How-To: Preserve a Candy Portrait

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By Andrew Salomone
Let’s say that you were overzealous with your Halloween candy purchases this year (or maybe trick-or-treater traffic was down in your neighborhood) and now you have a big bag or two of candy that you don’t really want to eat. And then let’s say that there is someone you’ve been meaning to make a sweet portrait of, like, for instance, Abraham Lincoln. Well then boy do I have a project for you.
I was recently asked to make a portrait of Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin out of Nerds candies. In order to make the portrait I had to figure out how to adhere the candy to a panel and protect them from moisture, which would eventually make the candy deteriorate. Then I had a whole bag of Halloween candy that I didn’t particularly want to eat, so I made a portrait of Abraham Lincoln out of it for my apartment. Here is the process I used to adhere and preserve the candy so that you can make your own candy portrait with your left-over or unwanted Halloween candy.

Tools

Paint brush

Relevant parts

Wood or Masonite Panel
Clear Polyurethane Varnish
Non-water based Glue
Left-over Halloween Candy

Go to Make: Projects for the full directions
About the Author:
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Andrew Salomone makes artwork about the absurd ways that ideas are communicated through popular culture. He is currently teaching a course on contemporary art and the internet at Parsons The New School for Design.

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