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Ephemeral materials challenge



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 31st 07, 08:02 AM posted to rec.crafts.jewelry
Carl
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Posts: 38
Default Ephemeral materials challenge


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



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  #2  
Old January 31st 07, 08:13 AM posted to rec.crafts.jewelry
Peter W.. Rowe,
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 355
Default Ephemeral materials challenge

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
  #3  
Old January 31st 07, 05:13 PM posted to rec.crafts.jewelry
mbstevens
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 165
Default Ephemeral materials challenge

On Wed, 31 Jan 2007 07:02:20 +0000, 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.


Fact:
When Hillary first climbed Everest, he found candy corn left by Yetis.

I don't know how to put your project together, but I can guarantee you
that candy corn has a half-life of 27,000,000 years.

Fun picture.


  #4  
Old January 31st 07, 05:13 PM posted to rec.crafts.jewelry
ted frater
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 133
Default Ephemeral materials challenge

Peter W.. Rowe, wrote:
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

Hmmmm... edible jewellery?
well it takes all sorts,
Id be very careful with metal wire assembly ideas. If someone
swallowed the candy plus wire youd have a rather big law suit on your hands.
Not the best way to go.
So what would I do?
Id drill through from the side of the candy then drill another hole 90
degrees to the 1st hole then thread through these holes like sewing on a
button. but tighter so it stays where you want it to.
then when it gets eaten the threads stay on and through the leather.
If you cant hide a fixing method then make it part of the design.

  #5  
Old February 1st 07, 02:56 AM posted to rec.crafts.jewelry
Andrew Werby
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 49
Default Ephemeral materials challenge

Hmm...

Looking at the picture, it seems like you could make the choker part in
metal, then heat it up and apply the Kandy Korn Kernals - get the heat right
and they should glue themselves on with a sizzle. If there was a nail or
something sticking out, it would provide more grip.

Of course a real jeweler would make the Kernals in gold, enamel them, and
thread the backs for screws...

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com


"Carl" wrote in message
...

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






  #6  
Old February 1st 07, 02:57 AM posted to rec.crafts.jewelry
Marilee J. Layman
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 119
Default Ephemeral materials challenge

On Wed, 31 Jan 2007 07:02:20 GMT, 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.


Glue. It'll last longer than the candy.
--
Marilee J. Layman
http://mjlayman.livejournal.com/

  #7  
Old February 1st 07, 06:04 PM posted to rec.crafts.jewelry
Carl
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 38
Default Ephemeral materials challenge

When mbstevens put fingers to keys it was 1/31/07 11:13 AM...

On Wed, 31 Jan 2007 07:02:20 +0000, 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.


Fact:
When Hillary first climbed Everest, he found candy corn left by Yetis.

I don't know how to put your project together, but I can guarantee you
that candy corn has a half-life of 27,000,000 years.


And of course there's the fossil evidence that candy corn hasn't changed
since the pre-cambrian period.

Fun picture.


Thanks. Photoshop _is_ my bitch.

- CarlW


  #8  
Old February 3rd 07, 09:32 PM posted to rec.crafts.jewelry
Carl
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 38
Default Ephemeral materials challenge

When I put fingers to keys it was 1/31/07 2:02 AM...

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.
...



It's looking like the way to go is to slowly drill the candies then
quickly (and gently) stuff them onto flattened wire studs and let them
cool in place. The drilling (and holding the drill in place for a
moment) heats the candy and softens it enough to form around the stud.

Gonna try twisting the flattened studs.

- Carl W

  #9  
Old February 4th 07, 06:46 AM posted to rec.crafts.jewelry
Carl 1 Lucky Texan
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 57
Default Ephemeral materials challenge

Carl wrote:

When I put fingers to keys it was 1/31/07 2:02 AM...


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.
...




It's looking like the way to go is to slowly drill the candies then
quickly (and gently) stuff them onto flattened wire studs and let them
cool in place. The drilling (and holding the drill in place for a
moment) heats the candy and softens it enough to form around the stud.

Gonna try twisting the flattened studs.

- Carl W


Should this fail, it may be within reason to train yourself in polymer
clay techniques well enough to use it to duplicate candy corn. Should be
much more durable at least.

Carl


--
to reply, change ( .not) to ( .net)

  #10  
Old March 4th 07, 10:05 PM posted to rec.crafts.jewelry
Carl
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 38
Default Ephemeral materials challenge: An answer

When Carl put fingers to keys it was 2/3/07 3:32 PM...

When I put fingers to keys it was 1/31/07 2:02 AM...

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.
...



It's looking like the way to go is to slowly drill the candies then
quickly (and gently) stuff them onto flattened wire studs and let them
cool in place. The drilling (and holding the drill in place for a
moment) heats the candy and softens it enough to form around the stud.

Gonna try twisting the flattened studs.


Yup, that worked:

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

_Not_ photoshopped except for cropping.


The 'studs' are ~20ga stainless.
I started with pieces a hair over 1" long and bent about 3/8" from each
end at 90?, each segment perpendicular to the other two.

Depending on your display font, this might be a picture of it: |/\

I flattened one end to about 3:1 and twisted it, then wire-wheeled the
tip to take off any sharpness.

The choker was a strip of thin leather 1-1/2" wide with holes every 3/4".

I coated the inside with contact cement and let it dry.

I placed the twisted ends through the holes, arranging the remaining 'L'
shapes along the centerline then folded the leather in to the centerline
and hammered it 'shut'.

Slow drilling the candies with a 1/16" bit held in a drill press did the
job nicely. Enough of the candy corn was softened by the heat that they
pressed on very nicely. When they cooled they stayed on for several days
and several hundred miles of transport with no problem whatever.


- CW



 




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