The wonders of CANDY CLAY!!!!

Have you ever had a moment when you simultaneously say "Why haven't I done this before?" and "I can't believe I made that!?!?!" Well that is what just happened to me.

Today I discovered candy clay!!!!!

Well, maybe not discovered, but actually got around to trying. I've always wanted to try modeling chocolate, but had no idea where to buy it or how to even make it. So I did what everybody does in that situation.... I googled it.

I found that both modeling chocolate and candy clay are made the same way. By melting the chocolate/candy and then adding corn syrup.

This weekend my mom, sister and I are putting on a baby shower for my cousin. I'm making her a cake and o e of the decorations I wanted to do was a little teddy bear figurine. So I decided to test out candy clay in place of fondant/gum paste I would normally use in this situation.

So I started by melting the candy melts until smooth and then stirred in the corn syrup. Once thoroughly mixed, I poured it out onto waxed paper to dry.

I have to say... It looked pretty weird. I then let it dry/harden overnight, wrapped in the waxed paper.

Then in the morning (after a few cups of coffee), I began the hardest part of the whole candy clay experience: kneading it to a workable consistency.

If you've ever worked with real clay, it's similar to working the clay to get the bubbles out. This was not an easy task and took a LOT of hand strength. But it was definitely worth it in the end.

Here is what I looked like once all kneaded and ready to go.

Then I started to shape the individual body parts.

The head.



The body.

And the arms and legs.

Once the basics were done, I started shaping the bear to how I actually wanted him to look. I used my veining tool (from my gum paste kit) to to seal the extremities to the body by working the seams together and then smoothing them out.

Here he is all put together the shape I wanted him.

Now the last step.

I took a fork and started scoring him, from the bottom up, to create a fur effect.

Then I used the thin end of my veining tool to make holes for the eyes.

I can't believe how cute he is!!!



Ok... so maybe that wasn't the last step.

For the eyes, I took some white nonpareils sprinkles (the color doesn't really matter) and covered them in black candy coating. I also used the black candy to make a nose on the waxed paper. I used a little bit of the candy to make the eyes and nose stick. Finally, I drew on a mouth.

Are you ready for this.......

Adorable! I still can't believe that I made him. And I have a bunch of candy clay left! Can't wait to play with it again. Its much more workable for figurines than gum paste/fondant and tastes so much better!

Here is the recipe if you want to give it a try.

 

Ingredients:

• One bag (14 oz) Candy Melts
• 1/3 cup corn syrup 

To Store
Prepared candy clay will last for several weeks at room temperature in an airtight container.

Thanks for visiting :)