Hey CC Friends!

I'm making a groom's cake this week for a mechanic who works at a Chevy car dealership. I have molds to make the tools, no problem. I'm making them out of chocolate & painting them with silver luster dust. I'm also putting an edible image of the Chevy logo on the cake. Also making a name tag with in fondant with the groom's name on it. I have all the above covered..

What I need help with is making screws, nuts & bolts, & anything that a mechanic uses. I can make them out of MMF or choc. if I knew how to make them. I tried molding screws with my hands but didn't succeed. Not good at that all! HELP!!

So any help & ideas would be so greatly appreciated!!
Thanks my CC friends!!!

Help!!!!! I still need help!!

maybe...could you make them larger than life-size so that it's not so hard to model? i will think about it and see if i can come up with any other ideas...maybe you can model around a type of candy or something?

nuts - cut out of a thick roll of mmf with sharp knife to get the octagonal shape, then use small tip to cut out the hole?

screws - maybe you can take a wafer candy like necco wafers (not sure of size here) then attach it to a cone-like bit of mmf, make a verrrrry skinny rope of mmf to spiral down the shaft to make your threads of the screw?
sorry these are probably all ideas you have tried...

Thanks for your ideas Rainbow! I will try anything!

Doesn't anyone have any ideas? I know we have a lot of sculpters on CC.

I need help bad

SORRY TC I CAN'T HELP YOU BUT I WANTED TO BUMP IT UP FOR YOU. I CAN'T THINK OF ANYTHING NOW MAYBE TOMORROW SOMETHING WILL COME TO ME. AM GOING TO BED.

If you have any small children (or know any) that have those oversized plastic tools, you may be able to use those as molds. Like a socket wrench you may be able to use to mold nuts and bolts.

The reason I suggest this is if they are plastic you can sanitize them to use on the food materials.

Hmmm, I made nails once out of MMF in my photos (just ignore the falling apart cake part). Screws would be very similar. To make the nails I rolled the MMF into a snake and cut the end on with a paring knife at two angles to make the point. I used a flattened ball for the head of the nail and attached w/ water & let dry. Then painted w/ luster dust (didnt' have metallic silver ).
For screws I would make the same way and use a small paring knife to make the threads on the diagonal all the way up. If they're flat on the cake, you don't have to go all the way around in a spiral, just make marks on the top like this //////////////////// (I hope this makes sense, DH has been in hospital all weekend and I'm prolly not explaining this very well). The heads of screws aren't really flat like nail heads, but kind of join the shank of the screw in a V. You could make the screws slotted or phillips by imprinting the top w/ a | or an X.
Bolts are just a thicker screw with a flat end and a thicker, flat (like a nail) head.
I would do nuts like rainbow mentioned - use an icing tip to cut the circle in the center. I wouldn't bother making the threads in the nuts - no one will notice.
Can you tell we used to own a hardware store?
Hope that helps.

Well using a golf tee candy mold would give you a similar shape and then for a screw, you could use put an "-' on the head, using a knife to make the indentation. I agree with the previous comments about making the threads on the screw.
You may have to use a lollipop stick or a toothpick inside to get the larger nails to hold their shape. Or perhaps a TicTac to give strength.
Hugs Squirrelly Cakes

Thank you guys!! I have never made anything w/ fondant other then roses. My mind isn't on tools yet. The ideas you mentioned are good! I will try them & report back to you! Thanks so much Momofthree, beachcakes, & Squirrelly!

Cathy, I now you would help if you could! Thanks!

Any more ideas or help will be great too!!

You could make "greasy rags" out of fondant rolled out, cut to squares, and then dried in a crumpled shape. Smear with black icing or piping gel for grease.
What about single car keys with little white tags attached, like they put on your key when the car goes in?
And mechanics like coffee breaks, how about a cup of coffee with greasy fingerprints? (Not being stereotypical, my father is an auto-body guy and it seems every time I stop in there's coffee drinking going on!)
Licorice fan belts?

Wow tastycakes!!!! Those are great ideas!! I did think of doing a rag but never thought to do grease spots on it. GREAT idea!! You have helped me out tremdously!!! Thanks so much!! My mind has started working again!!

I could even so a oil can, spark plugs, steering wheel...... finally I'm thinking!!!

THANKS!!

I hope you post a photo when it's done! Happy baking!

Hey tc not sure if you have time to make a trip. BUt just out side of dallas is a cake shop that sells candy mold and they have screws and botls and just about everything else you can think of. Im sure this doesnt help you now but maybe you can plan a trip and get some great molds.

here is a link to the stores website.

http://www.cakecarousel.com/suppliesrentals.htm

I read an article from martha stewart on making marshmellows. she used a pan with an 1/2inch of icing sugar or flour pushed an egg (i m thinking a kids screw or bolt or whatever) into it to make the shape, then she poured the marshmellow(thinking chocolote )into it. If you did 2 halves and glued them together with more chocolate
i think you have to squash the flour down to make it firm
dont know if that helps

Susan that was a great site. If I'm ever in Dallas I will look for that store!

Katiecakes, thanks for the info. I didn't know I was doing this groom's cake like this till a few days ago... so I don't have time to try what you said. Thanks so much.

Question to all the molding people...

If I use a kids tool to make a mold...

Would I spray it w/ bakersjoy?

Do I just dip the screw into the chocolate?

How do I remove the choc from the screw?

Never done this before so I have no idea.

Thanks for any help!!!!!