Tuesday, September 11, 2007

'Tis the Season



I've decided it's time to get back to the cute and sweet stuff, after working on all that Shakespearean twaddle for several weeks, so I thought I'd try making candy corn again. This is my second attempt (I can't imagine that anyone really wants to know, but if you do, the first attempt is in the lampworking folder in my flickr account). They came out a little long and toothy looking, but I kind of like them that way. I made the mistake of asking the Husband what he thought of them (he always takes my questions very seriously which is both good and bad, from my perspective), and he pointed out that real candy corn is fatter and has a bigger orange section. Grrr, what a literalist. This is Art - it's my interpretation of candy corn! It would be boring if it looked exactly like the real stuff, right? Right? (Yeah, he didn't buy it either.)

Anyway, after my first attempt at making these, I mentioned that I'd had some problems to Kristine Dery of Krissy Beads, and she very generously offered me some tips for correcting my problems. Thank you so much, Kris! I still need more practice, but these are so much better than the first batch - and that's thanks to you!

I love candy corn - one of those 100% artificial tasting products that I find hard to resist. I can feel my teeth decay every time I eat a handful. I am racking my brains trying to remember if candy corn is actually sold in England - similar to fortune cookies and semi-sweet chocolate morsels, I think not? At any rate, if you are not familiar with it - it's a candy molded to look like a kernel of corn - it's made primarily of corn syrup (I think). There might be something sweeter on the market, but, if so, I'm not familiar with it.

Sometimes I wonder why I feel compelled to make and wear sweets beads. It's a strange compulsion, no? When I was a child, my mother bought me this fantastic candy bead necklace for Valentine's Day, complete with peppermint stick beads, jelly beans, yes, candy corn, and even a few teeth with cavities. I still have it somewhere. I'll have to dig it out and show you. So, maybe I can blame all of this on Mom?

4 comments:

melanie brooks said...

As a maker of food charms, I understand the compulsion. I don't know why I make so many either. And its never enough! I have been wanting to make sushi charms for a long time!

I am a HUGE candy freak. But candy corn is one of those things people either love or loathe, isn't it? Oddly, I really dislike it. Candy corn and circus peanuts...I just can't do them! Maybe I ate too many as a child, blah...

Melissa J. Lee said...

I agree - it's a love/hate thing with the candy corn. I like the chocolate ones the best, though.

Ooh, I don't like circus peanuts either.

You should make sushi charms! When I was in college I had a pair of sushi earrings made out of that horrible vinyl that they use to make the fake food displays in Japanese restaurants. So tacky, but I loved 'em.

melanie brooks said...

Unfortunatly, I am pretty unfamiliar with sushi, as far as actually eating it. I guess that's what holds me back. It is so beautiful, though...

Melissa J. Lee said...

Yeah, I've not much of a real sushi eater, myself. When I was growing up - when sushi wasn't popular the way it was now - my Dad used to drag me kicking and screaming to sushi restaurants whenever we had a vacation in a major city. He loved sushi and never had the opportunity to eat it - I just thought it was ick back then. I eat mostly vegetable maki, tempura and soba these days...