Painting on Fondant--transferring Image

maybe a projector?

Small amounts of pencil are safe on fondant. I am artistic but also a perfectionist so I cannot draw without an eraser. Anyway, this is how I transfer my artwork after drawing them. I'm going to assume you are printing your images. First, print art in the mirror layout. That is an option your printer will give you. Next, take a pencil and trace over the parts you need on fondant, the outlines of art. Trace heavy, trying to keep lines thin especially in detailed areas. Now you are going to flip paper over on fondant where you want it, making sure to get placement right the first time because pencil will smudge on to fondant. This is the tricky part... keeping paper still while tracing. Theres no do-overs. Before flipping paper onto cake you can wipe a little shortening on a clean part of paper in a few areas and when you flip paper onto cake press this area good and paper won't slide as easily. Now that paper is on fondant gently trace back over the areas you outlined with pencil. You should be able to see these spots because you traced pretty hard on the other side and the backside of paper will be raised now. Don't press to hard when tracing because if fondant is soft it will leave an impression and if fondant is hard it may crack. When you pull paper up there will be a light pencil copy of image on cake. Now you can paint over pencil. Of course this only works on light colored fondant. Hope that helps.
~Kim

Kim gave an excellent description on how to do this. I am not going to repeat it, butni wanted to say i did just about the same thing on my hello kitty in my photos. Only i used a graphite pencil which i saw in a cake show is safe for cake, plus the painted plaque will not get eaten.

Also, instead of a mirror image, i held up my drawing against a window anfpd traced it with the graphite pencil in the back the lines i wanted to transfer. Then while the fondant piece was freshly rolled, with no corn starch so it was a little damp, I layed my drawing on the fondant anfpd lightly rubbed it all over with my finger. The lines I traced lightly transferred to the fondant.

You might want to try "Puffy Paint". It's non-toxic and cheap. I laid the picture down on the back of a sheet pan. So, I can move it around. Taped it down and then laid waxed paper on top taped it down too. I used craft puffy paint that puffs up when dried. And, started in the center of the drawing at the top and worked outwards and down. So that I wouldn't get my big fingers in it. Let it dry and then turned it over on to the soft fondant. I then center the design and just pressed the image into the fondant. I then outline, fill in etc. I also use the same method on crusting buttercream. I save all the images and file them. They can be used over and over. You can wipe them off with a damp towel to clean them if you need to.

Puffy Paint, I assume it is sold at a Michael's type store? Great tips from all for tracing an image onto fondant. I have wanted to play with painting on fondant too.

You can find puffy paint just about anywhere that sells craft supplies. I've even found it at our local Meijer store at a discount .78 for a small bottle.

Pencils nowadays are made with graphite, not lead. So whether you buy your pencil in a regular store or at a cake convention, it's going to have a graphite center. - FYI

If you are piping over it, I have used royal icing piped on a piece of glass (like from a picture frame) to imprint the image on to fondant. This is how I did the black and pink cake in my photos.

This summer I saw Marsha Winblecker (probably got that wrong) do chocolate paintings. She said you can take chocolate and spread it out on to parchment paper to make 'tracing' paper. You'd think lay that against the surface, and trace over it. Where you trace should leave chocolate markings behind for your to follow. She was working with dried fondant plaques and also showed how you could use an exacto knife to scrape away the chocolate markings that may have been in the wrong spot.

Impressing a pattern onto your cake, by Elaine McGregor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqbDTaauGO0&feature=channel

Scribing a pattern onto your cake:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRLjml6TvQ8&feature=channel

So this is like making your own rubber stamp kind of thing. Great idea. I favored your pink and black cake because you put such a great description of this technique on there. Thanks!

Glad I could help!

Once the royal dried it imprinted well into the fondant. Plus I liked having the straight edge to lay against the cake board so my patterns were even.

The nice thing about it was that when I was done I just washed the class and can reuse it later for another pattern. I use to save all the pictures and patterns I used on cakes, then I realised that I probably wouldn't do the exact thing twice.

There is a free class offered by Erin Schaefgen  on craftsy and she traces the patterns onto to the fondant with a pencil. It will be worth checking it out.

http://www.craftsy.com/class/the-hand-painted-cake/180

I don't know why you couldn't just hold the image on the fondant and trace the image with a tool that will leave a slight imprint on the fondant to follow.