How to make a sugar man Part 2

Part 2 of How to make a sugar man

(Step 8)

Shape a small sausage with one end slightly narrower than the other.

(Step 9)

Flatten the broader end and make a small slit like this. This will be the thumb.

(Step 10)

Use your fingers to round off the sharp edges and shape the thumb. It would help to indent the palm and curve the fingers to make it resemble a hand. If you're making a bigger figure, you can also make 3 more slits and shape all the fingers. But since this is a small figure, I shan't bother with the details (the finished figure would only be about 1-inch tall).

(Step 11)
Bend the arm about half-way to make an elbow. Repeat the steps to make a second arm but remember to cut the thumb slit at the opposite end or you'll end up with 2 right arms (or 2 left arms, depending on which one you started with)! Leave the arms for about 15-30 mins to let them set but not harden. While waiting, have a cup of tea or vacuum the floor or update your Facebook or watch an episode of Cake Boss..... even if you leave it for a few hours, the sugarpaste will set but not harden, just as long as you don't totally forget about it and leave it overnight or over an entire week. If you try to attach arms to the body right after you've made them, they may be too soft and will flop or stretch and you'll end up with gorilla arms (hehe). Yes, patience is the key to good art!

(Step 12)

Attach the arms, like so...

(Step 13)
Make an oval-shaped ball.

(Step 14)
Attach the oval-shaped ball. This time you can attach the ball right away coz it's a solid ball and not as flimsy as the arms. Artistic tip - attaching the head at an angle rather than straight centre will give your figure more character.

Make a whole bunch of men and have a party! 

How to make a sugar man Part 1

(Step 1) 

Roll out some sugarpaste and cut out a disc using a round cookie cutter. This is the base for the sugar man to stand on. Leave to set.

(Step 2)

Shape a teardrop and indent slightly to form a tapered flat end, like this.

(Step 3)

Make a slit in the middle of the flat end.

(Step 4)

Gently roll each split side between your fingers to smoothen out, like this.

(Step 5)

Bend and push the tips to make the feet. Slightly pinch the heels to form the feet.

Various angles of the feet....

(Step 6)

Insert a thin piece of dried spaghetti from the base of one foot through the neck. This is the armature structure to keep the figure stable. Leave a small tip at the end of the foot - this will be used to attach the figure to the base. Shape the legs depending on the pose you'd like to achieve. I've made a bent leg with this one.

(Step 7)

Apply some sugar/flower glue on the base of the feet with the spaghetti tip and attach the figure to the base. Balance the figure against a solid object - I've used my glue bottle here, and leave it to set and harden. I left mine overnight. You can also use cotton balls to support the figure while it sets. Stay tuned for Part 2. :-)

Birthday monkeys

Sugarpaste monkeys (and coconut trees and coconuts) with curly letters spelling out the words, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY." These can be used as cupcake toppers or to decorate a birthday cake. 

Here're some close-ups. I haven't drawn a face on the monkeys coz I can't decide if they look better with or without a face... hmmmm...... I do love the coconuts... they're so cute. 

Monkeying around!

I got inspired by ThinkGeek's "Monkey Business" range (check them out here: http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/cubegoodies/a1a2/?srp=1) and made some sugarpaste monkeys this weekend. I also remembered to take photos this time so I'm able to share these step-by-step instructions on how to make a monkey face.... literally!

First, shape some dark brown sugarpaste into a ball and make a flat heart out of flesh coloured sugarpaste - you can use a small cookie cutter or just shape it. I find it quicker to just shape it.

Stick the heart on the brown ball using a bit of edible glue.

Make a small sausage out of flesh coloured sugarpaste - here's the size of the sausage in comparison to the face...

Using a shaping knife like this one, but if you don't have a shaping knife, any knife will do. Make a slit lengthwise but DON'T cut all the way through. It's like how you'd slit a hot dog bun, I suppose.

Stick the slit "hot dog bun" piece on the face with edible glue like this.... voila! You now have a monkey's mouth!

Using a ball tool like in this pic, make 2 indentions for the eyes.

Stick the eyes, again using edible glue. I use black nonpareils but you can just shape some tiny balls out of black sugarpaste or even the same dark brown sugarpaste used for the head (saves buying more sugarpaste). Make a tiny teardrop out of flesh coloured paste for the nose.

Position the nose like this...

Poke 2 holes for the nostrils. You can use a skewer instead of a shaping tool like what I have here.

