does anyone have any tips on keeping melted chocolate melted while you work with it? i read on some threads that people use warm water baths and heating pads.
i'm wondering if i could use those candle warmers they sell at the craft stores? or do they get too hot?
does anyone have experience with this?
TIA 
I have used the heating pad and it worked great but I know you can also use a thermal babyfood dish (the kind you add water too in the bottom part). I read that tip in my cocoa painting book..
I was think you might be able to use those microwaveable heating pads and then just keep your choc on top ..
HTH
Jane
Not sure how much chocolate you're trying to keep melted, but I like to use the Wilton sports ball pans. The halves fit perfect over a small saucepan. Just keep the water at a slow simmer and the chocolate stays melted. I like to do this when I make cake balls. I use one pan for dark chocolate and the other for white chocolate.
If you just need a little chocolate, maybe try using the foil cupcake liners and the heating pad
i've used heating pads (both the microwave kind and the plug-in kind) as well as putting some hot water in a larger bowl that i kind of "float" a smaller dish of melted chocolate on. i've microwaved a dinner plate (as they tend to retain heat fairly well) and sat my decorating bags on them... 
thank you all for the great ideas
has anyone ever had to keep small amounts of colored chocolate melted while you work? for example, if you are painting a CT with a few different colors of chocolate... is the only option to work really quickly before it starts to harden?
i'm wondering if i could use my plastic palette in this case. maybe on top of the heating pad. do you think it would get too hot for the plastic palette?
i'm just brainstorming here because i just discovered CTs and i fell in LOVE. 
i definitely want to do them again in the future.
I bought a couple of warming trays at an estate sale, from the looks of them they are probably from the 70's. They are meant to keep casseroles warm on a buffet but as it turns out they are perfect for keeping chocolate melted!!! I've seen them new for $75+ but I paid about $5 each at estate sales!
i just read in a cookbook today that if you melt using a double boiler method (a glass bowl with choc over a pot of hot water) to not let the water go above120 degrees, because that is the point where it starts to let out steam. the water vapors will cause the choc to seize up. if you have a candy therm (3$ at walmart) that helps...you want it just hot enough to keep it melted, boiling it is too hot. if it seizes, you can try to add a bit of shortening to help but it wont be quite as good as it originally was.
Cakerator wrote
has anyone ever had to keep small amounts of colored chocolate melted while you work? for example, if you are painting a CT with a few different colors of chocolate...
I used my small palette on top of the heating pad whilst I painted the cookies with chocolate...they kept nice and liquid on top of the pad. Although I didn't use colours per se, there were about 4 different shades of brown, each in there own little compartment..worked well.
when I'm using a decorating bag and it hardens I just pop it in the microwave with the tip on and its fine no sparks flying around.
i bought the little warming cups wilton sells and when i work with small amounts of different colored chocolates i set the oven to the warming temp and leave the cups in the oven untill im ready to use each color...it saves a trip to the microwave a dozen times
I sell candles and use warmers and also was wondering about useing the bigger jar warmers for melting chocolate but was unsure of the temps they put out. Does anyone now the answer?? I don't want to waste chocolate 
When I was practising the CT I used my old electric frypan on the lowest heat and placed a hand towel between the base of the pan and the chocolate bags I was using and it worked perfectly.
In the last cake I did Amy's wedding cake in my photos I had to keep the chocolate melted as I had to make 70 chocolate slabs. I brought a little water to the boil and then turned the heat right down to 1 and placed a dish with a rounded bottom on top making sure the water is not touching the bottom of the dish. I had melted chocolate all the time and just kept adding more chocolate when I was running low. Not sure what you are using the chocolate for but hope this is of some help.
I haven't invested in one yet, but I've heard from many chocolatiers that a yogurt maker is just the right temperature for keeping chocolate in a liquid state but not burning it. Saving my pennies... 
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