Nayda Hernandez is the self-taught talent known throughout the cake world as W.E. Sugarart. After leaving a successful career in the medical field to spend more time with her children, Nayda stumbled into the world of cake art while attending a birthday party. The party's beautiful fondant cupcake toppers inspired her to seek out online classes and tutorials and try her own hand at the craft. 

Nayda's work is is often described as whimsical and playful. She specializes in sculpted child figures, often incorporating costumes and props reminiscent of childhood folly. Nayda frequently shares her work on her Facebook page and her Instagram.

Just in time for Halloween, Nayda is joining us at Innovative Sugarworks to teach you how to make this adorable fondant Scarecrow and its Jack-O-Lantern companion!

Supplies/Tools Needed:

• Gumpaste/fondant in pastel colors: 3 shades of tan (very light, light, & medium), light blue, pale yellow, salmon, watermelon, white
• Gel paste colors: baby blue, white, tangerine, ivory, khaki
• Watermelon petal dust
• Soft Mini Tip Sugar Shapers
• Cutters: 4” & 2.25’ circle cutters, mini heart cutter, mini diamond cutter, mini square cutter
• detailing paint brushes
• dotting tool
• wood skewer
• 1.4” floral foam ball
• Shortening
  
  

Part 1: The Scarecrow

Step 1:
Start with 130g of light blue gumpaste/fondant and roll into a sausage shape with tapered ends. Fold your sausage in half to form an inverted ‘V’. This will be your scarecrow's pants. Cut off the ends so you have 3” from the top to the end of each leg. Then use the smaller end of the bone chisel sugar shaper (orange) to create creases or folds in the legs. Set aside to firm up before adding the torso.

Step 2:
Take 84g of your gumpaste/fondant in the lightest shade of tan (ivory) and roll/shape into a teardrop shape. Flatten the bottom so you can place it on the pants after it has dried. Set this aside.

Step 3:
Roll out a 2” x 4” piece of light blue gumpaste/fondant and cut off the corners as shown in the photo (this will be the upper part of the overalls). Place the torso on the light blue altered rectangle (make sure to flip over your light blue piece so the nice side is the side that will be showing). The torso should be slightly closer to the back so that when you fold them up the front portion will be higher than the back. Once you are happy with the placement, moisten the torso & attach the front/back of the overalls.

Step 4:
Cut out a small rectangle of the light blue gumpaste/fondant that you will use to make a pocket for the front of the overalls, moisten the piece then attach to the front of the torso. Use the smaller end of the square tip chisel (yellow) to make some stitches around the edges of the overall along the front & pocket as shown in the photo. Use the chisel to pull out the pocket so it will look like it is slightly open.

Step 5:
Take the wooden skewer and rub some shortening on it so you can insert it easily through the center of the torso/legs, then cut the skewer so you have about 1.5” above the torso to place the head once it is ready. Once you are happy with the placement of the body, remove the skewer and set aside both pieces to dry overnight.

Step 6:
Grab the 1.4” floral foam ball & 72g of the light tan gumpaste/fondant. Flatten the ball of gumpaste/fondant and rub some shortening on the side that will be against the ball. Wrap the gumpaste/fondant around the ball and roll until you get all the cracks out and end up with a smooth ball.

Step 7:
Press gently with your thumbs at the eye level in order to obtain cheeks. Using your little finger, gently press to form the jaw/chin and neck of the face. You can cut off any excess gumpaste/fondant but make sure to leave just enough for the neck.

Step 8:
Using the smaller end of the round tip chisel (green) make two holes where the eyes will be. Place a small ball of white fondant in each eye socket.

Step 9:
Using the large end of the bone chisel make a hole where the mouth will be. Roll a small piece of the watermelon colored gumpaste/fondant to place around the mouth to form the lips as shown in the photo.

Step 10:
Cut out two small circles of the light blue gumpaste/fondant and place on the eyes, then color the edges with the blue gel paste (you can thin it out with a bit of water or Everclear). Apply some of the watermelon color petal dust to the cheeks. Take a piece of the darkest shade of tan gumpaste/fondant and form a small triangle/pyramid shape for the nose, moisten and place it on the face. Then mix a bit of white/ivory gel colors to achieve a cream color. Take your dotting tool and make three dots along each side of the mouth. Then with the fine detailing brush make two “X” as shown in the photo.

I like to take a skewer to make the hole in the head at this stage, so that once it is dry I don’t have to worry about damaging the face when placing it on the body.

Step 11:
Roll out four cone shapes (2 small & 2 large) to form the top and bottom eyelashes for your scarecrow. Moisten the top and bottom of each eye at the lash line, place the lashes as shown in the photo, and cut off the excess.

