Pulled sugar: most common and versatile, used to make roses, ribbons, and leaves.
Straw sugar: thin filaments used to decorate desserts.
Rock sugar: resembles a stone.
Poured sugar: sugar poured into a mold.
Hard sugar: rectangles of sugar that be melted to become pulled sugar.
Blown sugar: can be molded into shapes by a sugar pump, i.e. animals.
Pastillage: modeling paste used for decoration.
The first step in creating sugar art is to make the actual concoction. The most common sugar type to work with is pulled sugar. Take 2 pounds of water and 1 cup of water and add them to a saucepan. Add a quarter teaspoon of cream of tartar and 1 tablespoon of glucose to the mixture and boil it at 312 degrees. Dip the pan into cold water right when it starts to boil and gently pour the sugar (it will look like syrup) onto a lightly oiled slab. Use a knife to lift the edges into the center as it starts to cool.
The sugar rose is typically the first thing you attempt to make when trying sugar art for the first time. Don't be too concerned if the rose doesn't turn out perfectly; food art takes some practice. Start out by creating a small, rounded cone. Keep in mind to make it quite small because you will be adding petals to it.
While you let your rose cone sit for a minute, cut out three thin petals from a rolled out section of paste. Brush the cone with sugar glue and wrap a petal tightly around it. After brushing again with sugar glue, take the remaining two petals and wrap them around the cone, slightly overlapping each other. Take your fingers and gently mold the petals to your liking. You may add as many petals as you like.