The Queen and King of Hearts Candy Cone

The raised parts of the candy cones are made using Sculpey and candy molds.

       In order to craft your own candy cone creation, you will need some very basic supplies. I have listed these below but, remember, that your candy cone creation will not be exactly like this one. The molds, design and additional decorative elements will give your cone it's own unique appearance.

• A candy cone form, this may be either purchased or made by hand. If you are planning to layer molded clay parts onto the form as I have done in the example below, I recommend that you purchase a very sturdy cone.
• Paper mâché pulp, like CelluClay to shape in a thin layer around the pasted objects. This reinforces the cone and also gives it's surface a texture like snow.
• Paperclay or Sculpey for the making of decorative 3D applied figures - If you use Sculpey it must be oven baked while draped on top of the cone. This will ensure that it has the subtle curvature necessary in order to be glued to the cone's rounded shape. If you are unsure of how to accomplish this, it takes a bit of skill, only use the paperclay. Paperclay may be left for hours on the cone while it dries into the correct shape. You may use colored clay or choose to paint the clay later.
• A variety of small half molds. For my particular candy cone project, I chose to mold the King and Queen of Hearts characters from molds produced for Hearth Song. These molds were originally produced for a bee's wax ornament kit produced in 1990 something. I purchased the kit for my oldest child and used it for this purpose many years ago. The molds were so cute that I decided to make something more elaborate with them for my younger daughter.
• Tinsel to line the interior of the cone
• Beads and wire to craft the fancy handle
• White glue to adhere the decorative clay pieces to the surface of the cone.
• A kind of enamel or acrylic varnish to finish the candy cone's surface 
• Acrylic paints to color the surface of your cone as you wish

Process:

1. To begin this process, choose small molded elements that relate to a specific design theme. These may be purchased in a local hobby store or be handmade by pressing a variety of small objects into Sculpey clay that are then carefully removed to leave a three dimensional impression. Bake the clay half mold in the oven as directed. Cool. You may press and unmold a variety of paperclay objects from this Sculpey press mold for future use in the candy cone project.
2. Because you will be gluing these small molded objects to a cylindrical cone, you will need to make sure that they dry hard with a slight curvature. I dry my molded element directly on top of the surface of the cone along with a generous amount of white glue, while the clay piece is still yet pliable. Neither paperclay or Sculpey shrink enough during the drying or baking process for me to worry about them not shaping themselves properly to the finished surface. If I where using a high fire clay, I might need to worry about this process a bit and make allowances for it. However, with these two products, the fear is unnecessary.
3. Sometimes the small molded pieces pop off of the cone during drying or baking. Do not trouble yourself over this, just apply more glue to the surface and reattach the element.
4. Mix together a small amount of CelluClay as directed and apply this around your molded pieces to fill in the gaps on your cone. Let the entire piece dry. Depending upon the time of year, this could take one night or a week. If you are mass producing candy cones to sell in a little shop, this is the point in the project in which you may wish to set aside the cones until you have time to finish them at a later stage. I often do this part of my crafting in the early summer for a couple of weeks. Then I store the cones for painting later. This is because the summer heat helps to dry the CelluClay harder, faster, and also prevents mold from growing on the surface.
5. Before painting the cone, take a sharp object and punch a whole at the top of the cone on either of it's sides for the handle. 
6. Add an assortment of beads to a wire and twist this in place through the holes to shape a handle. Make sure their are no sharp ends left that may cause injury. 
7. Using white glue, adhere a generous amount of tinsel to the interior of the cone or you may choose to simple paint it and add tissue before putting small gifts/candy inside of it.
8. Paint the surface design of your cone to compliment a design and or color palette of your own choice.
9. Varnish the outside surface with enamel or acrylic sealer in order to ensure the candy cone's life long use.
10. Remember to always wrap the candies you give into the cone. I hang the same candy cones on my Christmas tree every year and fill these with all kinds of special sweets.

Candy Cone Forms and Templates:

• 12 Paper Mache Cardboard Cones
• paper conees 10.5" from saveoncrafts
• free cone templates by www.zitzmanfam.blogspot.com small and large

The hanger for this candy cone is beaded with seed beads, bugle beads, pearl beads etc...

More Queen of Hearts Ornament Ideas:

• queen of hearts valentine ornament
• Queen of Hearts ornament by Catherine Darling Hostetter
• Alice in Wonderland Tea Cup Ornament by Disney
• The "Queen of Hearts" by Lunel Haysmer
• Illustrator John Tenniel
• "The Queen of Hearts" by Randolph Caldecott
• Follow My Candy Cones & Candy Box Pinboard