Pulled and Blown Sugar

This type of sugarwork requires you to have an artist’s hand and many years of practice before you can produce anything close to what you see in the specialty sugar books. Unfortunately, for these reasons, pulling and blowing sugar are becoming more obsolete every day. It is one thing to learn and practice the techniques in school and another to incorporate them in the workplace without going broke. The problem, of course, is that learning to blow and pull sugar takes a large amount of time away from your other chores and regular production work. Therefore, you must be interested enough in these types of sugarwork to make them a hobby. The weather also plays an important role: If you live in a damp climate, you will find it difficult to work with sugar because the humidity accelerates recrystallization. If you are a beginner, making a rose from pulled sugar, or blowing a small piece of fruit or even a vase, is a realistic starting point once you have a basic knowledge of sugarwork. Color Photo 98 shows examples of pulled, blown, and cast sugar arranged together in a showpiece.