Candy needs no more than the allure of its sweetness to draw in people. Even a melted glob of chocolate will be readily gobbled up, no matter that it’s a mess to look at as well as to eat.

Yet the candy of Nathan and Chika Tanaka wows folks before anyone even gets a taste. The Honolulu couple run Candy Art Hawaii, which produces just that: candy creative enough to be art.

The Tanakas set up their candy-making booth at private and public events where, with a hot pot full of softened candy, food coloring and a pair of small clippers, they draw crowds as they conjure up lollipop figures in mere minutes.

Want a monkey or an elephant or a dolphin? No problem. Want a flower? Chika Tanaka, 33, the candy-making expert of the duo, will ask you to specify what kind. She’s most experienced at cherry blossoms, having made some 120 for her own wedding. But her lily, anthurium and rose creations are lovely as well.

"The rose is the most challenging thing to make. It takes lots of cuts and pinching to make the appropriate shape. You have to be able to visualize what it will look like before you start," she says.

But artistic ability isn’t enough. Speed counts.

"The main thing with candy is it hardens quickly," says Nathan Tanaka, 35, of the sugar and rice syrup concoction. "It starts out really hot and pliable, but when it cools it becomes brittle. You’ve got two or three minutes to get it done."

Watching Chika, the task looks almost easy as she pinches off a tablespoon or so of candy from the hot pot, rolls it into a ball and flattens it out. She adds a drop of food coloring, kneads the candy until the color is incorporated, rolls it again and wraps it around a stick. Then, with rapid snips and gentle stretching, folding and twisting, the soft orb is transformed into a lion or penguin or turtle — or something else that’s requested.

She can make about 20 lollipops an hour, much to the delight of her audience, which seems to be growing. Right now the couple "performs" at several events each weekend.

"No one’s ever seen anything like this. They are a huge hit with all ages," says wedding coordinator Sarah Aoyama, owner of Engaging Moments, who has booked the Tanakas for receptions. "It’s so amazing that Chika can create something so beautiful in such a short time. She’s an artist."

HOW DOES one begin to master the craft of candy art?

"Everything starts with the rabbit. Once you can do that, you can make other things," Nathan says, explaining that the rabbit form — little nose, big ears, big hind legs and small ones in the front — covers the gamut of animal attributes.

But before creativity can flower, there’s the matter of getting the hands in condition.

"When I first started, I had blisters," says Nathan, who learned the techniques from a candy master in Japan in 2005, when he was an English-language teacher. "It’s about as hot as hot rice coming out of the rice cooker."

Nathan was introduced to the craft, called "amezaiku," while at a festival in Japan. Amezaiku is a traditional Japanese craft that dates back to the eighth century and has its origins in China. Today the Tanakas estimate there are about 100 amezaiku artists in Japan and several in the United States. To their knowledge they are the only such candy artists in Hawaii.

Nathan, an engineer who grew up in Pearl City, learned the craft with the intention of bringing it to Hawaii, but he never found the time to cultivate his technique. He was already doing balloon art at weekend events.

He met Toyama-bred Chika in Yokohama in 2007. When she moved to Hawaii and the two married in 2009, Nathan thought candy art might be something she could do alongside him on weekends when he performed his balloon art.

Looking toward the future, the couple hope their venture will allow Chika to work part time on weekends and be a stay-at-home mom during the week.

"When I first started, I almost gave up. The candy was too hot and the rabbit was too difficult," Chika said. "Nathan kept encouraging me."

It took Chika a couple of months to master the rabbit. From there "it was exciting to get creative."

"I don’t have an art background, but as a child I was always interested in knitting and sewing. This is similar — doing something with my hands," she says.

It didn’t take long for Chika’s skills to surpass those of her husband, and Nathan has a theory as to why.

"From a guy’s perspective, candy making is very delicate. Guys will use too much force, and the candy gets deformed," he says.

"She’s the master."