Lollipop, Lollipop (oh lolli lolli lolli)

These Lollipops were a quick fun prop for Pinocchio. We had some old ones in stock that were made from painted circled of plywood; they had been used, beat-up and faded and the director asked me if I could liven up the colors. I could, but not to my satisfaction (I will readily admit that my paint skills aren't what I would like them to be, though I'm learning). I initially thought of making them from bake-able clay, but after seeing the dance number and realizing they might be dropped, this seemed like less of a good idea.

I ended up turning back to one of my favorite materials, Crayola Model Magic.

I rolled out two long snakes. I used half a pack of Model Magic for each snake. They were about three feet long and between 1/4" and 3/8" diameter.

Then I twisted the two snakes together carefully, making sure not to break them or stretch them much.

Finally I rolled the twisted snake into a spiral, gently pressed it flat and smoothed the edges. I carefully twisted 1/4"dowels into the clay for the sticks.

The final lollipops were roughly 6" across.

If I were to do it again I would have done it sooner. Because of the thickness it took the Model Magic three full days until they were dry all the way though and usable in rehearsal