More Sugar!

Sugar - or in my case, mostly isomalt - presents some unique challenges. I recently created a piece for a sponsor at a local non-profit theatre for which I was a board member. I thought I'd share some of the tricks I've learned.

I've been playing around with sugar for about a year and a half now and have learned a few things along the way, mostly through trial and error. First thing is that for sugar sculptures or show pieces, you probably want to opt for isomalt, since it is less susceptible to humidity and won't melt on you like sugar will when you really want it to stay up!

Second, not all isomalt is created equally. You can get crystal isomalt (of varying grades) or you can get the isomalt 'sticks'. If you're simply going to be doing some casting (pouring into molds) then the sticks are OK to use but they are not very appropriate for trying to do complex sugar pulling or blowing. The sticks are pre-cooked so all you need do is melt them to use, but I find that they harden too quickly and are very brittle for more delicate pulling and blowing.

Isomalt sticks

Isomalt crystals

I prefer to use the isomalt crystals and cook them myself, but you need to do a fairly large quantity at one time in order to prevent the isomalt from getting hot spots as you cook it. DO use distilled water when cooking the isomalt and use as little as possible to have your isomalt look like wet sand when you add the water. The reason for the distilled water is clarity - the impurities in tap water have a tendency to yellow the isomalt when you get it up to temp.

Cook the isomalt to about 350 degrees and then place the bottom of the pan into a cold water bath for about 5 seconds or until it stops hissing. Then I immediately pour the isomalt into a pyrex cup and let it settle in 275 oven until the bubbles subside. Always use water based food coloringing in liquid or paste form to color your isomalt and it's best to color it right after removing the isomalt from the heat and plunging in your water bath.

My equipment list is:

• Silicone mats (the more the merrier) The one shown below is a very large mat that I purchased at a restaurant supply store.
• Latex gloves - you may also need glove liners to protect your hands from the heat. The latex prevents leaving smudges and prints on your sugar pieces
• kitchen torch - I have 2 now, one very small pen size torch and a brulee style torch that attaches to a can of butane
• pyrex measuring cups - I use these for my isomalt after it's cooked as it can go into the oven and the microwave and I can keep my colors separate
• tabletop fan - this is vital when doing any blowing work as it allows you to regulate the temperature more easily
• rubber tube for blowing sugar
• Sugar warming box - this is optional but I love having mine on hand for keeping my sugar malleable - the more you over heat the more brittle the sugar becomes. Hubs built me a box with a heat lamp and a few sheets of plexiglass with a silicone mat as a bottom liner.
• various molds, noodles, etc - these of course are all optional

The simplest sugar creations are cast sugar. For the heart base of the above showpiece, I cast my sugar using a silicone mat as my base and silicone noodles to achieve the shape. This piece is pretty large.

You can also create cast pieces by pouring into silicone molds. You can purchase molds or even make them yourself. The supports for the blown sugar heart were made by casting different colors into different sized silicone molds. I have these on hand for all sorts of goodies, not just sugar!

Casting is pretty simple, so you can up your game by hand pulling and molding. I had shaped the musical notes by rolling warm sugar (isomalt) into ropes and flattening them where I needed. This takes only slightly more practice - mostly with getting the temperature correct to do this. It has to be warm enough to mold but not so warm that it will lose its shape and not cool enough to become brittle. I use a heat lamp while molding to control the temp of pieces I'm working on. The large decorative swoop was also cast using the silicone noodles shown in the photo below.

 Next up, you'll want to try pulling sugar. I used clear isomalt and then pulled it like taffy in order to get it that white color and sheen. Getting the ribbon to the correct temp so that it turns opaque and can be pulled into ribbons without breaking is really the hardest part and just takes practice.

The white ribbon is pulled and the letters were cast in a mold (damned finicky mold at that!) You can also use the pulled technique to create flowers, in this case roses, by pulling off individual petals.

The part of sugar work that takes the most practice is blowing the sugar. Again, temperature control is paramount.

You will want to begin by pulling the sugar, as you did for ribbons but in this case we are doing it to even out the temperature of the sugar across the entire piece you will be using. Then you form a ball out of it and indent it with your finger to wrap the tube. Gently blow into the tube, shaping the piece as you go and alternately using the heat lamp and the fan to adjust hot or cool spots. It should be obvious where the hot spots are since they will blow out faster and thinner than the cooler areas. And you need to keep pulling your shape away from the end of your blowing tube so that you can remove it more readily from the tube when you've completed it. Be sure to cool using the fan and gently blowing to maintain your finished shape. Cooling will take longer than you think!

I like to use the little pen torch for finishing up the shine on pieces that don't have the luster you want due to the casting mold. Lightly run it over the piece. In this case I also used it to assemble the base of the heart, since the molded pieces were smaller and I get much better control with the pen torch.

In this case, I assembled the individual pieces before hand and then did the final assembly of attaching all the pieces to the heart base, once I was at the venue to minimize the risk of breakage in transit. I'm going to do a video of some of the techniques so you can get a better idea of how to do them. Let me know if you are interested in trying any of these things - I'd be glad to help out since it's a new hobby that I've found I really enjoy!