Step 12:
At this point, your pants and torso should have had time to dry over night. Assemble your scarecrow by re-inserting the wood skewer in the hole and stacking pants, torso, and head.

Now, take the ivory gumpaste/fondant, roll it out, and cut a thin strip that will be used to form the collar of the shirt. Moisten, then place the strip around the neck. Using the smaller end of the bone chisel, make some creases/folds in the collar.

Step 13:
Cut out a mini heart in the watermelon colored gumpaste/fondant, moisten and attach to the front pocket of the overalls. Use the pointed chisel (light blue) to make holes along the edge of the heart.

Step 14:
Roll two cone shapes (19g each) in the ivory gumpaste/fondant for the arms. Use the pressure of your little finger to give the arms a bend at the elbows. Pinch the end of each sleeve so they flare out slightly. Moisten the inside part of the arms and attach to the torso so the forearms are slightly resting on the thighs.

Step 15:
Cut out several pieces of gumpaste/fondant in several colors and shapes, they will be used as patches on the overalls and hat of your scarecrow.

Step 16:
Roll out and cut two 3” strips of the light blue gumpaste/fondant for the suspenders and roll out some of the pale yellow gumpaste/fondant to cut in very thin pieces of various lengths for the straw. Attach the suspenders to your figure's overalls and moisten the the ends of the sleeves and pants to attach some pieces of the pale yellow “straw”.

Step 17:
Roll two small balls of the light tan gumpaste/fondant for the hands. Flatten one end of each ball and cut a small triangle so you have two pieces that look like mittens. Clean/smooth out the edges and then moisten and attach the hands to the end of each sleeve.

Step 18:
Cut a round piece of the pale yellow gumpaste/fondant, moisten and attach to the back of the head. Then moisten and attach more of the yellow straw all around the head for the scarecrow's hair.

Step 19:
Roll out the medium tan fondant and cut a 4” circle for the brim of the hat and use the tri tip chisel to give it some texture. Moisten the top of the head and attach the hat to the top of the scarecrow's head.

Step 20:
Roll two teardrop shapes of the medium tan gumpaste/fondant and flatten the smaller end to make the shoes, moisten and attach to scarecrow.

Step 21:
Roll a thick piece of medium tan fondant and cut a circle using your 2.25” round cutter for the top of the hat. Roll and cut another thin strip of light blue gumpaste/fondant for the sash of the hat, moisten and attach to the hat. Now you can place some of your patches onto the hat, elbows, and along the legs of the scarecrow.

Part 2: The Jack-O-Lantern Friend and Bag of Treats

Step 1:
Take 38g of the melon colored gumpaste/fondant and roll into a smooth ball. Start with the tri tip chisel (red) and create 6 indentations from top to bottom, trying to space them out evenly. Use the pointed chisel (light blue) to soften/clean up the indentations you created on your pumpkin. Next take the large end of the bone chisel to make the eyes and the small end to make the mouth.

Step 2:
Using the mini heart cutter, cut out two hearts to use as leaves in the khaki colored gumpaste/fondant (I took a bit of the ivory and added just a touch of the khaki gel paste). Then roll out two very thin pieces for the tendrils and another small teardrop shape for the stem. Attach all your pieces to the pumpkin.

Step 3:
Roll two small balls of the medium tan gumpaste/fondant for the eyes and place in the eye sockets. With our fine detailing brush, paint some eyelashes & eyebrows with the ivory gel paste. Brush some watermelon petal dust along its cheeks and, if you want, roll a small ball of watermelon gumpaste/fondant for a nose.

Step 4:
Grab the medium tan gumpaste/fondant and form a 1” x 2” rectangle that will be a brown paper bag. Take your fingers and pinch all the edges of the rectangle to give it a worn look.

Step 5:
Moisten the top of the bag and attach some more straw.

Step 6:
Cut a small piece of the light blue gumpaste/fondant, moisten and attach to the front of the bag. Using a dotting tool, make a dot in each corner. With a detailing brush and peach gel color (I used white with a touch of tangerine) paint “TRICK OR TREAT” on the bag and use the dotting tool to apply color to the dots on each corner.

Step 7:
Next layer strips of the ivory, melon, and watermelon gumpaste/fondant and cut out several triangles to use as candy corn. Moisten the top of the bag and the left palm of the scarecrow and arrange/attach the candy corn.

And voila! You now have the most adorable edible scarecrow ever!

We hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and are inspired to try out some of these techniques in your own work! Nayda encourages all of you to customize your scarecrow to fit your personal vision. And she would love to see how people use her tutorial in their own art, so if you try out her lesson, go ahead and post pics of your creations on her Facebook page!