Sugar Art - Materials and Equipment

Sugar is the main ingredient used for this art. It comes in several different colors, forms and a slight difference in taste as well.

I am not sure whether every kind of sugar is suitable for these creations, but that might be a matter of trial and error. If you want to be on the safe side, then I suppose the regular, granulated sugar is the best route to go.

You will at least need a silpat, a copper or steel pot, a blow torch, a heat lamp, dryer that blows cold air, scissors, a knife, sugar of course, water, food coloring and a sugar thermometer.

Pulling sugar:
Cook the sugar with water and pour liquid sugar onto the Silpat. Add the coloring and then fold the sugar repeatedly into itself, until the sugar is cool enough to handle. This process gives the sugar its bright lustery sheen. The sugar can then be sculpted by hand into various shapes or blown.

Blowing sugar:
Place a portion of pulled sugar on a rubber pump with either a wooden or metal tip. While being blown, the sugar can than be shaped. Use fans to cool the blown sugar and rotate it whil cooling so it will keep its shape.

Casting sugar:
Pour sugar into molds. This technique produces more sturdy pieces than pulled and/or blown sugar and is almost always used for the base and structural elements of showpieces.

Pastillage:
A thick sugar paste is molded into shapes. It is made with gelatin, water and convetioner's sugar and once dry it is hard and brittle. It hardens quickly which makes it less suitable for shaping and molding by hand, but electric grinders, cutters, sandpaper and assorted files will do the trick.

Pressed Sugar:
Mix granulated sugar with a minimal amount of water and is put under pressure. It hardens into a solid piece which is normally used for the base of a showpiece.

Materials, classes, videos and many tips and hints can be found online. You can even sign up for professional classes, but I found those to be rather expensive.

When working with hot sugar, be extremely careful; you can burn yourself real quick and easy. We don't want that to happen, because in this case no amount of sugar will do to make the medicine go down!