The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-05-29
ORNAMENTS OF SUGAR.
ARTISTIC CREATIONS MADE Foa
NEW YORK BANQUETS. !

Parts and Figures Of Well KNOWN FER.
sonages-oiI Painting With Sugar-Ars
lists at work-Unique Designs.
Among the queer trades in this great
city thai of making more or less edible
show pieces for banquet tables Is enc or shs
most artistic variety.
At very many corporation dinners II has
become somewhat the custom 20 have .
large table ornament which will from It's
form or detail suggest the particular sort
of enterprise in which the promoters OF the
dinner are interested. a great many or
these fancy pieces are constructed from
sugar paste and others from nougat, q
candy paste literally besprnkled with
fragments of nut kernels.
The amount of labor put upon some OF
these art works might be considered wasted
when you consider how peyishable they
are, and the artistic quality of the work
gives an idea of great expense, because you
naturally conclude that such excellent
handiwork must come high.
A young Frenchman employed In one OF
our local restaurants is a clever exponent
of this branch of sugar architecture. and
he is kept busy nearly all the year rNund
for banquet purposes alone.
Like most men who have achieved sue
cess in the lines of artistic manufacture,
this young artist, whose name is Dennie-
vile, was compelled to serve long and
arduous apprenticeship. Starting at the
age of fourteen he worked as a helper for
q well known German artist, whose crea-
tons in sugar and gum paste few years
ago were considered marvels. Six years
ago the old gentleman retired on his lau-
fes, and MS young assistant, by assiduoals
study in the meantime in drawing and
modelling classes, was able at the early age
of seventeen TO take his instructors place.
According to Mr. Dennieville there is
nothing in the figure or flower line that
cannot be reproduced in sugar by q clever
worker.
CAPABILITIES OF PULLED SUGAR
The best material for flowers and Gre
ations of delicate outline is what the artist
calls pulled" sugar. To make clear white
pulled sugar he melts down the finest
brand of loaf sugar, and mixing the mass
when Just hardening with little clear
strip, he works it after the manner of the
man we occasionally see pulling long strips
of soft candy in uptown confectioners'
windows.
From this mass before it gets cooled he
shapes his leaves and petals and sticks
them together in natural flower form as
he goes along. Where the flowers have a
body color, vegetable colors are mixed in
the boiling sugar. When the flower is one
that needs but a tinge of color it is put on
with brush.
One of the most artistic creations in this
line was made for exhibition at French
ball held in 1855 The body of the design
was made of nougat, and represented a
wheelbarrow three feet long. Inside the
wheelbarrow was an artistic heap of Gala
lilies and roses, of natural size and perfect
form and color. These flowers, leaf, branch
and blossom, were made of the best quality
of pulled sugar.
A material called composition paste is
used for figure pieces. The paste is made
of gum tragcanth, marble dust and corn
starch. This product can be given finish
SO near like that of highly polished porce-
lain as to deceive the average observer.
When Augustin DAILY banQueted Henry
Irving in 1888, he ordered five figures of
Mr.. Irving in as many different costumes.
These figures were each eighteen inches
high, and they attracted a great deal of at
tention on account of their artistic fidelity
to life.
At banquet given Mr.. Edwin Booth by
Mr.. DAILY in the year following, five figures
of the tragedian were exhibited, uniform
in size with those of Mr.. Irving
WHAT GUM PASTE CAN DO.
Two of the best examples of figure group
work that have been produced in sugar
were made for the chamber of commerce
banquet in 1888.
These groups were made of what iScaHed
gum paste. This is combination of guEn,
sugar and corn starch. In this material
the sugar replaces the marble dust used in
composition paste. The two pieces were
So feet high each. The modelling was.per-
feet, and their preparation took about four
weeks time. The groups were afterward
secured as trophies by individual members
of the organization.
A very large table piece made of gum
paste was shown at the chamber Gk COM
merce dinner on Nov. 10, 1889. This piece
was six and half feet high. It's rnsAS up
called for over thirteen thousand psseef of
sugar paste, and the artist worked steadily
at it for six weeks. 1t cost the chamber "a
commerce people about $500. This Wa
probably the finest table piece ever shown
at a banquet in this city.
At the French cooks ball in 1888 two Of
the many interesting show pieces were rep
RESERVATIONS of picture frames with relief
flowers in the center. One groap was a
cluster of wild roses and leaves, perfect IN
form and arrangement. The second frame
contained wild mass OF very natural
looking apple blossoms.
OIL PAINTING IN CANDY.
Il srrhf 81
make a candy structure 70 use as the basis
sor an oil painting, but this very thingwas
done for the sake of novelty, and the piece
was exhibited with Others at large gath
ering of banqueters. The picture frame
was three feet long and two feet high.
This part of the work was made with gum
paste and afterward gildsd. The orna18sn-
tations were modelled in the approved
picture frame style. In the opening the
artist created a landscape of sugar paste in
relief
Although this part of the work might
have been made IN natural colors, 1t was
considered that the design might be more
realistic if painted IN oils. There was
enough of the sugar surface left IN places
to prove the real foundation Of the design
The effect produced by the combination
was very fine, and the piece shows the in
finite resources open to the artistic candy
maker.
A piece called the 1.-TWO KBickerbock
ers" represents the old and new styis Of
New York dress The old time KnAekez-
booker was shown In an attitude suggest
ing that he has just taken pinch e&sna6
and X getting ready 70 sneeze He stands
beside table, leaning upon cane he'd IN
his right hand The modern Ksscker-
booker Is not gufee 20 graceful tn fsrzn-
He Is zttired in a dress suit and high bat,
and his side whtskeps su1ge@< the EaRfksb-