Getting ready for Christmas, need "real" Santa molds

[Edward J]

This christmas we will have a booth at the Vancouver Christmas Market, and will be selling chocolate santas. I'd like to start my production by late Sept./early Oct., but the hard part is finding molds, and I'd like to get at least a dozen or so.

Currently I have 1 (one) polycarbonate clip-together mold, a bunch of thermofomed disposable ones, and two forms of the highest form of stupidty where the back and front of the figure are in one square mold, which I believe is called a "double mold".

And yet, on most of the websites, the double mold is the predominate form of figure mold. As most websites show the cast chocolate figure and not the mold, I have to play detective and really study the description and figure for information on the mold.

I have a sneaking suspicion that "double molds" are "economically engineered" for making the mold mnfctring process cheaper and easier, the end user is stuck with a piece of, well..., uh garbage.

As these double molds are invariably white or opaque polycarbonate, it's harder to decorate them, but joining the two halves is the hardest part. You have to run a bead of chocolate around the lip, then pop out the back and stick it on. In order to have a lip to pipe chocolate on, you have to build up the walls. Even then, when you "glue" the two halves together, the seam is not attractive.

So my question is, is there some trick to joining these figurine halves?

Better yet, is there a website that carries the "real" clip-together molds?

I have located one source in Montreal that has clip-together molds, but only has one or two of each variety, and can't guarantee me delivery of a dozen by August.

I guess in the worst case scenerio I could get the despicable double molds, slice off the edges on a table saw, drill locating holes, glue in studs on the the one half and use office paper clips to hold it together. but it's a lot of work, and the molds aren't cheap either, I'd really like to take the mold mnfctr's to task on this one.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Have you looked at Silikomart's selection of clip-together silicone chocolate molds? There might be something for you there....

[Kerry Beal]

Tomric plastics in Buffalo can provide you with a bunch of clip together figural molds - make sure you get the good ones, rather than the hobby grade. And make sure to buy a bag or two of clips. They still don't fit together as well as the europeon versions like the Hans Brunner, but they are much, much less expensive.

[andiesenji]

My baker friend buys the smaller molds from Chocolat

and from R & R and they also make custom chocolate molds - he had some made that reflect the local flora and fauna (his own designs).

for the larger ones - he buys the less expensive ones from moldsanmore

The 12 inch santa is at the bottom of the page and the back half is on page 3.

The four inch santas on page 3 are filled with marshmallow, as are some of the other 3-D chocolates, Toy soldier, trees, etc.

He's also got santa in free-standing sleigh molds that are about 8" high x 10 " long but doesn't remember where he got the molds for them.

He's also bought a few unusual antique/vintage molds from Carolyn Byrnes because of the difficulty in finding new Victorian style molds.

He said he's going to email me a site that has a long list of mold makers and suppliers, as soon as he finds the link. I will post it later.

[Edward J]

Thanks for the websites and tips.

No, silicone molds are not ideal, since I usually decorate (ie white beard, dark hat or toy sack, etc.) and because I always brush the mold with a thin layer of couverture first, ensuring a good gloss. If you did this with a silcone mold, you have to very carefull not to disturb or crack this layer when pouring succesive layers. Silicone molds are not ideal for large figurines or even filled bon-bons because of thier flexible nature.

[Tony S.]

As these double molds are invariably white or opaque polycarbonate, it's harder to decorate them, but joining the two halves is the hardest part. You have to run a bead of chocolate around the lip, then pop out the back and stick it on. In order to have a lip to pipe chocolate on, you have to build up the walls. Even then, when you "glue" the two halves together, the seam is not attractive.

So my question is, is there some trick to joining these figurine halves?

The way I've seen this done is to first unmold both halves. Then slightly melt the edge of each half by rubbing it on a flat surface that's been warmed. You can use a heat gun on a marble slab or metal work table or the bottom of a sheet pan. You can also heat a large flat metal scraper or pastry knife and touch that to the edge of the halves to melt it. Then just join the two halves together. Doing it this way, I don't think you need much of a lip or build up the walls very thick. This would probably work with whatever thickness of a wall you like. However I would assume the thicker the wall, the more solid the joint would be. I've never actually done this myself, so I can't say how the seams look. I'm sure not as good using a clipped mold. But probably a bit cleaner than a piped bead of chocolate that gets squeezed out like glue. Hope that helps.

Edited May 23, 2011 by Tony S. (log)

[Tony S.]

The way I've seen this done is to first unmold both halves. Then slightly melt the edge of each half by rubbing it on a flat surface that's been warmed. You can use a heat gun on a marble slab or metal work table or the bottom of a sheet pan. You can also heat a large flat metal scraper or pastry knife and touch that to the edge of the halves to melt it. Then just join the two halves together. Doing it this way, I don't think you need much of a lip or build up the walls very thick. This would probably work with whatever thickness of a wall you like. However I would assume the thicker the wall, the more solid the joint would be. I've never actually done this myself, so I can't say how the seams look. I'm sure not as good using a clipped mold. But probably a bit cleaner than a piped bead of chocolate that gets squeezed out like glue. Hope that helps.

Here is a video I found of "Madame Chocolat" Hasty Torres (Jacques's lovely wife). At the 6:00 mark, she demonstrates how this is done using the heated marble slab and the heated metal scraper...And can I just say, I LOVE the marbled effect she created on the egg. I'm so going to use that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwitOUCvqWs

[Edward J]

Thanks for the link, and yes the video was great!

However both the egg and the bunny mold had lips on them, and could have been clipped together, although both were "closed base" molds, so I guess mold would have to be rotated constantly untill the chocolate sets. For mega- large pieces like on the video (12 lbs!!!!) it is indeed practical to "glue" two halves together.

I have a few bunny and Santa molds, all around 5-7" tall, polycarbonate and cheap thermoformed, and I find it soooooo much esier to clip the thing together. I was doing 7 or 14 bunnies a day, every day in March, to build up for Easter and have worn out the thermo-formed molds. I want to be prepared for Chritmas and get some molds that will last me for years instad of weeks.

Here's my process:

-"Makeup", ie ears, tail, beard, eyes, etc in white or other colour of chocoalte.

-Brush on a thin layer of the desire base couverture. This ensures a good gloss

-Clip mold together.

-ladle in a small amount of couverture, ivert for a minute, turn righ side up again and drain, and pop in the fridge.

-Repeat as neccesary, building up to the desired wieght you want.

-Unclip, and the deed is done. No glueing of halves, no possibility of the two halves separating either.

So for me and for small pieces, (5-7" tall) the clip-together version makes the most sense.

[prairiegirl]

What is the glitter that she is using? Is it sanding sugar or something else?