New from TX

[Brass_Chocolatier]

Hello everyone,

I'm a new member from Kingsville, TX.

The name? It's a combination of the hobbies I enjoy the most, pocket watch repair/machining and making chocolates.

About me:
I'm an average guy.
Currently attending Texas A&M University as a full time Pre-Pharmacy student.
I'm married and broke and have a 3 year old son.

Since I have more time than money I lurk and take notes. As I collect equipment I will start practicing & contribute more.

Awesome site and I'm glad it is here.

[ron]

welcome to the forums , here you will meet a lot of great guys/gals and very talented engravers , feel free at any time to ask any questions and post some of your work also if you can go to the FEGA show in Reno from Jan. 25 to Jan the 27 , here you will be able to see some of the best engravers in the world and ask questions , be sure to stop by my table and look at some of the colts that I have engraved and gold inlayed .. ron p.

[Big-Un]

Welcome to the great challenge of engraving! I, like you, enjoy making chocolates. My wife and I had a candy and chocolate business in South Florida for five years, where we hand made candy lipops in 165 flavors and about 250 shapes (I hand made some of our molds) and arranged them into "candy bouquets", flowers you could eat! The chocolate side of the business was the favorite though, and we still make chocolates for a few holidays and for small fundraisers. As you know, good chocolate is hard to find and makes the world of difference in presentation and taste. By the way, do you temper your chocolate or get it pre-tempered?

Again, welcome to the forum; the information available here is phenominal.....and free!!

Bill

[Brass_Chocolatier]

Working on tempering my own but have had mixed results (mostly failures)

Just making truffles and bars for now. My ganache centers are fine but tempering it is a learning experience
I still need some equipment but my biggest challenge is space. Right now i'm working in a small apartment kitchen but the wife has agreed to let me use most of a second refrigerator for storage/cooling/etc.

Good chocolate is very hard to find. I'm looking at getting a roaster and grinder to REALLY experiment with making my own chocolate.
I just got a copy of Geert's book on Belgian Chocolates through interlibrary loan and I'm feverishly taking notes and getting ideas

Looking forward to engraving and how I can combine it with chocolate.

Once I get a little engraving experience under my belt I plan to make custom chocolate boxes. Someone tells me which chocolates they want in it, I put them in a lacquered box with a custom engraved plate on the top.

My wife had a crazy idea and i'm going to experiment with it...
Engraving chocolate. Not quite sure how I would do it yet but I'm going to make some test slabs and start taking cuts with wood carving tools until I find what works...

thanks for the warm welcome, glad to be here

Paul Laraway