Questions on making shaped candies

Jaunito said:

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.

Quoted message said:

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.

On 19 Jun 2004 14:03:58 -0700, [email hidden] (Jaunito)

Quoted message said:

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?

Silicone.

-sw

Jaunito said:

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" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

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 <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Jaunito said:

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 said:

Mark Thorson <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Jaunito said:

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.

Quoted message said:

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. tomric.comtomric.comOpen ↗

Bill Ranck Blacksburg, Va.

Quoted message said:

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. tomric.comtomric.comOpen ↗

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

Quoted message said:

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. tomric.comtomric.comOpen ↗

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