Hi all.

I am making tires for a car cake and have edible images to attach to the tires. Since I wanted the tires to be very sturdy I followed instructions I found through Cake Central and made them out of rice krispie treats and covered them in fondant then let them dry hard. I didn't have the edible image at the time I made the tires so I couldn't attach the image to tire while the fondant was still soft. Does anyone have a suggestion for attaching edible images to dried fondant. Maybe corn syrup or a paste of fondant and water? I did check here for tips but the search results focused on soft fondant.

Thanks in advance.

Use a paint brush and apply water ONLY where the edible image will go

You can roll out a thin piece of fondant the same color as the tire, turn it over to the damp side, and put the image directly on it.  Apply that to the dried tier.

Another option is to put a very thin layer of corn syrup on the tire and add the image.

Thanks for the feedback. I think I will try the corn syrup. I was specifically told not to get the images wet - it was even suggested that I not put them in the fridge after applying them to the cake for fear of condensation causing them to run. As I only have one set of images, I may do a test with a section of the print out that is not needed for the final cake - I made an extra tire.

Weird. Every edible image site says the same thing. Paintbrush a layer of water onto the fondant (not the image). Hope it all works out for you.

AI use premium sheets from icing images. I always use water on the back of the image.

The bakery put the printed sheets in a Luck's Bag so I am assuming they are Luck's brand sheets. I would think that most brands would be pretty similar. Maybe the bakery was just being overly cautious. Test 1 will be corn syrup and test 2 will be little bit of water. Most of the image sections will be going on buttercream except for the tires so they should stick easily but I wasn't sure about the dried fondant. Thanks again.

ALucks are very delicate. I would not use corn syrup.

I'm sure they were being cautious. I've used water on the back of Lucks brand.

Ok, so I have done three test patches - I added Delicious Desserts suggestion of water on the back of the image. I will let you know in a day or so which one has stuck the best.

I've done a lot of these and in my opinion, you may be safer putting the liquid on the fondant and laying the image on that. If you use too much water, it can make the ink bleed, either way you do it, but it's easy to moisten the sheet too much and have it start to tear. I use a thin solution of tylose and water, but plain water must work well, too. 

Even if you use fresh fondant, you still have to use some kind of moisture.

I did this cake recently and I used piping gel.  After I printed and cut the image, I warmed the piping gel slightly in the microwave to get it to be more fluid.  I painted the area of the cake where the image would be.  Applying the gel to the cake is easier and you won't put too much on the design.  Once the backing is removed, the image is very fragile. It worked perfectly and you couldn't see any seams.

Thank you to all of you for the feedback. The test results are as follows - all three stuck well and have not started to peel. Test 1 - water on the dried fondant - the black fondant bleed through a little. Test 2 - corn syrup - left a bit of a glossy sheen where the image wasn't covering the fondant. Test 3 - I was able to place the image exactly where I wanted it and it looks the crispest. I learned that it doesn't matter if the fondant is dry before you use a little bit of water and apply the image. I am definitely going to do the edible image thing again. Hope this helps others in the future.