Help save a dying art!
This mission isn't a new one for me. For well over a decade, I've been making plans to build something bigger than myself. Please watch the video, read the details below and ask any questions you may have at Contact@MamaTsCandies.com!
Pulling from the Past to Keep the Craft ALIVE!
This is my mission! I'm going on a three-phase journey to give old fashioned handmade hard candy a place in today's industrial world.
The art of candy making is disappearing. 🫣
Not slowly, either. The kind of handmade hard candy that's been made the same way for hundreds of years is vanishing from American food culture at a pace that should alarm anyone who's ever bitten into a piece and understood immediately that hand crafted candy is something different. 😍
I'm super-charging Mama T's Candy Lab!
I've been working with sugar for over three decades. 👵🏼I know what this craft really is, how long it takes to learn, how few people are still doing it at a production level, and I know that if people like me don't build something sustainable around it, it will keep dwindling until it's gone. 🥺
This journey is not just to sell more candy, but rather to prove that this craft can survive, grow, and thrive in the modern world. That handmade hard candy can reach people in all fifty states and beyond. 🌎 That a tiny kitchen in Texas can be a living classroom for a dying art, streaming production days in real time so anyone, anywhere, can watch it happen and fall in love with it the way I did. But the real bottom line - to help people create their happiness in this crazy world, one piece at a time. 🤗
YOU are the big piece!
But I can't build all of that at once, nor can I do it alone. So I'm asking you to come on the journey with me. 😊
Most crowdfunding campaigns ask for money & hope you don't ask too many questions. 🫣 That's not how I do things at Mama T's. 💜
I'm going to tell you everything - and I mean EVERYTHING! Where we're starting, where we're going, & exactly what your support makes possible at every step of the way. Because this isn't just a fundraiser. It's an invitation to watch something rare get built from the ground up, one piece at a time, & you get to be a founder. 💖
I believe in complete transparency. So here's exactly what we're building & why I need you! 🥰
Phase One: The Batch Roller
Handmade hard candy starts as hot sugar poured on a slab and ends up pulled, twisted, & shaped entirely by hand. It's been done this way since before your great-great-great-great grandmother was a child. 😉 In 2026, I'm doing it in small batches as fast as my hands can move - but I am limited to what my two small hands can do. 🥺
A commercial batch roller changes that. It lets me roll candy faster, more consistently, and here's the exciting part - it opens the door to image candies! Image candies are those beautiful pieces where you find a design inside. 😍 This also makes it possible to do more custom orders, new product lines & get more candy in more hands helping to create more happiness! 🥳
With the batch roller, I can:
- produce more candy per batch, filling orders faster and keeping shelves stocked. 🍭
- add image candies to the product line! 🤩
- open up more custom orders: logos, names, shapes, colors - the candy made specifically for an event, a brand, a special moment. 🥳
- start generating the additional income that helps fund the phases ahead! 🤓
This is Phase One. It's how we get the lemon drop rolling! 😉 The goal for Phase One is $5500 USD and it's active now!
Phase Two: Livestreaming Upgrade
Right now, I stream my candy-making lives using a couple of old iPhones & a wireless lav mic. People drop in, watch the sugar get pulled, ask questions, and leave craving the candy flavors I made that day. It's magic, and it's growing! 😎
Phase 2 takes that from "a chick with a couple of old phones" to something closer to a real show. Think: a candy kitchen you can drop into any time, like a window into a world most people have never seen. ✨
Phase 2 is about turning what we have into something that does justice to what's actually happening in that kitchen and my inspiration for this is the Venice Beach boardwalk livestream. It's a camera pointed at the ocean walk 24/7, just capturing life as it happens. You can drop in at any moment and the world is there, doing its thing. Buskers and skaters and strangers and sea air. No script. No performance. Just life... 😊
That's what I want Mama T's to be for handmade candy. A window that's always open when we're open with production quality that makes this feel like a show, because it *is* a show! One that's been going on in sugar kitchens for hundreds of years and almost nobody gets to see anymore. 💔
The Phase 2 gear list: Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera 4K G2 units permanently mounted & connected directly to the switcher with lenses to suit their location, an ATEM Mini Pro ISO, and a little more lighting. All of it wired together so that on a production day, the stream just *runs* & I can focus on the candy. 😎 Also a secondary iPad so I can see & reply to comments as they come in from where ever I'm at in the kitchen. 🥰
This is Phase 2. This is how we keep our community informed of what we are doing each day. It's that transparency I was talking about earlier... 😉Our goal is $7500.
Phase Three: The Commercial Kitchen
This is the big one.
A custom-built commercial candy kitchen! 😍 Built for handmade hard candy production specifically so I can make candy that is legally ready to ship across the nation & possibly world wide!
