Try to find any information you can about Antwan Cerame (sp). He was a French archetct who became a chief and was the grand p[oo-baa of sugar sculpting. There is quite a bit abut him in the Time/Life "Classic French Cuisine," from their international cooking series.
You will probably get a lot of ideas if you find anything on him.
Thre are several forms of sugar crafting. Perhaps the simplest is when you mix a bit of egg white with white sugar and press it into a mold, like the "Panaramic Eggs." The most difficult is "spun or pulled sugar, where you basicaly make a sugar candy that remains plyable while warm and you can sculpt with it, pulling it into flours, bows, and other shapes.
Some times you can verry effectivally cheat by constructing your object out of poster board and then covering it with royal icing.