Wednesday, June 30, 2010

The Big Bright Pink Candy-Floss Machine

You may recall that in a recent Theme Thursday post about Candy, I came up with some patent drawings and instructions for home-made candy-floss (cotton candy for those who play soccer rather than football) machines and suggested that my friend Edwin get busy and make one for my forthcoming visit to Oxford. Edwin can turn his hand to most things and I was therefore intrigued to see what he had come up with when we called in at Oxford on our way back from Dorset. What he had come up with was a large box containing a bright pink candy-floss machine. He had baulked at the challenge, but - seeing as it was my birthday - he had managed to find a machine for sale in a local shop. After careful reading of the instruction and experiments with ingredients and colouring, the first batch was made. It worked magnificently and tasted just like the stuff you get at the seaside. So, in future, if anyone calls in on us in Huddersfield, I can spin them up a candy-floss. Thank you Jane and Edwin.

Edwin hard at work spinning candy
Now has anyone got one of those machines they use to make seaside rock?

20 comments:

  1. oh now that is absolutely magical...start spinning mine. smiles.

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  2. Anonymous11:48 AM

    Happy Belated Birthday Alan, What a fun gift. The candy-floss reminds me of days as a child at the fair here in Georgia. Candy apples were popular too.
    My husband loves rock candy also!

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  3. Happy Birthday, Alan! (When was it?) I'll let you monopolize the cotton candy, though; the very smell of that stuff makes me nauseous.

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  4. Floss, huh? And I was expecting something to do with the dentist. I haven't had cotton candy in ages. Looks fun!

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  5. Oh, is it your birthday? Well, Happy Birthday, dear friend!!

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  6. hope to take you up on that candy-floss offer someday!! how is it with a pint of the local brew?

    nice birthday gift!

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  7. Happy belated birthday. The floss looks wonderful. Can you make exotic flavors like beer candy floss?

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  8. Anonymous7:53 PM

    Alan, yes, Happy Birthday! and this is the correct way to have it.... freshly spun!
    :) The Bach

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  9. Happy birthday from me too. I am always intrigued by the soft yet somehow prickly texture of candy-floss. You might find yourself suddenly popular with the local kids if you flaunt that machine.

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  10. Haha I didn't know you could buy the 'home version' next thing you'll be making toffee apples. No good news with rock I'm afraid! Oh and happy birthday.

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  11. Candy floss ... ah, the memories. Of attacking wasps.

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  12. Happy Birthday
    and I never touch the candy stuff
    but i do remember it from the fairs

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  13. :-o That is awesome. Result!!

    Happy Birthday to you. A lucky man, indeed, to have his very own candy floss machine! Pink is tasty, but blue is a favorite. :) While I may get used to using different words, I will have a heck of a time getting used to using "u" in words like favourite or honour or flavour. More points for me at Scrabble, but a mind twister for sure! That and the 24 hour system. When I'm asked to meet a mate at 17:30, I knit my eyebrows together as I do the math in my head, ha.

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  14. Happy Belated Birthday! ow lucky you are to have your own cotton candy machine! I love the stuff but am not about to traipse out to a county fair on a scorching hot day to get it.

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  15. Happy Birthday, Alan! That candy floss machine looks like fun...

    Happy Thursday!

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  16. What Alan hasn't said is that we got him a whole lot of food colourings for him to make coloured candy... but they didn't show!

    Not sure what to use them for, now..

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  17. Edwin -Maybe you can use the food coloring to do these fun, summer ideas:
    Buy some white flowers, put them in a vase with water, add the color of your choice and they will absorb the dye & change color.

    Sugar water and red food coloring also attracts hummingbirds, if you have any in your area.

    Green eggs and ham is always an idea! And although it's not Spring, Green beer is fun.

    Food dye can also be mixed with clay to make art projects a different color...or maybe you have some white lampshades around the house that you'd like to be blue - let it sit in the sye for a bit and voila! :-)

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  18. Anonymous5:18 PM

    I printed a lot of your blog out thanks my friend
    Regard2011

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  19. Anonymous9:26 AM

    i have the same machine 4 my daughter but have lost the instructions on how 2 make it .
    yet i can make toffee apples nd cinder toffee with out instructions :(

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