Moulds for modelling small bricks?

[Scorch]

Well, we're planning this surprise 65th birthday party for my Dad in a few months. And as my Mum's a cookery teacher, and used to make celebration cakes, I have to live up to my upbringing by making and decorating a birthday cake.

So, I'm planning on a big square sponge, covered with roll-on fondant icing (though I'm planning on buying it, as making your own is a right pain, even though it does taste better), and decorating it with run-out lettering and numbers, plus models of all the things he loves best in life.
That way, I can make all the decorations beforehand, and not have too much work to do at the time - just make the cake the day before (Not that I have a cake tin big enough, but I'm sure that's not insurmountable...), cover it and arrange the decorations on top.

Dad's played all manner of sports, and we're going to invite his old team-mates, so I'm planning on making football boots and a ball, a set of bowls, a golf club, ball & tee, and a set of table-tennis bats & ball for the top. Plus he loves his garden, and grows veg of all sorts, so I'll make lots of vegetables to arrange at the front, and round to the sides. The other thing he's done is a lot of building work on our house, and others, so I'd like to build a brick wall ramping up the rear sides, with a trowel and some mortar. Now, I can run-out or model a trowel (probably... I've done dafter things!), and mortar on a board is easy, but all those BRICKS!

I'd want a lot of identical bricks, maybe each 1" long, with at least the ones on the top showing their "frogs" - the indentations in the top. Does anyone know of, or have any, weeny little brick moulds?

[ElaineJ]

This page (http://www.minaco-uk.com/page7.htm) has:


1/12 scale silicone miniature brick mould

Beautifully made mould in high quality silicone rubber. You can cast your own miniature bricks with frogged middle and faced on all four sides, can be laid as real bricks with cement based adhesive or with PVA glue.

The bricks would be a bit short of an inch though but 1/12 scale is a modelling standard so I shouldn't think there'd be moulds around with different sizes.

[Scorch]

Oh, well done, Elaine! That does indeed look like just the thing! Thank you.

I wondr if such a thing works for modelling-paste type icing...

[ElaineJ]

It looks as firm as any of the silicone moulds for sugarpaste, I don't think you'll find anything better without spending a lot of time scouring modelling suppliers.

[Scorch]

Ah, right... I confess I've never used a silicone mould for sugarpaste at all! Though, now you've given me the idea, I've gone & looked, and there's lots of them around - cool. When I was a kid, there was no such thing, y'see...

That looks perfect, then - thanks again!

[woodtattoos]

It may be a bit off the wall but your question made me remember something (http://www.firebox.com/product/2304/Bob-the-Builder-Construction-Sets) I'd seen for sale a little while ago... have a look, it's even got the little trowel you could use! :D

Si.

[ElaineJ]

That looks like a contemporary version of a set that my Mum had when she was a kid in the 1920s!

When I used to play with it Grandma used to mix a flour and water paste for cement.

[fairycakes1972]

Your other option could be to use a clay gun and extrude the paste through a square disc and then cut to size.

[Scorch]

It may be a bit off the wall but your question made me remember something (http://www.firebox.com/product/2304/Bob-the-Builder-Construction-Sets) I'd seen for sale a little while ago... have a look, it's even got the little trowel you could use! :D

Si.
That IS cool! Really cute...

I've seen the miniature sets like this from Hobby's, but not this chunky...

[Scorch]

Well, I bought a mould... I'll let you know how well it works!

[ElaineJ]

You'll post a pic of course??

[Scorch]

Yup, I will indeed.

Preliminary testing yesterday says that fondant icing (sugarpaste) goes in but won't come out again in one piece, but American moulded sugar works a treat. I haven't done that in years!


What's that, you ask? Just sugar and water! Put some caster or granulated sugar in a bowl, and mix just a little water with it, stirring it about till it's like sandcastle-ready beach sand. Then pack it into the mould, and let it set hard. You can leave it in the mould to set if you have a flexible mould, or turn it out wet. Just like sandcastles!

If you're making big stuff, like eggs, turn it out of the mould wet, let the outside harden into a thick crust, then scoop out the centre to make a shell. You can dampen down the scooped-out sugar to make more things.

Food colouring mixed in colours it however you want, and if you want it to set REALLY hard, use raw eggwhite instead of water. Caster sugar gives a smoother result than granulated, and I've heard that you can add a bit of icing sugar too, but not tried it yet.

I'm going to get some golden caster sugar, and use that, as it'll taste better and nudge my bricks to a better colour with less food colouring! Especially as I'm mixing up my own brick-brown/red from the primary colours...

[Scorch]

Took a (bad) pic of the mould, and the bricks it makes - it's in my album here : http://www.craftsforum.co.uk/album.php?albumid=861

[silvermaid]

Those bricks look wonderful, just like the real thing. I can't wait to see the finished cake.

Melanie

[Madly Creating]

That's brilliant! They'll be so impressed - and probably really high from all that sugar! ;) Well done.

[Scorch]

Thanks, all!

I was SO impressed by how well this worked. I'm planning on building a wall around one back corner (or maybe both) with tinted royal icing as mortar, and including a tiny icing trowel and mortar-board to match.

Which means that I have to remember the tricks of doing 3D runouts again... after about 20 years or more! I'm sure I still remember how...


I'm making some veggies out of sugarpaste, and some football boots & such too, plus I'll be making other sportsgear and "Happy Birthday Dad" and "70" lettering with runouts. It's the only way I can think of to get the time-consuming stuff done beforehand, as we won't have much time on the day!