I just finished making a batch of poured sugar jewels (used sugar, not isomalt) and poured into a gem mold. How am I supposed to "neatly" poor this sticky stuff? I used a pyrex measuring cup with a spout, but still have trails and overflows...I probably only got a few that I can actually use. Any helpful pointers?

I usually take a scissor and trim off the rough edges...

Cool, I'll try that. I was looking at them this morning, and some are not smooth, I guess because I was try to pour so slowly that little "string" impressions were on them...so I plan on trying again today, if anyone has tips on getting them smooth...

I have no advice, but will be watching for answers as I need help in this area too!

I never worked with sugar before, but read on a few threads that you can use silicone baking cups (muffin/cupcake size) for pouring isomalt or sugar.
HTH

When i took Kathy Scott's demo, she used one of those silicone molds in the wilton aisle. It is shaped like a little boat or something like that. It worked great for her. I think in her kits, this littel mold is in there.

I have gem molds for hard candies, and I also used one meant for chocolate molds (it didn't melt it, but I poured it last). And although I may try isomelt down the road, I'm not going to buy it for this cake. I made the gems purple and didn't have issues with yellowing or anything. Will the isomelt be smoother than doing regular sugar? I'm not sure about the difference between working with the two. If there is a huge difference, any tips for working with the regular sugar would be great! Thanks, y'all!

The molds I have aren't so much the problem, I guess it's small size of them. How do you pour into a small mold? Is trimming with scissors my only option? Is there some technique I'm missing? Glass dropper, maybe?

I have the same issue. There were little bubbles on the face of my gems. The instructions said to let the sugar/isomalt to sit in the oven or microwave 2 minutes to clear out the bubbles but they still showed up. I will be curious if others have solved this issue.

I'm going to try making a half recipe, because it seems like I'm too slow getting them poured. Pouring slowly is making litle sugar strings harden as I pour more on top of it...

Two suggestions, the first is to let the pyrex bowl with the sugar or isomalt mixture sit in the oven at 265 degrees for 15 minutes to let the air bubbles settle. The other suggestion is to get one of those little boats made of silicone. They are great for small work like that. Have fun!

It's not just sugar, I had the same problem with isomalt - good luck!

the instructions on sugarcraft suggests using a funnel with a stopper but I'm not sure whether that serves any purpose other than to fill more molds in shorter time. I've just got a sample portion of isomalt and haven't had the courage to actually try it yet....the dire warnings of danger of accidental burning when used by clumsy oafs like me. I love this thread so I can learn from your brave adventures. When I finally get around to making all that "bling" on a wedding cake, I'll make sure to dedicate the cake to you.

So I thought I would post the round two results. I used a folded piece of tin foil to catch the stream of sugar after each mold was filled. It was much neater (I guess this is where the silicon "boat" came into play that was mentioned before). However, it slowed me down, so by the end the sugar was getting too thick to pour nicely anymore. I think next time I will try Isomalt since it can be remelted. The second round looked better, though, but I guess I added too much color to the sugar because the jewels were much darker the second time (which I didn't like as much, but oh well.)
If you are interested in seeing, here is how it turned out.
http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1950341
Anyone have a solution in attaching these guys? I used white candy melts, but it makes them look cloudy. Would it be best to use a kitchen torch to melt the back and then attach next time?

I started making gems last year. I haven't used Sugar, only isomalt but I did put together information with tips and hints. It's on my website.

You'll have to remove the spaces for the link to work.

http:// www . trulycustomcakery . com/tutorials/23 . html

I learned in my baking class to use a torch to get the bubbles out, but only while it's still liquidy.