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I am a big fan of character work. Especially of the edible nature. I usually try to incorporate characters into all my gingerbread creations, whether people or animals.
Last year I had reindeer playing poker and this year I had Santa and his elves as Vikings. I’m also working on a nutcracker for a local Gingerbread Benefit.
I learned how to sculpt people from a class I took. I taught myself how to sculpt animals by studying pictures and adapting my people sculpting skills. The concept is pretty basic. Once you get the hang of the steps, all you need is a little imagination and you can create anything!
This tutorial is for sculpting a basic human face using modeling chocolate. Satin Ice makes a decent modeling chocolate you can buy from Amazon (click here), or if you want to make it yourself, you can use my recipe (click here).
The easiest and best tools I’ve found for sculpting are silicone clay sculpting tools (click here). I use them for just about everything and I highly recommend them.
As for color, you’ll want to use candy colors to mix into the modeling chocolate. If you use regular food coloring, or gel color, it won’t mix well and you’ll probably end up with a greasy mess.
Depending on the size of your figures, you can use a few different methods for the eyes. In my case, I had small figures, so I used sugar pearl sprinkles for the eyeballs. You can get them pretty much anywhere, including Amazon (click here).
Since I was making Viking elves, I chose to do their eyes a striking bright blue. I used a metallic royal blue color I had. I painted small dots and waited for them to dry. Then I added some smaller black dots as the pupils.
For the head, I shape a teardrop of colored modeling chocolate over a piece of Bucatini pasta. I use the pasta as support because it’s edible and fairly sturdy.
I stick the eyeballs directly into the modeling chocolate about 2/3 of the way up the face.
The nose is a small teardrop of modeling chocolate stuck directly in the center of the face.
I use my silicone clay sculpting tools to smooth the nose onto the face and poke holes for the nostrils. The nose size can be adjusted by using more or less modeling chocolate and the shape can be adjusted using the clay sculpting tool.
Next, I add the top of the eye lids. I just put small strands of modeling chocolate over the top 1/3 of the eyes and smooth all the edges in with my clay sculpting tools.
Then I add some strands under the eyes as well.
Again, I smooth the edges with my silicone tool.
I add a strand for the upper lip.
Then use the tool to smooth down just the top edges of the lip.
I add a strand for the bottom lip.
I do the same to the bottom lip that I do with the top lip. I only smooth the bottom edge.
At this point, I adjust the mouth to fit my character’s situation or personality. My Viking elves were pretty stony faced, so my lips stayed neutral, but you could give your character a little smile or a frown.
The chin is just a small ball of modeling chocolate I add right below the mouth.
For this guy, I smoothed the chin in to look somewhat unassuming, but just like the mouth, here’s your chance to add some funky features to your character. A pointy chin for a wicked witch or a little dimple for a John Travolta-like butt chin? Go wild!
Next, I do the cheeks. Same method as the chin. Add two small balls of modeling chocolate.
I smooth them in with my sculpting tool. You can make them as unassuming or pronounced as you want. I gave my Viking elves some nice sized cheeks.
For the elves, I did some pointy elf ears. I rolled a few tear drop pieces of modeling chocolate and use my silicone clay sculpting tool to make some indents. If you’re making larger scale ears, my best advice is to study pictures of human ears and try to replicate what you see. Especially the placement on the face. Proportion and placement are key.
That’s it!
Now that you know the basics of creating a face with food, you can get really creative.
I made slight adjustments to all my elves. I wanted them to all look similar but to have distinct features that set them apart from one another.
I used braided corn silk for their hair and beards. I baked some of it to make it a darker color.
Santa’s hair was made from thinly rolled and braided ginger clay (recipe here).
All the bodies are made with gingerbread skeletons, covered in ginger clay and ginger gel. The key to building a sturdy body is to start from the ground up and build in pieces, letting everything dry and harden.
Animals are similar to people. I sculpted a reindeer head for my Viking ship. I used the same basic method that I used for my elves and Santa. I started with a head made from construction grade gingerbread (recipe here).
I sculpted features over the gingerbread using ginger clay (recipe here). I smoothed the pieces on just like the modeling chocolate, using my silicon clay tools.
The ginger clay dries hard. I like to use it as an overlay over gingerbread shapes. I’ve not yet tried it for human faces. Modeling chocolate is still my go to for that.
Click here to see how I used ginger clay to create the gingerbread wave that my Santa and elves are riding in their longship.
Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to follow me on Instagram for fun project photos (@thecraftcrib) and subscribe to the blog for new post updates (subscribe here). You can also follow me on Pinterest!
Other Gingerbread and Edible Art Project Posts:
Construction Grade Gingerbread Recipe (for building, not eating)
Gingerbread Recipe (for eating and building)
Reindeer Playing Poker – National Gingerbread House Competition 3rd Place Winner
Santa’s Gingerbread Mountain Chalet
Cardinal Family Christmas – Gingerbread Birdhouse
Gingerbread House Construction Tips
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