Oh, Ellepal, LESSONS???? 
I'm still in the "student" role!! Maybe some day....
I'm hoping to go to the Notter School sometime in '06 to shore up and expand my limited skills. I've gotten a few books and I'm looking forward to some trial & error practice in the near future. Believe me, I have a looooong way to go 
Have a great weekende, everyone!
Rae
I have a friend who wants a wedding cake with blown-sugar bubbles on it, so I thought I would look up how difficult it would be.
So Thank you all for the great information! I have now come to the conclusion that I will probably NEVER try blown sugar. 
It sounds like quite the expensive headache!
My question is: do you think I could get a similar effect with fondant balls dusted with pearlescent luster dust? Or possibly hollow white chocolate to cut down on weight? I would love any ideas you have. THANKS!
You could get a similar effect using hollow gumpaste or chocolate. Getting truly white chocolate, and sometimes gumpaste for that matter, can be tricky, but you could experiment. Gumpaste could be painted with lemon extract & luster dust and would work best, in my opinion. Chocolate has to be dry dusted and sometimes the color isn't as true.
You could experiment with gumpaste by wrapping small, inflated ballons with very thin gumpaste and letting it dry and then popping the ballon to get it out. You might want to put a bit of crisco on the balloon so that it comes out cleanly.
If you try either of these methods, please post your results here--I'd love to see them!
Rae
Blakes, thanks!! What a great idea with the gumpaste. I think it would be really fragile, but may be worth a try. I'll experiment with chocolate too, and I'll post the results when I get around to it. Maybe I could use gumpaste for the large bubbles, and fondant/chocolate balls with the rest.
Thanks again!
So I googled sugar blown and came up with this site
http://www.bakingshop.com/sugarcraft/sugarwork.htm
All the equipment for sugar blown(TOO EXPENSIVE!)
Then I saw this:
Blown sugar bubbles
3 lbs. granulated cane sugar
1 lb. water
Bring to a boil and add 8 drops tartaric acid. Boil until it reaches
314F. Pour onto a marble slab or a large silpat sheet. When cool
enough to handle, pull off balls marble to golf ball size, depending
on the size of the bubble you want. Attach to the end of a wooden
straw and blow. Twist the bubble and melt the end shut with a spirit
burner and cut away with scissors.
I LOVE GOOGLE!
vicki
There is nothing really rocket science about this stuff. Need a bulb pump.Get an old blood pressure cuff and cut off the cuff presto! You have a rubber bulb pump! Find a sugar recipe and practice,practice,practice! Go to www.pastrychef.info there is an article there that will help you all.
You do not have to have tartaric acid.You can use cream of tartar even vinegar. The acid is a moisture preventer.Sugar is hygroscopic which means it attract moisture. Go to www.pastrywiz.com if you really want tartaric acid.
Silpats can be got reasonable at E-Bay or if you have a Bed & Bath store near you can get them there. You can use a large cookie sheet just grease it lightly with vegetable oil. A spirit burner is what they use in labs to heat chemicals you do not need it. You got a stove don't you? Want an external heat source get a propane torch these are used mostly for heating the sugar and bending it into shapes and closing holes. This stuff does not have to be expensive.
SugarCreations,
How much cream of tartar and/or vinegar? The recipe I saw said 8 drops of tartaric acid, so how does that translate?
Also, my stovetop is electric, not gas, and wouldn't that get really messy? How would it work without a spirit burner? Could I use a simple flame starter match thingy? (do you know the thing I'm talking about? Sorry!)
Thanks!
April
Your Welcome.But just remember that books are great for instructional purposes but only practice and hands on will really teach you the methods and techniques used for doing this stuff. Most of the equipment you can make yourself. I have less than a $100 in my sugar work station. Good Luck.
Regards SugarCreations...
Found this today:
http://www.shavkin.com/quesans.html
Diane shavkins site(A great site!)
vicki
I am totally ignorant when it comes to this type of sugar work and would love to learn more as this type of work is not really done here in Australia. So my question regarding this topic is can someone please tell me what a "Wooden blowing Tube" and where I might be able to get one from. I would also like to know about Warming Boxes. Sorry if this has been covered before. Thanks
Kerrie
I am doing a zillion bubbles as I speak. I do not use the "straw technique" I get way too light headed. As far as what it is you bow sugar with tem like a straw. As far as warming boxes you can build them with a heat lap in it to keep the sugar soft.
Not to put a damper on this party but blowing sugar with your mouth will make it more susceptible to re-crystallization. Moisture from your breath is not a good thing. Just a thought, if it works then by all means use it if your not having any problems. Good Luck all.
Rgds Sugarcreations
Works fine for me and seen it done on Food Network Challenges so it must be working for them too-Just a thought.
I guess I am not sure what you mean by it rec rystalization but all my bubbles that have been blown by mouth are fine and keep there shape.
Next question would be after you have made sugar bubbles why would you need to keep the sugar soft, I would have thought that it would have been better hard. Sorry if I am asking stupid questions.
Kerrie
The sugar is soft while blowing not after it has hardened. You blow bubble and let it harden and trim it off the pump or straw. If the sugar is hard then you cannot blow the bubble.
I blow my bubbles using a wooden stick and a bulb pump--like the type on a blood pressure cuff.
I, too, was told that the "humidity" put into a ball from mouth blowing would contribute to an early demise. Also, it would render the sugar ball inedible because of contamination.
Rae
I too would have thought that you would not be able to sell anything with mouth blown sugar bubbles on them due to contamination.
Kerrie
Most likely not -I have not. I used the bubbles that required a straw for a dummy cake. But that goes with all the other things that touch food like our hands. Ever catch anyone running there hands through their hair or touching your face. Those too can to can lead to contamination. When I was in culinary school you had to wash your hnads after just picking up an egg. You would go get the egg, place in a bowl, Set bowl down, wash your hands, go get a new bowl, crack eggs, dispose of egg holding bowl and eggs shells and wash your hands. It was a sanitation test for us.
I wished I put as much faith in Food Network as everyone here.
I'm a mug and have tried once to make bubbles out of fondant by inflating a small balloon. As I was not using a balloon pump it was to hard to inflate the small balloons so in my haste I used syrphome balls and covered them instead. Now I have a balloon pump and it might work this time but have not tried yet.
Yesterday I tried to blow fondant with out much luck but I am not prepared to give up on it yet. I think you need to thin the fondant first and this I will try over the weekend if I get a chance.
I don't give up lightly and will persist with my quest to get fondant, chocolate and sugar bubbles to work for me.
Not sure if anyone is interested but today I tried the method that Blakes Cakes described by using a blown up balloon and it works with fondant/plastic icing the only thing I forgot to do was grease the balloon first. You can also blow fondant bubbles but you need to get the right amount of fondant and make sure that you blow evenly. It does work.
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