Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Silicone Minifigure Ice-Cube Tray - Tricolor Gummy Men


After G's success creating chocolate Lego men, we decided to give multicolored gummy creations a try for our next round with our new silicone mold.  If you're a regular reader here, I imagine you'll be seeing mini-men throughout the summer.  Of course, almost any mold would work for this sort of thing - it wouldn't have to be minifigures.

At any rate, in order to be able to pour our homemade gummy solution into the molds without having all the colors mix together, we followed the steps we used last summer for gummy painting:

  • Combine 6 and 1/4 Tablespoons of water, with 1 envelope of unflavored gelatin, and 2 tablespoons of regular (not sugar-free) flavored gelatin in a squeeze bottle, that can withstand being dipped into boiling water. One bottle for each flavor/color.
  • Let the bottles sit for about 10 minutes, until the gummy solution is solid, and a little foamy.
  • Carefully dip the bottles into hot (very hot) water, and stir the gummy solution until all the gelatin is completely dissolved.
  • Place the bottles in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes, until the gummy solution is beginning to set up, but is still pourable.


With gummy filled bottles ready, we filled the bottom of the molds with a few drops of each color, being careful not to fill past the dividers.


Then, as our gummy continued to set up (remember a quick dip back into the hot water will liquify it again), we quickly filled in the rest of the mold.


Our men were a little lumpy on the back.


But, the finished product, removed from the mold after a few minutes in the freezer, looked pretty good.


Good enough to get the approval of my tasting crew, anyway.  They were delighted with the gummies...


...and even more so, when I let them use the left-over solution in the bottles to paint out...


...more free-form creations...


...with the last remnants sticking to the sides of the bottles, being melted back down, and poured into the mold...


...for several sets of solid colored men.


Three bottles of gummy solution yielded 8 tricolor minifigures, 32 solid colored men, and three or four plates worth of crazy creations.

All in all, a pretty good bit of fun.

4 comments:

Phyllis said...

They turned out great!

Ticia said...

I'm seriously impressed with your gummy men.

Unknown said...

You always do make the most out of a new gadget, like this mold, don't you? :0)

Natalie PlanetSmarty said...

Wow, amazing! A little too involved for me, but perhaps one day when daughter is old enough to try that on her own...