Artists use fondant to create lifelike mini ancient town

A miniature ancient town made out of fondant, and inspired by the scenery of Dangkou Ancient Town in Wuxi, east China’s Jiangsu Province, has gone viral on the Internet recently, attracting many netizens to marvel at the tiny creations, according to a report by yangtse.com.

The fondant ancient "town" inspired by Dangkou Ancient Town in Wuxi, east China’s Jiangsu Province. (yangtse.com/ Photo courtesy of the interviewees)

A 20-member team spent half a month creating the miniature "town". At 6 meters long, 0.8 meters wide and 0.3 meters high, the "town" was made in the ratio of 1:200, which is much like how Lilliputian-sized objects would appear.

The miniature contains 11 main "buildings", three small "bridges" and various other detailed accessories, using over 50 kilograms of fondant and 25 kilograms of pulled sugar (a kind of sugar that has been heated and specially treated to become a smooth lump). It is said to be worth more than 1 million yuan (about $154,900).

A small bridge and running water in the fondant ancient "town" inspired by Dangkou Ancient Town in Wuxi, east China’s Jiangsu Province. (yangtse.com/ Photo courtesy of the interviewees)

Hao Chen, a team member, has been making fondant and pulled sugar for more than a decade. He explained that all the ingredients used in the miniature "town" are edible. “Although Western pastry is made from Western ingredients, we are constantly developing Chinese ways of processing it. We will introduce more Chinese-style works in the future," he added.

To finish the work, the team began by heading to Dangkou Ancient Town to collect photos and various architectural details from the local scenery, then gathered together a large number of ancient building materials for analysis, calculated the building sizes and drew up sketches, striving to recreate an authentic picture of the ancient town.

Pavilions, terraces and open halls of the fondant ancient "town" inspired by Dangkou Ancient Town in Wuxi, east China’s Jiangsu Province. (yangtse.com/ Photo courtesy of the interviewees)

The production process is actually the same as that used for physical architecture, Hao said, but the challenge is to create an "old" appearance. "There is green moss at the bottom of the houses in the actual ancient town, which turns the paint on the buildings black and gray… So we painted them layer by layer with edible toner… giving them an irregularity that makes it look more similar to the actual buildings."

How is the "water" created? The "river's" path is made first, then spread out with a layer of fondant and some fondant-made "stones" so that it looks more natural. After mixing it with blue cream and drying it, the artists will pour a thin layer of boiled liquid sugar over it, wait for it to completely solidify and then pour successive layers of sugar over it repeatedly until the river appears to reach a certain height.

The shape of "water" in the fondant ancient "town" was inspired by Dangkou Ancient Town in Wuxi, east China’s Jiangsu Province. (yangtse.com/ Photo courtesy of the interviewees)

At the same time, some "swimming fish" are hand-drawn into the “water”. "We created an outline of a fish with white coloring, and then overlayed them with food coloring," said Gu Jiawei, another team member working on the project.

The process for making the accessories in- and outside of the "houses" can intensively test out the artists' techniques, including the miniature tea sets, door locks, stone stools, lotuses, moss, gossamers, boats, etc. The just-right proportions have to go through tons of tests and reworks.

Some details of the fondant ancient "town" inspired by Dangkou Ancient Town in Wuxi, east China’s Jiangsu Province. (yangtse.com/ Photo courtesy of the interviewees)

In the future, the miniature fondant "town" will be exhibited in the Dangkou Ancient Town Exhibition Hall in Wuxi, which can then be stored for 10 to 20 years if the temperature and humidity levels are controlled within an appropriate range.

The production team works on the fondant ancient "town" inspired by Dangkou Ancient Town in Wuxi, east China’s Jiangsu Province. (yangtse.com/ Photo courtesy of the interviewees)