could someone be kind enough to tell me is it special paints for painting fondant or is their anything else i should know,thanks in advance.

You just use regular food coloring. I use gel color and put some in a bowl, then add a little vanilla (though alot of people use vodka). You can use your brush and add as much or as little of the food coloring into the vanilla as you like. Vanilla and vodka are used because they contain alcohol and dry much more quickly, and won't run as easily as if you use water. If you start painting and the color is too light you can just add more while it's wet, or wait until it is completely dry to add additional coats of color. If it has begun to dry already, wait because it will get blotchy on you. If you begin to paint and decide it's too dark, you can use a paper towel and wipe it off, or just add more vanilla to it to thin it out. Once you begin, you'll get the hang of it almost immediately. Just remember not to paint over an area that has begun to dry but is still tacky wet. Wait for it to dry completely. If you do a woodgrain pattern in the fondant itself, get extra color in there to really show the woodgrain. Here is an example of a board we did in the woodgrain, that we painted: http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1328559/1528681

To answer your question about the sails, I would make them from gumpaste. You won't have to worry about heat or humidty making them wilt. btw, that cake is adorable, best of luck with yours.

Hello cownsj, thank you so much for getting back to me, that is a big help to me really looking forward to doing this once again thank you.

I would most definitely use the gumpaste...it would be much less of a headache. As far as painting...I would make the base color a medium to medium-dark wood stain color and just add a little woodgrain with a paintbrush.

thank you sweetheart,its so good to know x