No use candy clay--stuff it in there--put in frige--they pop out perfect. I'm thinking I will paint mine silver or gold and then maybe brush with piping gel & see how that works. Something like that.

Oh dang it! I forgot all about Candy Clay!! Thanks for the reminder!

Attempt #7 is currently cooling. I've been able to get the shape ok, but the faceted surface has been dull. This time I melted the candy and poured it into the mold--that seemed to make the bubbles smaller.

Ok...mixed up a batch of candy clay, it's resting. Will try tomorrow. I also tried some gumpaste too. Bought some clear piping gel to tint and brush on the jewels afterwards. Will post some pics if I decide they are acceptable...lol

Baking at 300 degrees finally produced an acceptable product for me, but not perfect. (And I like perfect! )

Pictures?? I'm dying to see some really good results!

Aha! I tried it again with jolly ranchers...300 degrees, and this time, when I took the mold out of the oven, as counterproductive as this sounds...I mixed them around, poking the handle end of a spoon into the cavities, all the way down to the bottom, to break those bubbles that leave the pock marks in the face of the jewel. They have been cooling for awhile now, and the only bubbles anywhere are teeny tiny almost imperceptible ones, none around the edges, they are smooth and shiny! I can see down to the bottom of the cavities, and definitely NO bubbles! Woo hoo!! Can't wait to unmold them and do some more!

jamie--mine were dull when I unmolded them. Just rubbing with my finger brightened one. On some others I rubbed a little veg. oil, and that worked too. The ones that had pock marks I set aside to remelt the next day, and in the morning they were shiny, too. I credit the humidifier that we have running. Also, I did the stirring thing, too, on one trial and it appeared to help. However, at 300 the sugar seems to be viscous enough to allow the bubbles to rise and dissipate as it cools. How long did you leave yours in the oven?

Hi charmed,

Do you not want to buy them, or were you really wanting to make them? I've used both sugar and isomalt and isomalt definitely is easier but if you just want them already made I just used some from fancy flours and passed on the cost to the customer and they looked pretty good. Here's a link for the site and also a picture I tried to get a close up of, of what they looked like.

https://www.fancyflours.com/diamond-cake-jewels.html

Good Luck!

I'm sorry, the picture doesn't show up on the thread very well.

Yes, Jolly Ranchers.

dcabrera--the mold I'm using is by First Impressions Molds-love, love, love their molds! However, I think a mold made especially for hard candy might give a slick, shiny appearance right out of the mold. The site for FI is firstimpressionsmolds.com
Meanwhile, I'm going to load a photo of my trial gems into "my photos" here on CC. I think they were about the 10th try, and I expect the next one will be better. Now it's just a matter of perfecting the length of baking time--which actually may not even matter that much--and the amount of candy to use. It isn't necessary to pulverize the Jolly Ranchers. Just estimate the right-size chunk and if you need to add a little piece after the original melts, that's fine.

handymama, those jewels came out vey nice.. Did you try any of the clear ones yet? You mentioned the hard candy molds as a possibility; have you seen any for the jewels?

CK Products makes one for 1" gems. That's larger than what I'd usually want but it's only a couple of dollars, so worth it to me to try. The product # is sh5117

Thanks! I will go check it out..

Not sure if this will help any, or if I'm too late, but I found this article. I'm about to try this for gems on a competition cake ( my first one - woo hoo!)

I'm going to try diamonds, but had no ideas on where to start until I read this.

Now I just have to figure out which mould to buy!?!?! K8memphis, thanks for posting the link to the SK mould, it's pretty expensive! Is it worth it? Ok, I've gone back to look at the one I was going to buy. It is First Impressions and is the same price. The ones I've seen haven't had a brand attached to the pic, all I know is that they were blue!

http://cakescanada.com/HowTo/Bejeweled.pdf

I've seen that tutorial, beautiful work!! I don't have time left now to do all that, I have a competition cake due in a few weeks myself...mine have come out ok, and for most, I'm going to use GP ones, with luster dust...kinda the look I wanted anyways. One of these days, I'm gonna sit down and work with isomalt.

I found this kit for candy by Lorann at my local hobby lobby. It comes with 2 candy flavors, 2 molds, and the candy ingredients, for 11 bucks! (Less if you use a 40% off coupon!) I would like to try it, has anyone else used it? The kit says "rock candy" but from looking at it, it's not the typical rock candy, the molds are gem shapes. They also have just a gem shaped mold for $2.99 @ my hobby lobby, that is specifically for hard candy...hth

https://www.lorannoils.com/p-8482-rock-candy-kit-jewel-candy-pieces.aspx

Well, I have managed to come up with some really pretty jewels, using the "take-out-and-stir-every-few-minutes" method. I'm happy with them! I'm going to paint the backsides with silver glaze to give them more pop! I'll have pics soon.

Jamie - what do you use for the silver glaze? Is it just luster dust?

Oh no...it's this stuff...like liquid silver! And I have the gold too...it's great!

http://www.shopbakersnook.com/m5_view_item.html?m5:item=3277

Jamie - I can't get to that link...is this the same stuff?
http://www.fancyflours.com/silver-glaze.html

Yes, that's the exact stuff! Great stuff!

Thanks! Do you use the First Impressions mould? Does it have tear shaped cavities? I'm having a hard time deciding on a mould?

I have the First Impressions mold, I think. It's blue, and has about 25 cavities I think? Yes...tear shaped, baguette, round, etc. Works great now that I have practiced with it!