A couple of friends have asked me how I made the fondant fairies for my niece's birthday so I present a guide. I wish it could have step by step pictures, but when I made them, I wasn't convinced it would work, so didn't take them at the time... but I have attempted illustrations, instead.
Anyway! You will need:
- Fondant
- Food colouring (I went with pink, yellow and red)
- Icing sugar
- Chopping board/big old plate
- Little sharp knife
- Rolling pin
1 - Skin
I took a largeish handful of fondant and moulded it into a ball, and then added a drip of yellow and a drip of pink food colouring. A drip = about half a cap. Then I kneaded it for ages until it stopped being streaky and went peach! It will, I promise.
Oh - and make sure you have lots of icing sugar to hand, as it will stop it being sticky. Especially when you get the rolling pin out, otherwise it will stick to the pin and the chopping board. Use as much as necessary.
Then, take a bit and roll it into a ball. Take another bit and roll into a squat cylinder, then make two more smaller ones. Finally, arms - just roll out some long squishy tubes. It should all look like this, size-wise.
The two small cylinders are the legs - they go together, then the larger one goes on top, as the body. You can always assemble these after you've made the clothes, which is what I did, so it stuck out.
2 - Dress
Take another plain bit and add your chosen colour - I chose pink. Knead and massage until the colour is to your liking - you might want it streaky. It is pretty like that. I found the more I fiddled with it, though, the less streaky it went, anyway.
Roll it flat (remember the icing sugar) and cut out a circle with your knife. You honestly don't need to be crazy-neat with this - I really don't think you need a cutter, unless you desperately want to. I suppose you could always use a big star or something and make something with a jagged edge.
Drape it over the body, like it's a ghost and arrange the folds as you want.
3 - Hair
My niece is a brunette, and I would have liked to have made brown hair, but I didn't really have the necessary colours. So I went with yellow instead and made blonde, which actually worked really well. Knead, knead, knead.
Roll it out flat and cut out a long, squishy semicircle, sort of like this.
Hang it over the head carefully until it looks sort of bob-like and press it down gently over the 'forehead'. Create a parting with your knife - super, super gently. You should have made enough space to have hair at the back, too, but if not, cut out a small circle and press that into the back of the head, and into the hair.
Because this is so thin, you have to be mad careful not to make it all fall apart. I do recommend doing the head separately before attaching to the body.
4 - Arms
Attach to the 'shoulders' - this will be covered up by the hair. Press down. I opted to keep them 3D, but they would probably look good flat. Hold them however you want - I went for next to the body as I knew they'd stay secure.
5 - Assemble!
Stick head onto the shoulders.
Stick body onto legs if you haven't already.
Draw on face! I just did eyes with a matchstick as it was all I had, but a cute little smile would work too. If it's not staying put, just wet both sides slightly, and they should stick.
Add any details like a bow (two tiny dots stuck next to each other) or a hat, or anything else you choose. I made wings by sellotaping them to a cocktail stick and then sticking it into the back at an angle, but I want to try doing them out of fondant next.
Et voila!
