The techniques of Amezaiku can be roughly described as cutting, bending, stretching, pinching, and flattening.
Some of these techniques are often combined and done simultaneously with fingers and scissors.
One of the characteristics of candy as material is that it pulls and stretches beautifully, and when this characteristic is utilized to create natural curves, it gives an animal-like appearance and creates beautiful looking work. Once get started shaping, there is no minute allowed to stop or redo until finishing, as the material soon gets cold and hard to shape.

Dragon

dragon-pic1

1)When the candy is well kneaded adding food coloring, roll it up and put it on the end of a stick to make a perfect round.
From here, the race against time begins until the candy cools and hardens and can no longer be crafted.
Especially in the case of a dragon, I pray that the wind will not blow during the process of making it.
(Or I make it at great speed.)

dragon-pic2

2)Anyway, the tool used is a single Japanese scissors to cut, pinch, and bend.
The dragon's head is more complex in shape, so if you try to do it later, it won't work because the candy is already hard.
Therefore, the part is made first while it is still soft.
(In the very beginning, people really often ask "snail?")

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3)Now, after putting on beard and horns and opening the mouth wide, it somehow looks like a dragon's head.
Be careful not to cut the beard and horns too thin, as it will make them more fragile.
If I find a little kid, I may or may not make it a little thicker…

dragon-pic4

4)Cut out hands and nails. The nail is the thinnest part, so once the work has been done to this point, it is okay to finish.
Conversely, the candy is getting colder and colder, so this nail-making stage may be the most difficult.
It must be carefully shaped, especially when putting a ball as an extra.

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(5)After making spikes on its back, pull to shape a tail part.

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(6)Wrap it around the stick and put eyes on it, and done~

Horse

Another animal of zodiac, a horse goes like this.

horse-pic1

1)After kneading the candy well to make it pure white, put it on the end of a stick to make a perfect round.
The first step is to make a round shape, which is the same for any animal.
The first part to shape is head, but the latter part, legs are the difficult part to make them thin, so I cannot be slow.

horse-pic2

2)After cutting ears, start on the mane of a horse.
Just like bird's wings, this part must be done at the early stage while the candy is still warm to make it fine.
This is where the Japanese scissors come into play.
Feel like I'm about a third of the way done yet.

horse-pic3

3)The legs, it is quite difficult to make four legs in order, starting with the front legs, and by the time the last leg is made, the candy has already become very hard, so it is a relief when it is done well.
Making a vigorous horse, it spreads out and is difficult to fit in the bag, but white horses were very much appreciated in the Middle Eastern countries, so I made a lot of them.