Thanks Glenn. I checked with Tomric and they are no longer carrying the product. I am now in the process of downloading the InDesign program....Thanks for the help :)) Deb
It is worth it to buy the USB stick. Deco artist also has the cake software which is free. If you download the Edible Artist software, scroll way down in the template page and you will see all the template shapes. Just make sure it matches what you need.
Deb,
I bought my USB stick/key fob from Tomric in New York. Check to see if they any more. Alternatively you can make a template pattern in Adobe InDesign to match your molds.
Good luck!
Glenn
Hi
I'm looking for templates for my choc. molds, specifically the heart (DCRPDR9013) & the oval (11271). Other than making my own (last resort) I was hoping that someone might already have some templates that they would like to share, possibly?
I have looked into the Chocolate Artist Software, and apparently that has been discontinued according to Chocolate World/Deco UK (plus it was ridiculously priced). I was able to download the software but I need a USB stick to print, perhaps someone has one that they might like to sell?
Any help would be appreciated,
Thanks
Deb
Has anyone use gold metallic ink transfers on dark chocolate?
These can be used just like any other transfer sheets you would buy ie. PCB, Chef Rubber etc. You do need to use a white backing to make your image show. If not the image gets lost in the dark chocolate.
Can this program be used to make my own chocolate transfer sheets to be used on hard ganaches, or is it something that is strictly used with magnetic molds? If this program doesn't have that capability, is there any other program that can do that?
Hi Debra exactly the same ingredients, so must come from the same company these are made in Holland, loads better than the ones from Deco.There called Bobbon sheets on the box.
David, what are the ingredients listed for your chocosheets? I am wondering who Chocolate World is using for their supplier. The cake art sheets are: water, cornstarch, sugar, cocoa butter, citric acid, bamboo fibre, soya lecithin, vanilla flavour.
I agree Debra the deco sheets are not the quality you would excpect, being as i purchased a job lot package ( never again ) reading these posts encouraged me to try chocolate world, what a difference.
You cannot airbrush the chocolate-artist (Deco) sheets, but airbrushing the cake art sheets should work. David is right in that "just do what works" and progress as experience comes.
I have done thousands of customized bonbons and I am very disappointed with Deco artists chocosheets. They need to double the spray on the sheets because the ink always saturates the spray then dries and sticks to the sheets.
Thanks for the hints. I've tried air brushing white over the transfer sheets without success, so have found the white chocolate option to be the most effective.
Best,
Glenn
To be honestDebra once i master the art of the airbrush etc then i will go down the road of white chocolate and cocoa butter, it seems to work for you, just trial and error i suppose i just find the melts at the mo straight forwards no tempering required. Only been going since January so still a novice. If you do use the melts Glenn dont slake them down with cocoa butter, theres no need,put the melts in mould in lieu of the white choc and let it set takes around 5-7 mins, then pour the flavoured chocolate in, pop in the fridge for around 40 mins, i then pop them for 5 mins in freezer, the reason i do this is the melts do not shrink as much as chocolate in the fridge. then demould as normal
If you are making a high end product, then the candy melts compromise the product. Compound chocolate is fine if the product is run of the mill quality. I blend white chocolate with cocoa butter and just plain everyday light oxidizes the white chocolate and the creamy yellow goes white. I use to add white coloured cocoa butter and realized it was a waste of time.
That looks great! I'll have to try some of the melts. Right now I use white chocolate and blend a little bit of white cocoa butter to lighten the colour from yellowish that most white chocolate couverture is.
Hi Glenn i use super white candy melts from merckens, i tried the ones from wilton but did not find the picture was perfect plus did not taste as good. once i get my head around this site will upload some pics. This was one of my earlier efforts but as you can see the picture is so clear.
That's interesting, Dave, as I have been using it exclusively on white chocolate. Which candy melts are you using? I haven't tried them before.
Thank you!
Hi Deborah could you tell me what the white pcb powder colour is and where i can get it from, im from the uk so it might be called something different over here. Many thanks
Hi has anyone used candy melts for a clearer picture rather than use white chocolate, i use it quite often and itseems to decant from the deco molds easily, and gives me a brill pic.
