On Tue, 30 Jan 2007 23:02:05 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry Carl
wrote:


It's a long story, but I want to create a choker like this:

http://c-76-19-175-241.hsd1.ma.comca.../CandyCorn.jpg

using real candy corn.

My original thought was to make wire studs or loops that would be heated
up and melt their way into the bases of the candies. That's not working
well, very unreliable because of splitting the candy and because the
heat needed is higher than the leather choker is likely to take nicely.

(hmm... that's because I'm assuming I'll assemble the leather/metal
before the metal/candy... hmmm...)

Heating the bases of the candies isn't working as I hoped, The
confectioner's glaze seems to be keeping it from sticking.
(well duh, scrape it off... next thing to try)

It may be that heating the candy and pressing it into/against something
it will 'key' into might work, but it'll be very delicate...

Anyway, there are some clever folks on this list, and while this isn't
jewelry in the metal-and-stones vein, I hope some of you will enjoy the
mental challenge of figuring a way of holding a friable candy in place
for at least a little while.

- Carl W




If perhaps you don't need the candy corn to REMAIN edible, you could make it
pretty durable by coating it. Dip them in casting resin, the kind used for
fiberglass, or something like clear/colorless ceramit. Allow to cure. The
resulting coating might be left pretty thin, but would still be quite strong
enough, I suspect, to allow you to just glue the things in place with good
security, perhaps just using any good epoxy glue.

Or, use a small drill, held in the hand, to drill a hole into the corn that
would just slightly snugly fit some sort of metal pin or wire you insert. Dip
the corn in a decent resin, or slow setting epoxy, insert the wire, perhaps dip
again if needed to be sure the two are now bonded by the resin coating and resin
in the hole. When cured you've have your corn on a wire you could then use to
affix it to the rest of the piece...

And there are addititives you can use with the resins, I think, that would give
them a matte finish, rather than glossy. With a bit of experimentation, you
might get it to pretty much mask the fact that the corn was coated.

Without coatings: Make small bezel cups that the corn would loosely fit into,
just a little. use something like melted chocolate or caramel or marshmallow,
to glue the corns into the bezel cups. now it remains edible... or, simply
insert the corns onto spikes/wires as you suggest, but don't heat the wires to
jam them into the corn. Carefully drill the corns so they just slip neatly on
the wires. Use some other sticky sugar source, perhaps honey? to glue them on.
Not sure how easy to break off this would be, but avoiding jamming them onto
something is important, to avoid just fracturing them when you assemble them.

For totally edible product, instead of leather for the choker, use a fruit
leather. Maybe licorice ties...?

Dang. I shoulda known better than to answer this post. Just writing this is
raising my blood sugar...

Peter