Help needed with "Art" project, please

Hi, my daughter has a uni Art project which she is making out of sugar products. It will be a park with trees, garden seats, swings etc. An artist, Ken Yonetani made a coral reef using white sugar and sugar paste. Does anyone know which product...sugar paste, modeling paste or another substance would be the best to use. It must be able to be molded into shapes, and firm enough to set quickly. I was thinking of modeling paste...........any other ideas would be greatly appreciated :)

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Permalink Reply by Sherry Qualls on May 16, 2010 at 8:32pm

I peaked at his site...wow amazing work...trees, bushes etc can be made of either dyed modeling chocolate (use white chocolate for this and then dye it) I would make the swing out of gum paste..still a sugar product. gum paste dries very fast. you can make small flowers out of marshmallow fondant..if they are small they will set up fairly quick. Wilton has a grass tip and you could make grass and small bushes out of royal icing. All of these can be made in advance because the amounts of sugar used to make these products is high and acts as a preservative so it won't spoil in a week or two (except maybe the modeling paste...I am no expert on that one).

Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Jane Gaddes on May 17, 2010 at 5:48am

Thanks Sherry...yes, his work is really fantastic!!!! Will try all of your ideas. What gum paste recipe do you use??? I am doing a cake decorating class at the moment and my teacher has given us a modeling paste recipe: 1 egg white, 1 1/2 cups pure shifted icing sugar, 2 teaspoons tylose............is this what you would suggest?

Sherry Qualls said:

I peaked at his site...wow amazing work...trees, bushes etc can be made of either dyed modeling chocolate (use white chocolate for this and then dye it) I would make the swing out of gum paste..still a sugar product. gum paste dries very fast. you can make small flowers out of marshmallow fondant..if they are small they will set up fairly quick. Wilton has a grass tip and you could make grass and small bushes out of royal icing. All of these can be made in advance because the amounts of sugar used to make these products is high and acts as a preservative so it won't spoil in a week or two (except maybe the modeling paste...I am no expert on that one).

Good luck.

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Permalink Reply by Sherry Qualls on May 17, 2010 at 9:03am

Jane

I just use the gum paste recipe on the back of the Wilton gum-tex can, works great for me...not sure what you mean by "modeling paste" (is that what you call gum paste in Aus?)...gum paste does not lend itself to figure modeling very easily, because it dries so fast you get a lot of crack-age on thick things like heads and bodies..gum paste does best when rolled thin, like you would for the swing she wants to make...but.....if you have tylose (a great product) you can add that to straight fondant (I think you call that sugar paste where you are) and it will make a great modeling "clay", which would work great for figures, trees, bushes, etc, the tylose helps strengthen and dry....also modeling chocolate is easy to make, though I have never personally worked with it (yet). Check the recipe forum here and the videos...We have Lorraine McKay's modeling recipe (sugar paste and tylose) on here, its a great how to video. Also keep your eye out for "odd" things that can add texture to the project...(rubber stamps, nylon pot scrubbers, anything plastic with ridges, bumps lumps or texture, stuff like that)...please post a pic when she is done...would love to see it.

Happy Caking
Sherry

Help needed with "Art" project, please

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