Introduction: Marzipan Sculpting

About: I am a robot who lives on the moon and likes cheese and interesting things.
Now, before we launch into the logistics of the modelling and start talking about why my sculptures look like they do, I would just like to say that I'm not the most artistic of people, and my hands were shaking so badly (probably something to do with me electric shocking myself earlier). I'm sure that you'll be able to do much better than me and remember - The only limit is your imagination!

I take no responsibility for any injury done to yourself with knives and the like. There, I've said it.

I decided to start pretty basic, doing a Kirby sculpture, a triforce, a heart and a 1up mushroom (wrong colour, I know).

But first, the marzipan.




I always love to see people make something that I have documented, so please, if you make this then post a picture.

Step 1: Ingredients

Now, you don't have to use the recipe that I used to make the marzipan, you can use any marzipan you like.
This is the one that I used.
Remember, all quantities may depend on preference.

Ingredients:
400g Ground almonds
400g Icing sugar
1/2 to 2 tsp vanilla extract
1 to 2 tsp lemon juice
Water and brandy mixture
Colours and flavours

N.B. You could use a couple of egg whites in place of the brandy and water but we're not going to cook it.

Step 2: Recipe

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl (make it quite a big one). Add the almond and mix it it. Add the vanilla and lemon and then we are going to add some of the water and brandy mixture. Don't add too much at once! Always mix it in completely and see if you need any more. I can speak from experience when I say that if you add too much, it is almost impossible to make it not sticky. Once you have the right consistency/have mixed all the ingredients, you have the marzipan! How easy was that?

Step 3: Kirby

I decided to make Kirby first because I thought it wouldn't be too hard. hmm...
First, I added enough red food colouring to a portion of the marzipan to make a faint pink colour. I made a piece of this into a ball by rolling it in the palms of my hands. I then made the arms by rolling a piece into a sausage shape, splitting it in half and rounding it to make it more arm-like. I stuck the arms on the body.

I then added more food colouring to the pink marzipan to make it more red. I squashed some of it into the Kirby feet shapes, stuck it on the plate and put the body on top. Almost done.

I then carved in the eyes. As I have already stated, my hands were shaking and that is why he doesn't look too good. In an ideal world, I would have put some red in the eyes with pink pupils, but my hands were shaking too much :(

I then carved in the mouth. I tried to put some red in it and I let you judge how successful that was.

Step 4: Triforce

OK, the triforce was pretty easy, but I still somehow managed to make a mess of it. I guess I was rushing to finish.

Right, three triangles of the original marzipan. How easy is that?

Step 5: Heart

The heart was also pretty easy. I already had some red marzipan from Kirby and I just formed it into a disc type thing, cut a notch at the top and pulled it apart slightly.

Step 6: Mushroom

First, form the main part from the original marzipan - just a squareish shape.

Next, make the top bit. I used red seeing as I already had some, but you could use green if you want. I added yellow dots of the original marzipan on top.

Finally, I cut the eyes with a knife.

Step 7: Conclusion

We learn from our mistakes I guess, so I am going to write mine here to try and prevent you doing the same.

I added the brandy and water mixture too qickly - no matter how much icing sugar I put in, it was still really sticky. Always err on the side of caution.

Never rush it. I did and you can see how that turned out. Art can't be rushed.

Suggestions:

Additional flavourings to add a bit of variety to the marzipan
Marzipan fruits
Apply sugar to it once you have sculpted it so it isn't as sticky to pick up
8 bit marzipan art?