Hi Jackie,
Could you please tell me where you order the sheets preprinted, how long time does it take and
is there a min order
Thanks
Marianne
I don't do anything special or different than when using the white cocoa butter for anything else. I warm in in the microwave in bursts until it's fluid enough to use with the airbrush. Never checked the temp, but it should be around 90 degrees. I have heard from some that they get it hotter than that because the air brush will "temper" it as it goes through sprayer. Has never worked for me that way. If it's too hot, I usually loose a lot of pieces. After the printed sheet has dried, I just spray over it in a even layer, and let it set until dry. Then mold as usual. I have had some chipping on corners, but haven't figured out what causes it. It's really random, and it hasn't happened much.
I use the Badger 260 sprayer on my compressor just FYI.
Probably not a lot of help, but when I first started playing around with this whole thing, I just jumped in and figured it out as I went.
Can you please explain in more details how you get the white color so nice
Thanks
Marianne
Thanks, Debra. I'll try your technique of applying a thin layer of white chocolate with cocoa butter &colour. I appreciate your help and insight! The troubleshooting seems to take a long time to get to a quality result. : ))
I should add that the software is still beta, as I was told by Tomric and no permanent version available...there aren't instructions, so you have to figure it out for yourself. Ask if you have any questions and I'll try to help out.
I tried airbrushing white cocoa butter directly onto the transfer sheet, so that I could apply it to dark chocolate, but the results have been flakey. Haven't mastered that yet - any ideas or suggestions?
Thanks Debra, I have the printer, I have the ink cartridges and I am ready to start experimenting with the Deco software. I will get back to Ran at Chocolate World and tell him the dilemma people are having with the flash stick. The PC/Mac transfer was very difficult, some instructions would have been nice.
Will post my results!!!
click the top image that says "NEW DESIGN"
Click the proper mold template you need. You will need to wait anywhere from 3-10 seconds for the template to open up. Be patient.
Click "PICTURES" on the left menu. On the Right side, the IMAGING MENU appears. Find your picture and click it. I usually save an image (jpeg,jpg, or png) to my desktop (i have also created a file called LOGO) because it is easy to find the image. Anyhow, click the picture you want.
Set up the image to the size you want. There is an ability to crop the picture if you want. Once you have sized the image the way you want it thenClick on left side "PRINT IMAGE". Make sure that you have the security stick plugged into the USB. Print. OR "PREVIEW " if you want to see how the image will look before printing.
Chocolate World finally got back to me, you are correct, cartridges are filled with ink and water.
So, has anyone filled their own cartridges or treated their own acetate sheets??
I don't see how the ink cartridges can be filled with cocoa butter. Cocoa butter is solid and needs to warmed to work with. I don't know of a heated printer. All the edible ink cartridges I've used are filled with the same ink used for cake decorating. As long as the sheets are treated to absorb, it works.
As far as the edges coming out ragged, I've had some issue with that. Haven't found a solid solution for it. It only happens randomly to me, but I think the cocoa butter just wasn't the best temperature when applied. Or the molds need to set longer before unmolding.
|
I have a question about the finish, I airbrushed the logo on the transfer sheetwith white cocoa butter, but when I unmold the chocolates I am left with a great looking logo, but I cannot get a clean edge to the chocolate, not all of the white comes off the sheet, just at the edges. Does anyone have any advise on how to unmold so all the white cocoa butter stays on the chocolate.
As a foot note after reading people posts, I decided against buying the software & with a lot of measuring & little trial & error I formed my own template which works great
I think it runs only on PC's, not the Macs. Anyone can download the software directly from the website, but they will not be able to print without the flash stick.
Does the packaging on the transfer sheets say they are a Callebaut product? That comes as a surprise to me if Callebaut is making transfer sheets. I would guess the sheets were Deco Artist and/or Cake Art Intl. The ink is not cocoa butter, but special edible ink for printing on chocosheets and icing sheets for cakes.
