i read all the entries about sugar bottles, studying them carefully before attempting it. i made my latex molds, and my first attempt at pouring the sugar in the molds. they turned out ok, but not exceptional, like the pictures in the gallery that look so real. i'm a perfectionist, so i want them to look real.

i have several questions about the process:

1) when making the molds, how thick should the latex coating be? it seemed like i had to keep adding layers, it took me all of last weekend to coat 3 bottles, adding another layer every 3 hours until it got about 1/8 inch thick. when i pulled the mold off the bottle, it seemed to distort a bit, the neck stretched a little, the bottle got out of round. maybe i need to make the mold thicker?

2) when filling the molds with sugar, some of the blogs said to coat the inside with the sugar and let it run out, then repeat the process. am i supposed to only coat the inside of the mold so it is hollow, or am i filling it up all the way so it is solid? solid makes the bottle very heavy, i would think it would sink in a cake. but when it only has a coat or two inside, it seems very fragile, like it would probably break when removing the mold. my first 2 were mineature bottles for samples, like the size you get on airplanes. i filled them up past the neck. the neck felt sturdy, but the lower 1/3 of the bottle seemed fragile. if we're supposed to leave the bottle hollow, how thick should the wall of sugar be? is 1/8 or 1/4 inch thick enough?

3) i notice that the sugar starts turning yellowish after about 3 min in the microwave. if i wanted to use this mixture for "ice", would it be ready at that stage to harden, or would i have to cook it longer, risking it turning yellow?

sorry everyone, i'm sure these questions sound dumb, but i've never melted sugar before, i'm a novice at this. thanks for any one who can help. my son will be 21 on the 9th, i want to make a special cake for him.