Sugar "salt dishes"

Working in sugar is a lesson in work fast and then hurry up and wait. Both gum paste and fondant are similar in chemical composition. The difference lies in proportions and slight chemical variations. But basically, it is sugar and plant gums holding everything together. I have a period recipe for making gum paste and in essence it is nearly identical to the formula commercially available.

Gum paste is not very forgiving. It has a short set time which means you have a short window of working with it before its shape is set. It is super sticky so you must work with shortening on your hand and work surfaces to keep the sugar from setting. This gets your tools ickey, and clean up is a pain. The upside, the stuff dries rock hard and is useful for structural pieces, like the salt dishes.

Fondant is slightly more forgiving in that it feels like marshmallow and has a longer molding time. This makes it easy to create figures, like salamanders. The down side, it takes longer to set.

I am using both in the sugar "salt dishes". The base is gum paste the figures are fondant. The trick is binding the two sugars together. If you are not going to eat the pieces, then I recommend super glue. If you are going eat the pieces, I recommend royal icing, and a good book (another sugar which takes time to set, but is the super glue of the pastry world).  When finished, they will be painted with pastry paints and sealed with pastry varnish.( Pics below )