Brick colour

I tend to have an issue with color myself.  Honestly, I think I'm partially color blind.  My first thought would be to start with red fondant...and add a brown and /or burghundy to it.  You CAN do a search for "color mixing fondant" on google.  (that's what I did)  It may take some looking around, but you can find charts that show a color, and next to it, it will tell you what to mix to get to that color.    I actually think I have a chart in one of my books....If you still haven't figured it out later, I'll tell you what the mix is when I get to my office.

You could start with chocolate fondant and add red color.  That's how I'd do it.

This sounds like a better idea.

Hmmm....do you have an airbrush?  If not...do you know how to Stain and whitewash or dry brush? It's an artists technique.  Does your Brick impression mat have imperfections in it like natural brick would?  If it just makes perfect brick, be sure to ding it up a bit so that it looks natural.  

 

The idea of "staining" is to accent the deeper part of your design....typically in a dark color.  You take a watered down version of your color and brush it all over your bricks making sure all that color gets down into all the little dings, creases and cracks.  Now, quickly wipe over the surface of your design with a flat paper towel...taking most of the color off the top, but leaving it in the cracks and dings. There should be no puddles of paint on your surface, but it's OK if it has just changed color slightly due to the staining...as long as you've wiped the "wet" off. Let that dry for a while.  That's the stain.

 

  Now for the drybrush which is typically done in a lighter color.  Dab a flat  brush in your color, wiping off all excess color onto a paper towel.  The idea here is to paint in "whisps" of color with each brush stroke, as opposed to a solid line of color.  Now lightly  brush over your design so that you're just touching the very surface with the very tips of the brush bristles. If you get a splotch of paint, quickly dab it up with a crumpled paper towel.  There's no rhyme or reason to this part.  The idea is to highlight the surface, not to "cover" the surface with color.  You can also drybrush with more than one color (one at a time with drying in between). If using more than one color, begin with the darker and end with the lightest. 

 

Now...understanding that you're already starting with "Brick" colored fondant...your color palette will depend on whether your brick is supposed to look brand new, or look old and worn.  Hmmm...if it were me...I'd use a dark (nearly black) stain all over so that the stain gets down into the dings and imperfections in the bricks themselves. After wiping the surface with a paper towel, I'd use Q-Tips and wipe the vertical and horizontal lines (the mortar).  I'd drybrush with a brick color just a smidge darker than your fondant....then with a brick color a bit lighter than your fondant...then finally ever so lightly with a nearly white just for a few highlights.  After all that is dry...using a small round brush I'd go back over the horizontal and vertical mortar lines with a medium to light gray.  Now, that's a lot of extra trouble and if your brick is meant to look old and worn, I'd skip the part where I wipe the stain out of the mortar with Q-Tips and I'd just leave it dark.

 

I hope this has been helpful...that it makes sense and I haven't bored you to death.  Have fun and good luck with it.  I'd like to see how it comes out. 

Mix fondant with color to begin, do about 4 shades of colored fondant, two lighter two darker, add varying color, one with red and brown, red ivory, ivory brown, red. As if you were going to marble this fondant together start to blend but stretching and forming the fondant in one direction, go with the grain they say, try for this same technique. Once it is is blended but the grain and colors still very much separate (do not mix until the fondant is all one color, stop as soon as you have desired variation, even mixing two and two instead of all...) once mixed enough for personal preference chop up fondant into pieces, whatever shape (block would be best if doing bricks) lay like mixed puzzle pieces close together and pinch edges together, give the pieced together fondant a quick roll out to gain flattened affect but maybe only in some areas more than others...leaving different areas or edges unflattened will give a great texture...then do whatever ur gonna do with it....lay it over, cut it down, wrap something...
After the fondant is on whatever uve decorated with it, use a light brushing to add tone, if u have an airbrush machine even better...

Personally, I don't think the airbrush can give you the detailed appearance that you can get from the other technique.  Picture using those spray cans of color and spraying layers of brick-like color in spots and such.....would just look bad to me.  To me, it would just look like a blotched up hunk of red fondant. But that's me.  I'm not a pro with the airbrush and only use it for solid colors or pearlizing. Keep in mind that I've got an incredible case of OCD, so if I'm going for a realistic look...I want to GET a realistic look.  LOL

I would suggest adding brown to red, not red to brown, because typically you are supposed to add dark colors to light since they're so heavy. Especially for brick red, which I would say is about 2 parts red to 1 part brown