Tiny pillars on a tiny cake?

[Rachelslittlethings]

So this cake is small. like 2 1/2 inches barely. And I have the clay based decorated and pretty. Now I gotta attach the pillars in between. I tried earring based wrapped in clay but it didn't work, plus I gotta play down 4 bases and push the top tier on it evenly and it just wasn't working, plus I felt like it was gonna break during shipping. Any ideas for the right look to the pillars as well as keeping it sturdy?



here's my cake to get the size idea

http://i45.tinypic.com/2laaidt.jpg

and here's the decorated tiers
http://i48.tinypic.com/1gfw9k.jpg

and here's what I attempted with the earring backs flipped over
http://i47.tinypic.com/2zqenw0.jpg

[wwrich]

Your pictures are blocked to me here at work, so I might not be understanding what the problem is...what I am hearing is that you can't find objects to use as the pillars.

Have you looked in the "food-related party supplies" area?  I know that I got some drink stirring sticks a while ago that were clear and round and about the right diameter (I needed something clear).  They might have some either extra fancy plastic tooth picks, or something designed for alcoholic drinks that is the right diameter and color.  Think about places that might carry the little plastic swords or little paper umbrellas.  Sometimes restaurants/bars will give you a couple.  You will probably need to cut/break them to the right length.  Sand paper might be necessary to flatten the top/bottoms properly too. 

Since it looks like a wedding cake, you might try the wedding section at the craft store.  Look for small party favors that you could take apart.  Another place you might try looking is the toy store.  We occasionally found things that were just perfect for minis in the candy section too.  I recently did something that used a coffee stirrer (a very thin straw), but it was too flimsy for the role it was playing, so I glued a toothpick inside of it first.  Since both ends will be covered, no one but you will ever know...

If the issue is assembly, you might try gluing the pillars to either a piece of card stock or thin plastic first, then attaching that to your cakes.  I know that many complex polymer clay object are done by baking the clay several different times -- creating parts, baking those, then using more clay to combine those parts together.  Have you tried that?

[Rachelslittlethings]

Thanks for all those tips. I have a lot of ideas running through my head right now. I'm trying to figure out if I need to bake the pieces first and glue afterwards or if I can use metal pieces for tiers and bake them with the clay. So it's a logitisical thing right now.