
I have finally started work on the wedding cake topper. I am taking my time. I don’t have a lot of experience sculpting people, and have zero experience sculpting the faces of specific people. (What if wedding guests look at the cake, and say, “Wait, who are those two?”) Wedding cakes are the centerpiece of the reception. Who doesn’t snap a photo of the cake?! This topper needs to reflect the feel of the wedding, and also the personality of the bride and groom. I have to get this right.
The photo above is the one that they would like replicated for the topper. This is not going to be your typical sweet glittery bridal gown and tuxedo with bow-tie kind of topper. It will be a hands on the bum in blue jeans with snow kind of one. And having glimpsed this young woman grow up, I can say this is absolutely the perfect idea for her. It’s unique like she is, and I am all about that.
I almost always work in colored polymer clay, and that was how I originally planned to tackle this. I wanted to make a cane for her Fair Isle-patterned sweater and a denim cane for their jeans—but here’s the thing, what sticks out to me the most in this photo are all the creases! The way their jeans bunch up behind their knees; the way the folds on his sweater swoop diagonally toward his waist. I am not sure I could replicate all those folds in cane slices.
So I am going to sculpt them out of plain ol’ Super Sculpey, and pray that I can paint them accurately in the end. Yesterday I drew the two figures, so I could get the scale right (the groom will be about 5 3/4” tall.) I created the armatures out of wire and foil, and wrapped them with florist tape.

Last night I started applying Sculpey over the top of the female figure, adding the bottom of her jeans and a few folds near the knees. My plan today is to finish her body, then bake it. I will probably leave her armless, and do both the bride and groom’s arms at the same time, so that I can make sure the hands rest in the right spot on the bums. And the heads last. This is the plan right now, but who knows how it will go!

I was thinking about that, Donpbk—I could apply it after baking everything underneath.
Great jeans wrinkles. If you would rather make a cane for the sweater just make it, reduce it, and then apply to the Sculpey in very thin slices.
It’s looking good so far!