Sweet Sugar Baby

There is a delicate whimsy in having a baby transform into some magical and enchanted being, making them fairies, bugs, princesses…. I delight, fuss and frustrate on every detail as I mold and sculpt and dress the little sugar babies so I can tuck the little sweet being in a sugar flower that adorns the cake…

It starts with a bit of inspiration from the “real” baby—-it actually eats my time and a whole lot of time!!! I just keep on looking at the photo of the real baby – I don’t know why, but I unconsciously must be internalizing how the baby’s features are to be able to submit it to my subconscious!!! OMG- wow! this is a fact I might not have realized until I wrote it down today!!!.

I start by using a generic baby mold which is made out of food grade silicone, available online or cake specialty shops and I carefully press a fresh sugar dough or white modeling chocolate—and when I feel I’ve got to all nooks and crannies of the mold, I carefully and gently unravel it out of the mold. As I gently hold the soft formed sugar dough, I manipulate the features to match the “real” baby using my handy simple tools- my paint brush , a tooth pick , my clean hands and my TV should be turned on for company! it takes a while (hours and more hours perhaps) to get to the finer details. Often times my are eyes strained from looking through my +3.0 reading glasses which I have to put on or I see nothing at all. Unfortunately there are times my stubby fingers would get a bit of cramp from holding my hi-tech tool- the Toothpick!

I stop, I have to—- because one has to learn when, where and should just STOP- STOP and really STOP—and if I don’t, this baby will turn into a freak!!! … I let it settle for 24 hours keeping it safe, tucked in some cotton bed and kept in a place where there is good air circulation (inside the entertainment armoire—this annoys my husband so much!)…

I sleep and dream on about how the sugar baby would look like—dressed and all prettied up, it has to look sweet, serene, magical , with whist in their faces and twinkle in their sleepy eyes … I go back to my working area with new tools in tow…food colors, fine brush, tiny rolling pin ( its sanitized pen without the pen inside or a just a bamboo skewer, or a cut up dowel), grain alcohol and a fresh batch of sugar dough that will be used as their fine clothing….

As I work, I get frustrated, impatient and patient, smile and frown, criticize, scrutinize, twiddle, tinker, fiddle, sigh and most often talk to myself, stopping and staring if I got it all right, and most of the time I pat Me on the back and say—Good Job , Joanne !!!!