Prime flats with gesso to tighten the canvas. Paint the back of each flat with plain water and allow to dry. This will prevent dimpling.
Use dry brush and stippling techniques to make the background of each flat match the rest of the set.
Sketch gumdrop outlines on your canvas flats using charcoal sticks. Make a variety of sizes, from four feet tall to eight feet tall, with tops ranging three to five feet in diameter.
Use a medium shade of each paint color to lay in the entire gumdrop outline. Use a darker shade of each color to create shadows and a lighter shade to make highlights. Mix shades from nearly black at the outer edges of the side of the gumdrop farthest from any light source to nearly white on the lit side of the gumdrop to create the illusion of three dimensions.
Place gumdrop flats off toward each wing of the stage. Stagger the flats to allow multiple entrances from the wings for the corps de ballet numbers.
Create several octagonal or hexagonal frameworks of 2-by-4-inch stock lumber, with mitered corners. The included interior angle must equal 135 degrees for the octagon and 120 degrees for the hexagon. Secure with 6-inch carriage bolts, using a socket driver set. Top with a 1-inch-thick plywood platform. Countersink all screw and bolt holes.
Screw the platform to the framework using four-inch wood screws every four inches. Cover the platform with a cardboard or laminate dance floor to prevent dancers from getting splinters or snagging their feet on screw heads. Secure with staples, making sure to tap them deeply into the flooring material with a tack hammer.
Make a set of stairs to the top of each platform, positioned so that it cannot be seen from the audience's lines of sight. Make one of the platforms large enough for half the corps de ballet to dance together on it. Provide a solid railing around the dance space, 3 1/2 feet to four feet tall, to prevent dancers falling off the edges. Decorate the railing to look like twisted licorice, spiked with lollipops wrapped in colored cellophane.
Use chicken wire to create the sloped sides of each gumdrop. Cover the chicken wire with plaster or joint compound-soaked sheets of burlap or muslin. Allow the cloth to dry.
Sand the plaster smooth and paint with bright acrylic colors. Apply several coats of clear acrylic wood treatment. Allow the acrylic to dry between each coat.
Create chicken wire frameworks for a variety of gumdrop sizes, from 4 feet tall to eight feet tall, with 3-to-5-foot diameters. Smooth papier-mache over the framework and allow it to dry for 30 minutes.
Don a dust mask and wraparound eye protection. Sand the sides of each gumdrop until satin smooth.
Apply bright acrylic colors to each gumdrop and allow the paint to dry overnight. Finish each gumdrop with several coats of clear acrylic deck treatment, allowing it to dry completely between coats.
Place your gumdrops as desired, in an eye-pleasing display, along with foam lollipops wrapped in colored cellophane, striped candy cane poles, and a gingerbread house display, complete with Hansel, Gretel and the Wicked Witch.
Complete your display with a path of brown gingersnap steppingstones made of foam, decorated with royal icing made from white bathtub caulk.