How do they do that? (the bonbon thread)

[Tri2Cook]

This is not sarcastic, I'm asking this in all sincerity... why wouldn't it be easier to paint the yellow line in with a brush, spatter with black, then back with the blue? It would still be a lot of work painting all those lines in but it seems to me like it would be easier than trying to cleanly scrape colors away.

Edit: the more I look at the picture, the more I'm convinced on the paint them in idea. It looks to me like a perfect example is being held in the foreground. Some in the background look like they have areas of heavier yellow in the line that could have been a start and stop point with the brush.

Edited February 20, 2018 by Tri2Cook (log)

[Daniel D]

I would agree with Tri2Cook. Paint yellow line first - because you can see some areas where the color behind the yellow is blueish.

 

I’ve done a bar mold using the spray/scrap method. I sprayed black, scraped away with a chopstick, then backed the areas I scraped in gold. Worked out well!

[pastrygirl]

1 hour ago, Tri2Cook said:

This is not sarcastic, I'm asking this in all sincerity... why wouldn't it be easier to paint the yellow line in with a brush, spatter with black, then back with the blue? It would still be a lot of work painting all those lines in but it seems to me like it would be easier than trying to cleanly scrape colors away.

 

Maybe it is!  Personally I think trying to get an even line with a tiny brush would be the greater form of painstaking tedium, but you have a good point about the heavy spots that could be brush stops and starts.  Oddly enough, another chocolatier has something similar on Instagram today ...

 

 

And aside from the leech-iness, what boxes do these fit in? 

Edited February 21, 2018 by pastrygirl (log)

[Kerry Beal]

I'd use my little silicone tipped clay tool to scrape then back with yellow. Painting a tiny line is tedious!

 

When you scrape with a tool - the tool follows the curves really easily and gives a nice line.

 

 

These are done with a quick scrape (or two). 

Edited February 21, 2018 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Tri2Cook]

12 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

I'd use my little silicone tipped clay tool to scrape then back with yellow. Painting a tiny line is tedious!

I believe you and pastrygirl, you're both much more experienced at this than I am. I was just picturing me trying to scrape color off and about the fifth or sixth time the scraping caused big flakes of the color to break away, me saying a few discouraging words as the mold went sailing towards the trashcan. 

[Kerry Beal]

7 minutes ago, Tri2Cook said:

I believe you and pastrygirl, you're both much more experienced at this than I am. I was just picturing me trying to scrape color off and about the fifth or sixth time the scraping caused big flakes of the color to break away, me saying a few discouraging words as the mold went sailing towards the trashcan. 

No flakes though - scraped while they are still wet.

[Goober]

I mean the other method it could be done is by using an insert and spraying over it for the first coat and removing it in the second. Though it is clearly brushed in this instance.

[Bentley]

On 2/20/2018 at 8:45 PM, Kerry Beal said:

I'd use my little silicone tipped clay tool to scrape then back with yellow. Painting a tiny line is tedious!

 

When you scrape with a tool - the tool follows the curves really easily and gives a nice line.

 

 

These are done with a quick scrape (or two). 

 

Those remind me of the Norman Love Black Collection bonbons.  When I went to a class at his factory, they would tell me how they painted any bonbon...except the Black Collection.  They said that was a secret.    I eventually figured it out.  I use a cosmetic tool that looks like a q-tip but is pointed and firmer.  Whatever tool you choose for scraping, just make sure you're not damaging the mold.

Edited February 22, 2018 by Bentley (log)

[Gwbyls]

I use an over the counter dental rubber tip instrument to scrape inside the mold. It works great and doesn't scratch. I personally would prefer to scrape than paint. 

Something like this

https://www.kleenteeth.com/g-u-m-gingival-stimulator/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI6ueM9oe82QIV2rrACh0D4ArqEAQYASABEgIq3_D_BwE

[gfron1]

Pretty much anything coming out of this kitchen blows me away. That line is so incredibly thin! And the tips in that mold are more than I'd want to deal with.

[gfron1]

Y'all are liking the pic, but ideas on technique? I've seen Melissa do ultra thin lines as well. Sure, you could scrape, but keeping it perfectly parallel to the masked line would be hard. Seems like a tool or a stencil.

[pastrygirl]

the thin line is what gets caught under one edge of the tape - tape, spray black, wipe half the mold clean, remove tape, spray yellow

Edited February 25, 2018 by pastrygirl
Forgot a step (log)

[keychris]

I like the peace sign he's pulling in the reflection

[gfron1]

11 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

the thin line is what gets caught under one edge of the tape - tape, spray black, wipe half the mold clean, remove tape, spray yellow

 

That took some brain power and an extra cup of coffee. Strip of thin tape down the center. Spray all black, although more heavily on the side that you want to remain. Wipe the side you want to be yellow. Remove the thin strip which will no reveal an untouched strip plus some seepage. Spray yellow. That makes sense. Has anyone done this? Is that line pretty consistent? Do you have to do the wipe a certain way - maybe swiping toward the tape, along the tape or away from the tape?

