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How to make Christmas Gnomes or Gonks (1 Viewer)

Gnomes by Help Me Bake 1 (Medium) (Medium).jpg
Many cultures have embraced gnomes over the years, and everyone has a different take on them. Some find them mystical, others charming; however, you can't deny they are super cute! So with that in mind and it being the festive season I thought I'd put them together with a Santa Claus twist.

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How to make Gnome Santa Claus

The icing fondant colours used to make the Gnomes Santa & Mrs Claus are Renshaw:
  • Jet Black
  • Poppy Red
  • Yellow
  • White
  • Sugarflair Concentrated Dye - Caramel Ivory - (This was mixed into white icing fondant to make the caramel/ivory colour for the nose).


You can use edible glue or a little water to stick the pieces together; however, I used the heat from my hands to hold the pieces together.​

Tip - You can use a little tylo in the icing/fondant to make the models go hard or place a candy stick or other form of edible support in the centre (such as dried pasta) to hold the weight. I didn't use either and put them against my kitchen side with clingfilm/saran wrap so that they dried upright. Alternatively, you could also use Saracino Red Modelling Paste if you prefer.​

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Now to the fun part of making them!

Body - Roll a large sausage cone shape (where the base is fatter than the top), then use the bulbous/cone tool to push under the bottom to indent the icing making way for the boots.

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Boots - Roll black circles slightly pinching in the back and place under the body.

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Belt - Roll a thin black sausage to go around the waist.

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Buckle - Roll a small yellow ball and then stick it where the belt meets up at the front.

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Beard - Roll thin white sausage and place them on top of one another.

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Build up the strands until it becomes a beard.

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Nose - Roll Caramel Ivory pre-coloured icing fondant into a ball and place on top of the beard.

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Hat - Roll red icing fondant into a cone shape then thin the base using your finger and thumb, then bend the tip.

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Place the hat on top of your gnome body.

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Lightly push the rim of the hat around the top of the nose and the body.

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Pom-pom - Roll white icing fondant into a ball.

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How to make Gnome Mrs Claus


Body - Roll a cone shape with a fat base the same size as Gnome Claus. Push the bulbous cone tool under the bottom to make way for her clogs.

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Clog Shoes - Roll yellow circles and pinch the back, slightly flatten and place under the body.

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Apron - Roll out a thin piece of white icing fondant and cut with the frilly end of a circle cutter.

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Then cut the frilled circle in half.

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Place one half on the base of the model and keep the other half for the hat.

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Hair - Roll out three thin sausages.

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Squeeze the three strands together and then start to plait/braid them.

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They should look something like this.

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When you have finished flatten them slightly with your fingers and trim the edges.

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Then stick the plaits to the base with a little water or edible glue.

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Nose - Roll Caramel Ivory coloured icing into a ball and stick it on top of the plaits.

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Hat - Roll the icing fondant into a cone shape.

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Then thin the base with your finger and thumb.

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When you have thinned the base of the hat place on top of the plaits and nose and mould the rim of the hat around the nose.

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Hat Pattern - Now stick the other half of the apron to the top of the hat.

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Here are the final results.

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As you can see, these guys are adorable and great fun to make. Try them out with the kids or grandkids! They'll love them.

Enjoy!

 
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I have watched your tutorial on making edible gonks for a Christmas cake but nowhere could I find what you used to make the gonks, I would appreciate you advising. Thank you
 
Hi Charlie, welcome to the site. 😊

There is a note at the top which says the following, but you may have missed it if you started from the first picture; anyway, here it is...

The icing fondant colours used to make the Gnomes Santa & Mrs Claus are - Jet Black, Poppy Red, Yellow, White & Caramel Ivory. You can use edible glue or a little water to stick the pieces together; however, I used the heat from my hands to hold the pieces together.

Tip - You can use tylo in the models to make them go hard or place a candy stick or other form of edible support in the centre to hold the weight. I didn't use either and put them against my kitchen side with clingfilm/saran wrap so that they dried upright.

My go-to icing of choice is Renshaw, which is an excellent brand that works well for both models and cakes. (I will now put that in, so thanks for that. 😊)


However, you can use regular white icing from the supermarket and dye it using concentrated dyes if you prefer; it's all down to personal preference and how much you'd like to spend on the products you use. For the Caramel/Ivory I used a Sugarflair Concentrated Dye and mixed it into white icing fondant.

caramel ivory (Medium).JPG

I hope this helps, but If you need anything else, then please let me know.

Best wishes


Angie 👩‍🍳
 
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