All the above posts refer to this printing system.
The deco-artist software is very easy to use and I use this technology almost daily for my chocolate business.
Your first step is to use a PC for the software. Then is should be quite easy from there!
I just purchased the Deco Chocolate Artist software direct from Chocolate World and the Canon ip3600 from Amazon. The software came with no instructions as to how to download it on to the computer and connect it up to the free software off the internet from Deco, just a flash stick and that is all. In fact, all that is on the flash stick is a pin number that allows you to access the software you have already downloaded. When you plug it into the computer, nothing shows up on your screen, at least not on my Mac. It is very confusing and had to go to my computer tech to set it up. I have yet to start printing transfers and from what I can tell, I will have to have to work it out myself by trial and error. I do not mind if the end product is what I am after.
The blank transfer sheets I bought from Chocolate World were made by Callebaut and are lightly coated with cacao butter. I also purchased the cacao butter filled ink cartridges from Chocolate World. Has anyone used either of these two products?
The info in this discussion is very useful and greatly appreciated. I plan to test drive my Deco system this week, will share my results.....
WOW!! whEN i WAS IN chOCOLATE WORLD i NEARLY BOUGHT THE WHOLE SET. I was not sure so I left it. Now I think I am interested again. I need to go and read everything here and my notes from Belgiumagain. I do have some questions, but it is 1 am here and I am too tired to think. WIll be back 2moro,thank you all for all the great info.
I've attached 2 photos of chocolate business cards made at the same time. I used Chocolate World molds that have the metal backing. The metal gets much too cold and I have to heat the metal up so that the white chocolate will adhere to the image and not chill too quickly. I prefer the molds that www.dr.ca sells. They carry magnetic molds with the polycarbonate backing which I like much better because they don't get so cold. One card is using the Deco Artist via Tomric chocosheets. The other is Cake Art Intl via Home Chocolate Factory. The Cake Art sheets are thicker and have different ingredients than the Deco Artist. The Deco Artist sheets are very thin. I find that when using Deco Artist sheets for larger prints thus any transfer that has a larger surface area, these sheets show their imperfections. When using the small 12 - 15 gram molds, these sheets are okay because it is harder to see the imperfections. So, on large images such as the business cards molds or the large ovals made by chocolate world, then it is better to use Cake Art Intl. The Deco Artist sheets do make a beautiful transfer image. I have made some amazing customized pictures with them. But use them only for smaller transfers. You must make sure that the metal backing molds on your 2 piece molds are warmed to within a few degrees of your chocolate temperature...so with white 29 Celcius.
I order from Home Chocolate Factory for the Cake Art Intl chocosheets. There is an American supplier and when I did my research the price was cheaper to order from England. The American reseller did say that she prefers to sell the larger sized sheet than the smaller because it works (transfers) much better even though they say that the sheets are exactly the same except for size. After having used both sizes of sheets, I agree with her, the larger size sheet works much better. I trim the sheet and save the scraps for when I have to make some individual transfer images.
Please note that the Deco Artist card has the crackling effect (BLEMISHES) that i have been referring to. Hopefully this helps with.
INK: Icing Images is one of the places that I purchase the ink from. Photofrost was another. I have had trouble with Photofrost and have not purchased from them for quite some time and they have not given me the routine phone call asking if I need to place an order which tells me they know good and well they were in the wrong. I told them that the ink cartidge was not working/being accepted by my printer and they said "We will send you another one today" This has happened twice in a short period of time and they never, AND I MEAN NEVER sent any replacement to me. And of course that is why I don't receive any sales calls from them anymore!! Icing Images and Photofrost and Kopykake to name a few sell many many different varieties of edible ink cartridges to fit a variety of printers. If you are looking to a printer you could even call Icing Images and they would be very helpful on what they think a good printer would be. They do sell chocosheets but the sheets are very poor quality.
One last note: The business card image was scanned from an actual business card. Had I received an original jpeg or png image it would be even nicer..much better clarity...sharper image on the chocolate.