[Bentley]

I think it would be inconsistent to rely on seepage to get a clean thin line.  Here's how I would do it if I had to use tape.  I would use two pieces of tape - both the width of the center yellow stripe.  The first piece would be to mask off the center yellow stripe.  The second piece would be on the side that is more solid yellow with a thin gap between the two pieces of tape.  I would then spray or brush black CCB on the areas that are supposed to be black.  I would then remove the tape and spray or brush yellow.  

 

 

[pastrygirl]

1 hour ago, gfron1 said:

That took some brain power and an extra cup of coffee.

Or taking a class with  Melissa Coppel.   I think she got fairly consistent results, don’t recall specifics on wiping. 

[pastrygirl]

59 minutes ago, Bentley said:

 I would use two pieces of tape - both the width of the center yellow stripe.  The first piece would be to mask off the center yellow stripe.  The second piece would be on the side that is more solid yellow with a thin gap between the two pieces of tape.  I would then spray or brush black CCB on the areas that are supposed to be black.  I would then remove the tape and spray or brush yellow.  

 

 

You certainly could do that, but then you have to get both pieces of tape perfectly parallel and consistently close together in each cavity. 

 

I was playing with multiple layers of tape at haphazard angles in some large Easter eggs, but I wouldn't want to be the one tasked with 32 sets of parallel lines in rounded, 30 mm cavities!

[Tri2Cook]

1 hour ago, pastrygirl said:

 

I wouldn't want to be the one tasked with 32 sets of parallel lines in rounded, 30 mm cavities!

I was thinking that about several of the techniques showing up in this thread. While they look amazing and I'm glad people are doing them so I can admire them and maybe even learn how they did it, I can't really see myself spending that much time on each cavity of every mold while producing chocolates. Not as long as I still have a 6 days/week primary job interfering with chocolate time anyway.

[gfron1]

1 hour ago, Tri2Cook said:

I was thinking that about several of the techniques showing up in this thread. While they look amazing and I'm glad people are doing them so I can admire them and maybe even learn how they did it, I can't really see myself spending that much time on each cavity of every mold while producing chocolates. Not as long as I still have a 6 days/week primary job interfering with chocolate time anyway.

I agree. I think they're more for competitions and classes than actual production, although as was said previously, there are a few chefs doing high volume production using lots of minions.

[Jim D.]

I should name this post "Defeated by Stripes" because that's how I feel. I bought the tape that @tikidoc used. I thought the fact that it appears to be plastic and not paper would make a difference (and it did for her). But I used a brush to apply color to a mold (ignore the feathery part at the edges--I didn't care about covering the entire mold). I applied the cocoa butter somewhat more thickly (but not a lot) than I usually do because I wanted to simulate airbrushing--where the thickness is difficult to control. I let the cocoa butter dry (as would happen in an airbrushing situation, where going from one mold to another gives the c.b. time to crystallize). You can see that the stripe is not what one might call a success:

 

 

 

As is obvious, when I removed the tape, the flaking was very bad.

[Kerry Beal]

20 minutes ago, Jim D. said:

I should name this post "Defeated by Stripes" because that's how I feel. I bought the tape that @tikidoc used. I thought the fact that it appears to be plastic and not paper would make a difference (and it did for her). But I used a brush to apply color to a mold (ignore the feathery part at the edges--I didn't care about covering the entire mold). I applied the cocoa butter somewhat more thickly (but not a lot) than I usually do because I wanted to simulate airbrushing--where the thickness is difficult to control. I let the cocoa butter dry (as would happen in an airbrushing situation, where going from one mold to another gives the c.b. time to crystallize). You can see that the stripe is not what one might call a success:

 

 

 

As is obvious, when I removed the tape, the flaking was very bad.

I would agree that is not a successful stripe!

[Jim D.]

Another try proved more successful (one on the left, stripe left clear; on the right; red cocoa butter, which unfortunately does not show up well in a photo):

 

 

The photo shows more imperfections than there actually are, so I think these would be usable. The difference between these tries and the preceding one was that I did not let the c.b. dry completely, just until it was set and no longer runny. The problem is with doing these in any substantial numbers. I would have to airbrush one mold (tape in place), wait just the right amount of time for the c.b. to begin to crystallize, remove the tape, then do the same with the next mold. If others have had success with letting the c.b. dry completely before removing the tape, I would love to hear about it and know what you did differently.

[Bentley]

I don't think it would ever work consistently to let the  CB dry before removing the tape.  You have to remove it when the CB is still soft.  I usually remove the tape right after airbrushing.  Works well as long as you haven't sprayed such a thick enough layer that it can run. 

 

Taping in general is very tedious and time consuming, especially for large production.  I can't imagine doing it in a commercial setting.  Molded bonbons are labor intensive enough.  No need to kill the margins even further by adding additional steps. 

Edited March 16, 2018 by Bentley (log)

[Sweet Impact Mama]

Commenting on this thread because I've learned more by reading through than all the video scouring I've done in the last few months.  There is nothing quite so valuable as getting a handful of creative experts in a room and letting them run! Now I'll get to follow the thread. Thanks for sharing all your ideas.

[Pastrypastmidnight]

This is probably super simple and obvious, but how do you get this soft, kind of marbled effect?