Quick question - I have used gum paste to make 3-d parts for a cake. For example, I had a robot that needed a spiral antennae - wrapped it around a pencil, let it dry, hurrah. I had someone who wanted a pond on a sheetcake with tall cat-tails and grasses around the perimeter. Rolled them all out of gumpaste. I once had someone who needed a bunch of straight long thin things sticking out the side of a fondant cake.

these things are usually all small or delicate or oddly shaped enough that “skewering” them into the cake isn’t always a great option (hard to even get them on a skewer). Is that the only option? Do people always skewer every 3-d gumpaste piece? I discovered that when I just stuck them into the cake, they just gradually began falling over, despite being totally solid structures before i started. I realized that if I built extra base onto them and pricked a small hole in the cake deep enough to stick the base inside the cake for support to stand, I think the moisture from the cake or buttercream was softening the base and they were all just flopping over.

i am pretty new to gum paste work for delicate solid 3-d parts of cakes. Is there a standard way to handle this I do not know about? Thanks!!!