And the craft that's been disappearing for decades gets a permanent home where it can be taught, shared, and kept alive for generations.
We're buying used wherever we can to keep costs real and the build moving fast. Realistically, once this phase is funded, we're looking at a 4-6 month build & inspection timeline.
When the Candy Lab is done:
- Mama T's ships candy nationally 🚚
- First Taste voucher holders get their candy 🥳
- I start developing candy lines for dietary limitations: sugar-free options & other products that let more people experience the joy of handmade candy 🤤
- I begin building toward a staff prioritizing people who are marginalized or have difficulty finding traditional employment & paying a living wage. 💚
We're not just building a kitchen. We're building a place where a lost art lives on, where a community gathers, and where the sweetest things in life get made by hand and sent out into the world.
This is Phase Three. This is how we bring joy nation wide. And you can help us build it without ever picking up a hammer! The goal is $65,000.
It takes a community...
I understand that times are tough & money is tight. If you cannot afford to donate right now, please consider subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Instagram or popping in to one of our livestreams on Twitch. It's free to do and only takes a few moments of your time! 💜 It helps us to grow and share our message of joy, of community & find those that need that in their life! 🥰
Tiers & FAQ
The Tiers
**🍬 Sweet Cheerleader — $25**
Your name in the end credits of every Mama T's livestream for one full year from the date you send your gift. You're in the show. 😎
**🍬 Flavor Namer — $50**
Everything above, plus one full year of access to Beta T's — our $5/month membership community on our website for flavor testers and candy insiders. You get a vote on what flavor we develop next, you get input on names for new flavor mixes, and other kinds of cool stuff. 🍒
**🍬 Founding Candy Family — $150**
Everything above, plus your name on the mamatscandies.com supporter page, a custom vinyl-cut Founding Candy Family badge with your name and state/country, and early-bird access new flavors before they opens to the public. You're not a donor. You're a founder. 💜
**🍬 Master Batch Sponsor — $300**
Everything above, plus a larger 3D-printed Master Batch badge hung on our wall & a matching plaque for yours, and a First Taste voucher compiled into one shipped box the first week the Candy Lab opens for shipping.
~*~
FAQ
**What is Mama T's Candies?**
Mama T's Candies is a Texas Cottage Food business run by Tish Winter out of Elgin, Texas. We make handmade hard candy in small batches using traditional pulled-sugar techniques that have been practiced for centuries. Everything is made by hand, in small batches, the old fashioned way.
**Why three phases instead of one campaign?**
Because we'd rather be honest than ask for more than we can prove we deserve. Phase 1 raises what we need for the batch roller. You watch that roller go to work on stream. Phase 2 raises what we need for the livestream upgrade. You watch the livestream production quality transform. Phase 3 is the commercial kitchen launched to an audience who's already seen two phases delivered exactly as promised. Every campaign proves the one before it worked.
**Why can't you ship candy yet?**
Texas Cottage Food law allows us to sell candy in person but requires a licensed commercial kitchen to ship food legally. That's what Phase 3 builds. Until then, we're fully legal for in-person sales and working toward the kitchen that makes shipping possible.
**What is the First Taste voucher?**
The First Taste voucher comes with the $300 Master Batch Sponsor tier. It's a redeemable promise for Mama T's candy once we're legally able to fulfill it. Local backers can redeem it for pickup as soon as the Candy Lab is licensed and open. Shipping-dependent backers compile their vouchers and receive one combined box shipped the week the Candy Lab opens for national shipping. The timeline depends on Phase 3 funding and build completion but we are aiming for a fully functional kitchen by October, 2027 so we can be ready for the holiday season.
**What is the Founding Candy Family?**
Back any phase at $150 or above and you're a Founding Candy Family member — permanently. Your name goes on the mamatscandies.com supporter page, you get a custom badge in our shop, and more to be announced as we get rolling.
**What is Beta T's membership?**
Beta T's is our $5/month community membership for candy insiders hosted on our website. As a Flavor Namer backer ($50 tier), you get one full year of access included with your pledge. Members get to vote on upcoming flavor development and get first looks at new products. Once you reach the tier, we will send you an email with the information on how to join the membership!
**Where does the batch roller come from?**
From a specialty equipment manufacturer in Armenia. They're one of the few places in the world that still makes this kind of equipment for artisan candy producers. Shipping internationally takes time and costs real money & is built directly into our campaign goal so there are no surprises.
**Where can I follow along?**
Everywhere. We livestream on YouTube (@TheCandyArtist), Twitch, and Kick several days a week. Follow along, drop into a stream, and watch what your support is building in real time.
**What if I have more questions?**
Reach out through email at contact@MamaTsCandies.com, direct message us on Instagram, or find us on stream. We're not hard to find, and we're always happy to talk candy. 🍬