Hello,
I'm an artist working on a project that involves candy. Basically,
what I want to make is "shaped" candies- small, hard candy in the
shape of figures, like dogs, mushrooms, monsters...
I have extensive experience in moldmaking and casting so I
understand that I'll need to be making some molds for the candy.
Does anybody here know exactly which material I should make the
mold out of? Plastic, metal, plaster, rubber?
I've read many books on the subject as part of my research, but
none cover how to make candies in more complex, reproducable shapes.
Any help or direction to good sources would be much appreciated.
Thanks
-Juanito

Jaunito wrote:
what I want to make is "shaped" candies- small, hard candy in the
shape of figures, like dogs, mushrooms, monsters...
I have extensive experience in moldmaking and casting so I
understand that I'll need to be making some molds for the candy.
Does anybody here know exactly which material I should make the
mold out of? Plastic, metal, plaster, rubber?

Well, chocolate molds are frequently plastic, but with
chocolate the temperatures are under 100F and so not
too much of a problem. Hard candies, presumably you mean
hard sugar, are much hotter when poured into a mold.
I would think metal would be best, though there
are some plastic molds sold that can be used.

Any help or direction to good sources would be much appreciated.
Thanks

You can buy molds. There are thousands with just about
any shape you can imagine. If you do a Yahoo or Google
search on "candy molds" you will find lots of sites. Just
make sure you get molds for hard candy. I just checked and
hard candy is poured into molds at around 300F. Some plastics
can take that, but some can't.

Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.

Jaunito wrote:

Does anybody here know exactly which material I should make the
mold out of? Plastic, metal, plaster, rubber?

Some candies are cast into molds made of powdered starch.
The master is a positive cast carved into any suitable material,
which is pressed into the starch and removed. The candy is
then poured into the cavity in the starch and allowed to set.

"Jaunito" wrote in message
om...
Hello,
I'm an artist working on a project that involves candy. Basically,
what I want to make is "shaped" candies- small, hard candy in the
shape of figures, like dogs, mushrooms, monsters...
I have extensive experience in moldmaking and casting so I
understand that I'll need to be making some molds for the candy.
Does anybody here know exactly which material I should make the
mold out of? Plastic, metal, plaster, rubber?
I've read many books on the subject as part of my research, but
none cover how to make candies in more complex, reproducable shapes.
Any help or direction to good sources would be much appreciated.
Thanks

Why reinvent the wheel? You can buy candy molds in thousands of sizes and
shapes.

Mark Thorson wrote in message ...
Jaunito wrote:

Does anybody here know exactly which material I should make the
mold out of? Plastic, metal, plaster, rubber?

Some candies are cast into molds made of powdered starch.
The master is a positive cast carved into any suitable material,
which is pressed into the starch and removed. The candy is
then poured into the cavity in the starch and allowed to set.

Thanks for the advice- It's more along the lines of what I'm looking
for. The reason I don't want to use store bought molds by the way, is
that I need the candies to be totally unique- they're based on
drawings and sculptures that I've done in the past.
-Jaunito

Jaunito wrote:
Mark Thorson wrote in message ...
Jaunito wrote:

Does anybody here know exactly which material I should make the
mold out of? Plastic, metal, plaster, rubber?

Some candies are cast into molds made of powdered starch.
The master is a positive cast carved into any suitable material,
which is pressed into the starch and removed. The candy is
then poured into the cavity in the starch and allowed to set.

Thanks for the advice- It's more along the lines of what I'm looking
for. The reason I don't want to use store bought molds by the way, is
that I need the candies to be totally unique- they're based on
drawings and sculptures that I've done in the past.

OK, if you want production quantities, it would seem like you
would be better off creating a metal mold if you have the
wherewithall to do that. Starch or similar wasted mold
processes would be somewhat time consuming if you are
trying to do a lot of repititions.

Some of the mold companies will make custom molds for you.
Not sure what sort of quntities you have in mind, but
custom molds are kind of expensive you aren't going to
use them a lot. Tomric makes chocolate molds and maybe
they do molds for hard candies. http://www.tomric.com/

Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.

OK, if you want production quantities, it would seem like you
would be better off creating a metal mold if you have the
wherewithall to do that. Starch or similar wasted mold
processes would be somewhat time consuming if you are
trying to do a lot of repititions.

Some of the mold companies will make custom molds for you.
Not sure what sort of quntities you have in mind, but
custom molds are kind of expensive you aren't going to
use them a lot. Tomric makes chocolate molds and maybe
they do molds for hard candies. http://www.tomric.com/

Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.


Thanks so much Bill, I know some people who could make the metal mold
for me, and the starch waste mold still is intriguing.
-Juanito

OK, if you want production quantities, it would seem like you
would be better off creating a metal mold if you have the
wherewithall to do that. Starch or similar wasted mold
processes would be somewhat time consuming if you are
trying to do a lot of repititions.

Some of the mold companies will make custom molds for you.
Not sure what sort of quntities you have in mind, but
custom molds are kind of expensive you aren't going to
use them a lot. Tomric makes chocolate molds and maybe
they do molds for hard candies. http://www.tomric.com/

Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.


Thanks so much Bill, I know some people who could make the metal mold
for me, and the starch waste mold still is intriguing.
-Juanito