Ewald Notter's sculptures range from Harley-Davidson motorcycles to colorful peacocks, but regardless of the subject, they are always works of art with taste.

That is because Notter, owner and founder of the International School of Confectionery Arts in Gaithersburg, makes his creations out of sugar and chocolate.

The Swiss pastry chef's clients have included the royal families of Spain and Switzerland, actors and musicians. IBM hired Notter to make a computer out of sugar and marzipan to the tune of $1,000. Movie studios have called upon him to make confectionery bottles that will break in fight scenes.

Notter says chocolate and sugar sculptures can make an event more personal. "It means a lot more than a very expensive present or a piece of jewelry," says Notter, who gets some of his ideas from illustrations on religious greeting cards.

Notter, who is 47 and has the lean good looks of a ski instructor, works 85 hours a week. On a typical day he gets to his office at 5 a.m., drinks a cup of tea and eats 150 grams of milk chocolate. (How many artists do you know who eat their medium?)

His co-workers say the chocolate and the Swiss cereal Muslix get him through his 15-hour day of teaching classes in chocolate, sugar and pastillage (sugar dough) decorating to pastry chefs and candy makers from around the world.

About 400 students a year attend the school, which is accredited by the American Culinary Federation.

Notter's assistant, Chris Hanmer, says, "It's his hard work and passion for perfection that make him a master. Everything he touches is perfect."

Hanmer compares Notter's decorations to works of art like the Sistine Chapel. "Working for him is like working for Michelangelo."

When he's not demonstrating or teaching, Notter is creating table art for private clients.

He charges between $70 to $100 an hour, and says sometimes people are surprised when they hear the cost. "They're not used to paying this kind of money for edible decorations."

But Notter, who accepts only 20 orders a year, still has more work than he can handle.

Gunther Heiland, executive chef of Desserts International in Exton, Pa., goes to Notter when he needs centerpieces. Several months ago, he asked Notter to create a decorative sculpture for a bar mitzvah. Notter created a 3- to 4-foot tall blue-and-green peacock with feathers made out of boiled sugar.

"He's a master," Heiland says. "There's nobody else better than he is."

Like any art, learning to sculpt with chocolate and sugar takes years of practice.

Notter's instruction began in Baden, Switzerland, when he was 16. "All I knew was I wanted to do something creative, something with my hands," he says.

He spent a few weeks working for a bakery and decided on a career in pastry.

He trained at Confiserie Sprungli, the most famous pastry shop and school in Switzerland, with sugar expert Willi Pfund. The turning point in his career came when Pfund asked him to supervise 15 apprentices.

"For me it was important that I was in charge of apprentices and their learning and growth. Equally important for me, I was working finally in decoration: making cakes and candy, decorating windows, and making show pieces."

In 1982, Pfund, who was ready to retire, asked Notter to take over his school. "It was no risk, I was single. I borrowed money from the bank. I figured if it doesn't work out, I can go back to the pastry shop."

Ten years later he teamed up with Albert Uster, the owner of a Swiss food and chocolate company in Maryland, and moved his school from Zurich to Gaithersburg, next door to Uster's import company.

Notter attributes much of his success in decoration to pastry competitions. "Everything I learned, everything that forced me to be better, was because of competition. Competing opened lots of doors for me. I was invited all over the world to demonstrate at hotels and different schools."

In 1999 Notter was asked to compete in the National Pastry Team Championship at Beaver Creek, Colo. He won this prestigious competition two consecutive years. A year later, he qualified to compete as part of the United States National Team at the Pulitzer Prize of the pastry industry, the World Cup/Coupe du Monde in France.

Notter is most proud of the piece he and his team members created - a clown with a mask and feathers made out of dark chocolate, highlighted with red and blue.

One of the many challenges in the competition, Notter says, "was working in a heavy substance like chocolate and still coming up with a tall, elegant, airy piece." According to the rules of the contest, the figure had to be 5 feet tall and made within five hours.

Former teammate Donald Wressell, chairman of the 2003 Coupe du Monde, says Notter is like the Michael Jordan of confectionery arts. "It was great working with him at the competition. He's very intense, disciplined, has a great sense of humor, is extremely hard-working and easy to work with. And he's helped to develop a whole generation, single-handedly, of pastry chefs. His school has blazed a trail for educating youngsters - today's and tomorrow's pastry chefs all over the world."

After seeing footage of Notter's winning the Coupe du Monde on the Food Network, aspiring pastry chef Danielle Kulp of Kennett Square, Pa., decided she wanted to take classes from him.

Recently laid off from her job in information technology, Kulp decided to pursue a career in pastry. "Working with Ewald is like having a chance to work with a master," says Kulp, who has a background in art. "That first day in his chocolate [decorating] class, I felt at home."

Kulp hopes to bring her skills in chocolate decorating to her hometown, where she wants to open her own themed-cakes business.

Notter warns those beginning to work with chocolate of its many challenges - both in and out of the kitchen.

Notter tells the story of how he brought a work of chocolate art - consisting mostly of edible white flowers and leaves - to a client for a chocolate event at one of the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C. The sculpture held up well in the air-conditioned car, but when Notter took the box out of the car into the 95-degree air, the flowers began melting.

The porter couldn't find the key to let him into the building and the fine, lacy filigree border decorations melted. Now Notter assembles sculptures inside at their final destination.

Another time, Notter designed a skyline of New York in chocolate for a client in Switzerland. Notter brought a table to set the sculpture on and then couldn't get the 7-foot piece out of the door. "Luckily," he says, "we had big windows."