SC - Julleran's Sugar/Candy Glass

[Mark Schuldenfrei]

  I had always wanted to make a rendition of coats of arms as a subtlety,
  but have always ran into trouble with coming up with period ways to get
  the various colors. (ie not food colors) 

Hmmm.  My wife and I (mostly her, she's the one with the Laurel... I just
hang out because its fun) have used commercial food coloring paste, as a
rule.

Why?  Because most of the coloring agents used in period were poisonous, or
are impossible to get.

Given a need, therefore, to use a non-period substitute, you can make a
choice: something they could have used but didn't (HISSS) or something they
couldn't have used, and didn't.  She/we have chosen the later.  Mostly
because it works, and its easier.  (You have to understand that it can take
her several months just to mold a soteltie for an event, with the time we
have to spare.  If we had to make fresh colors, which can spoil, and make
them each time we spent an evening on a project, it would move the project
from hard to impossible.)
  
  what do you mean by food paste?  can you add it to the sugar to make
  colored glass  or must it be painted on later.  Can you add anything to
  the sugar or does it cause havoc with the sugar as it cools?

Both.  Food paste is a highly concentrated form of food safe dye, available
in cake baking and decorating stores.  You can also purchase a powder form,
but I find the paste easier to handle.  You can mix it in, or paint it on.
(We dissolve it in vodka, which makes a fast drying paint that is also food
safe.)
  
  I had also thought of rolling out a sheet of marzipan or something similar
  and topping it with various fruit "sauces" in a heraldic design.  But
  again, have run into trouble trying to accomadate the various colors.  Red
  is easy, but what would work well to get a good yellow, green, blue, black
  or purple.  Any ideas.

Yellow?  Saffron.  Green?  That's not too hard: crush damp parsley in a
mortar or with a food processor, and the green juice works.  (And, its
period!)  Black would be hard: I'd consider walnuts, purple would be blue
berries.  Blue?  As George Carlin said "There is no blue food". I dunno.

	Tibor
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