jbates

Me too, count me in!

Ooh, I like the idea of using bigger molds like those. Are they something I can buy directly or a custom order?

Noticed that the chocolate pooled in one spot, I have that problem often as well 😊. I’m a fan of thicker shells, makes for less worry when transporting them. What brand of chocolate did you use and how long did you spin it around?

I drove around to all of the TJs in my local area (6 or 7) before Valentine’s Day, and managed to find a few at each store, and finally a big stash half-hidden at one of them. So I started with about 30 bags to play with (but some went into the chef for “testing”). I’ve been using it for Easter as well, made up a few bigger bars using the CW1936 mold and some maple candied nuts: (Couldn’t get rid of all the glare from the bags)

The unfortunate thing with the CW1906 is that there’s only two cavities per mold. If they were the wider 175mm size then there could have been 3 or 4. I bought 6, but I probably will have to buy a bunch more so I can decorate the entire batch all at once. The snacking bar is magnetic and it’s 100% ruby. It’s the Chocolate World 1000L37, $50 each at the moment. https://www.pastrychefsboutique.com/CHOCOLATE/Chocolate-Molds/polycarbonate-chocolate-molds/bars-napolitains-molds/chocolate-world-cw1000l37-magnetic-polycarbonate-chocolate-mold-rectangular-bar-80x13x10-mm-1x10-pc-11gr-275x135x24-mm-bars-napo

I have two, but I might get a third later. I just got a melter for keeping everything warm so I’ll keep the alternates in there. For each gun I pour any extra CB back into the bottle, and run through whatever is left that is in the pipe onto a random samples mold until it draws air from the cup. Then I use paper towel to get rid of as much CB as I can from the outer surfaces and inside the cup and lid. If I’ve still got more colors to do then the mostly-clean one will go back in the melter to keep warm and swap to a fresh one. Once I’m done for the day I plug the gun back into the air, run the whole thing under hot water and spray the colored CB/water mix into the sink to clean out the CB path. Then I usually disassemble the pattern head to wipe that out, dry the whole thing with more paper towel. I usually don’t bother disconnecting the cup. When I pour in fresh CB into a gun I spray a little onto paper towel to ensure that any of the old color (or drops of water from the cleaning) that stuck around doesn’t make it onto my target piece.

Good idea, thanks! I could try to combine both ideas by putting the Silpat on the warming tray and the towel on top of that (and maybe hold them together with a couple of binder clips if it drags/crumples too much). Then I could slide the mold over it one-handed without too much pressure.

Is there anything I need to bring? I have spare luggage capacity if needed.

So much gorgeous detail in the flowers. Your artistic skills are waaay better than mine.

I currently use the cheap 4oz spray gun from Harbor Freight ($14) along with a California Air Tools 4610AC compressor (very quiet and reliable). I usually spray several complete molds at a time, or more if I’m doing partial coverage, before giving it a blast from the heat gun. I have the cup at ⅓ to ½ full. My speed is limited by needing to stop and clean the overspray from each form using paper/shop towels while it’s still wet. I need to find/make some sort of clamp to hold the edges of the towel in place so I can rub the mold one handed without putting down the sprayer (and without tearing the towel).

Working on a bunch of stuff for my Easter charity sale at the office. Some tasting bars made from TJs Ruby: I found the little mendiant/disc characters at Michael’s (US craft store), the missing third one is a bunny face. They were the lids in a small dough shaping kit for kids; threw away the dough and the containers. Metallic eggs, with a handful of candied pecans inside: The luster was lovely and shiny (a thin spray of pure CB, then luster dust, backed with off-white pearlescent CB), but a bit muted by the dark chocolate shell. I think I’ll do another layer of white CB or a very thin white chocolate shell before casting the dark next time. And some milk tablets using Cacao Barry’s new mold for Ruby: More to follow.

Good for me!

Not on mine, probably due to the smaller cost. I would have to do some research to figure out when it would apply.

I just got a small order from them. A handful of open-bottom 3D hand molds for Easter, a bit over $300 worth. The order was shipped by DHL, with a $75 shipping fee on top. So not exactly cheap shipping for a few molds (about 2Kg / 3 pounds). Quality is great. Only the tiniest amount of movement when the two sides come together. The molds I ordered weren’t magnetic, so they included clips. Their ordering is a bit old fashioned. I placed the order with the shipping initially quoted as equal to the price of the molds (had me worried initially), with the only payment option being a quote. They sent me a quote via email and then I had to accept the offer. Once you accept you’re locked in (pages of legalese). I had to email back the card details. No online payment options. I could have wired the payment, but the bank would have hit me up for more than the credit card’s foreign exchange fees. Because not all the molds I ordered were in stock at the time I chose to wait instead of substituting. They gave me a week number when the order would be ready (week 13, March 25, in this case). The order was shipped last Thursday and arrived in San Francisco a few days later, on Monday just gone. (Will post some images in the “what are we making” thread at some point.)

Tasting works for me as well, any time is OK.

Do you have a brand and/or model number?

@Kerry Beal what brand/model is that warming tray please?

I’d like to hear about ganache balancing, thanks for the offer.

Sounds great, I’m in.

I’ll be there!

I can also recommend the ChocoTransferSheets cocoa butters, I’ve used them since I started (mainly because they’re not far from where I live in the SF area). You can get reasonable quality molds from AliExpress.com cheaper than Amazon but you trade money for time; takes weeks for a delivery. I recommend searching for “polycarbonate chocolate mold” to find the range of stuff. I use a “2124B” bullet head shape a lot, cleans really easily (the “2124” is the same shape but smaller, at 8 grams per cavity instead of 13 grams).

I don’t put any of mine in the freezer, just the fridge for 5 mins. Then I leave the bars in the molds for a day or so at room temperature before during them out, which seems to help to reduce the marks. I also found that the microfiber cloths ended up smearing around a small bit of any leftover cocoa butter from the previous use. So I now use the 70% alcohol square swabs and push them into sharp corners, etc with a toothpick or a q-tip.

My first attempts using the dendrite technique in a snack mold. Unfortunately the nicer ones with the red were liberated before I got to take their closeups 😄. I figured out that less is more when doing this, I started with more on the brown/gold bars and less on those with the red backspray. Used a 50:50 mix of chocolate and cocoa butter, and a food-safe putty imprinter.

Good idea. What sort of containers do you use for the silk and molten chocolate? Have you had any problems with water leaks or condensation? Have you got any photos of your setup that you can share? That’s where I’ve got a lot of mine as well. I follow a bunch of pastry chefs as well since they also use a lot of chocolate for decorating, etc.

I like those, the angles reflect the light really well - I use them with metallic cocoa butter. They also snap cleanly.