Make 2 small balls out of flesh paste and attach to the sides for the ears. Use your skewer to make indentations to shape the earlobes.

Make 2 very tiny sausages out of flesh paste for the eyebrows.

Finished monkey face!

Big Giraffe

This is the biggest gumpaste figurine I've attempted. It's about 10 inches tall and took me 2 weekends to make because I had to stop in between stages to allow time for the gumpaste to harden before adding more to the giraffe. I started with an armature from a styrofoam cone. A skewer was threaded through the cone, then wrapped with yellow gumpaste.

After leaving the gumpaste to firm up, I attached the the limbs, and left the body to settle overnight. I attached the head and ears, then left the giraffe to harden. 

I attached the tail, the horns and final details and here it is.... my biggest figurine in comparison with my smallest (the bear is the mini cupcake topper size). 

Drama Queen - anything but the ordinary!

Mummy has made a logo for her cupcake hobby. She's busy sculpturing gumpaste toppers for her cupcakes just about every weekend. She's absolutely stoked coz she says this is the first time one of her hobbies is earning money.

There are a two reasons why mummy chose the name "Drama Queen." First, it's a joint-venture partnership with Unc. GlennGlenn and being dramatic is what mummy and Unc. GlennGlenn are both good at. LOL. Second, mummy figures the cupcakes she makes and the cakes Unc. GlennGlenn makes often produce a dramatic reaction from the people eating them. They've agreed he makes the big cakes and breads and pastries and mummy makes the small stuff like cupcakes and cake pops.

Mummy made these blue irises on commission just recently. With this batch, she tried a new cupcake recipe - chocolate cupcakes with a layer of oreo cookies and cream. She then decorated them with green coloured b

uttercream frosting sprinkled with green coloured desiccated coconut to resemble grass. Finally, she finished them with sugarpaste irises complete with leaves and voila! She's actually quite pleased with how they turned out coz when she was first commissioned to make blue irises, she had no friggin' idea what they were or how they looked like! Haha. After countless hours of googling, plus specifically getting a sugar craft flower book from Amazon, she came out with these. I think people liked them too coz she's got another commission from someone else to make more irises.

Mummy says she wants her cupcakes to be as special on the inside as well as on the outside, so she's been rather adventurous with her cupcakes. Mummy's a perfectionist - to her, it's not good enough for her cupcakes to look fabulous, they must taste fabulous too. So she's been trying out heaps of different recipes and sharing them at work for critique.

When she was commissioned to make these teddy miss-you cupcakes for someone's farewell party, she made pina colada cupcakes. First, she made coconut cupcakes, then she filled them with a Malibu infused pineapple cream filling. She then spread cream cheese frosting on the cakes and topped them with gum paste teddies sitting on floral print embossed fondant. She handmade "miss you" tags and attached them onto toothpicks.

Bock Pops!

Mummy was fascinated with Bock Bock The Eco Plush Chicken from....

http://www.kaikids.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=277

And this is how she got the inspiration for her new range of cake pops, which she calls "Bock Pops" and she's made 20 to be sold at an expo at work for RSPCA fundraising.

Here're some Bock Bocks.... mummy made them out of fondant and she balanced them on styrofoam balls and left them to dry overnight before sticking them on cake pops double-coated with white chocolate. Mummy likes to double coat her cake pops because this gives the pops a smoother finish.

Mummy also made some rocky road cake pops. She had to invent this recipe coz it was specially requested by Aunty Emma for her birthday which is 2 days right after Cupcake Day. So mummy made a trial batch. Here are some of the 20 she made for her work expo today...

She also kept some aside for our really nice neighbour, Unc Warrick (errr..... don't know how to spell his name but it pretty much sounds like this) for being such a nice neighbour. The impaled dudes are for Unc Warrick himself and his wife gets those pretty flowers and his son gets the cute puppies.

Unc Glenn contributed 20 red velvet cupcakes for the expo - here they are after mummy decorated them with cream cheese frosting and little red fondant flowers which she made in like super duper quick time. You'll notice there's only 19 left coz daddy stole one!

Well, we're keeping our fingers and toes crossed today for mummy. Hope all her cake pops and Unc Glenn's red velvets get sold. Oh, and mummy hopes the expo will also bring her some more votes for her cupcakes. There's another new entry from ACT and it looks really good so that certainly brings the contest up another notch. Peoples.... if you're reading this, please click here to vote for mummy!

http://www.rspcacupcakeday.com.au/competitions/creative-cupcake/entry/?cupcake=9