Help! My figurines just can't sit straight without sinking...

I use fondant mixed with tylose for all my modelling (1/2 tsp per 250g fondant). Are you making your figurines with a skewer or a toothpick or a piece of spaghetti in? This will help keep your bodies sitting up straight, especially if you stick the bottom of the skewer in a foam dummy. If your fondant feels soft, just add in some more tylose. For clothes, it's hard to make them without seams (just like real clothes!). Roll your fondant/tylose mix really thin for clothes, but mostly just practice is what makes perfect.

Make a glue from some of your tylose powder mixed with water. It will be lumpy the day you make it but the next it will be fine. You should store it in the fridge so it doesn't go moldy. Egg white is also a good glue, as is white alcohol such as vodka.

I find adding arms easier when the body is dryish but the arms are still soft, in case I need to bend them into a better shape. For standing figures I make sure the legs are dry before adding the body so they legs don't squash under the weight. I add the head to the body when both of them are dry.

When you are working on the head, sit it in a small bowl full of cornstarch or regular flour with plastic wrap over the powder (so the head doesn't get floury). This will help keep it's shape.

I'm a bit new to this world like you but have some advice for what to use as  glue. I like to use 1/4 cup powdered sugar plus 1/4 Teaspoon of water. If it's too dry, then slowly add a drop or two of water but be careful because it becomes runny very fast. You want a consistency just like Elmer's glue. It works the same way - apply it to your arm say, let it sit and dry a little bit before attaching it to the body, hold in place for a few seconds. Try not to let the glue go beyond the edges of your pieces because it will show when it's dry. But, you can scrape it off with a little water, a toothpick, a damp tissue, or whatever works best in your situation.
 

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