Clay Goodies for Chocoholics

This morning, I happened across a yummy piece of chocolate in polymer clay, from Perlenküche.

That's realistic enough to make your mouth water, if you're a chocolate-lover.

One difference I see between it and the real thing (also pictured in the blog entry) is the lower sheen in the clay piece. If desired, a slight shine is easily achieved with a light buffing with a denim rag. However, the more matte finish of the polymer chocolate looks like a lot of real chocolate I've seen. (As usual, it comes down to personal preference.)

The accuracy of the stamped brand name is great, and the edges look just like a tab of chocolate broken off a bar. (Boy, I sure hope any chocoholics who see this have a stash to break into. After looking at those photos, you're probably going to need it!)

Every now and then, I notice photos of polymer clay chocolates from my contacts on Flickr. If you're looking for more chocolatey clay goodies to drool over, Flickr and other photo-hosting sites are good places to search for decadent creations-- both dollhouse scale and larger (frequently worked into jewelry).

Tutorial: Gingerbread Cookies

As usual, I'm running late, but there's a new holiday-themed tutorial available on Polymer Clay Web. It's our version of gingerbread:


Ever since I made "gingerbread cookie" ornaments and pins for some family members, last Christmas, I've been meaning to fix up a tutorial for this holiday season. Well, I guess that I did. Technically. (g) At least it's there for next year, right? And who says you can only make gingerbread in December? Seriously, these go together pretty fast, and I bet they'd be lots of fun to make with the kids or grandkids.


Now, back to the clay room. I have some gifts to finish by Wednesday! (Can she do it? Will she have to stay up until the wee hours to accomplish her gift-giving goals? Stay tuned to find out! ;o)) I hope you're all enjoying the holidays and not stressing out too much!

Latest "Stuff"

Um, I did say-- a couple of weeks ago, was it?-- that I was going to post more regularly, didn't I?
Ha ha ha! Silly you for believing me! ;o)

No, seriously, I am going to get back into the swing of things. Starting right now!

Though I've been quiet here on this blog, I have put in some time at the clay table. For instance, I've been trying out some new ideas with buttons, such as these "jumbo-sized" buttons:


There's nothing for scale in the photo, but trust me-- they're bigger than my usual buttons. (g) If I remember correctly (not guaranteed, especially when it comes to measurements and numbers in general), the hearts are about 1.25 inches "tall".

I've also been working on some cupcakes:



It's always satisfying to get a group of things done at once. A handful of beads, cupcakes, whatever looks so much more impressive than one-- and they're fun to photograph this way, too. ;o)

Then I got the latest issue of Polymer Cafe and read Irene Semanchuk Dean's interesting article about homemade texture wheels. I decided to give it a try, and she's right-- you will want to make more than one. I'm going to have to make another batch, sometime soon. . .


This little adventure got me in the mood to finally turn various bits and pieces I've been collecting into full-fledged polymer clay tools. I baked several of them this morning and am looking forward to trying them out.

I hope you've all enjoyed a pleasant weekend (a long holiday one, for those of us in the U.S.)! :o)

Cupcakes Galore!

There are cupcakes galore in my clay room, right now! Vanilla, strawberry, chocolate-- purple, green, and pink-- glittered, "confettied" and candy-sprinkled!


And these are just the ones that are done. I have probably twice as many cupcake bases waiting for the cake, icing, and decorations. Waiting for me to get back into a cupcakey mood. (I must be due for one soon, it's been so long since the last one came and went.)

I've had these finished cupcakes sitting around for months. I thought about taking a photo of them now and then, but it was always a bad time-- insufficient lighting, usually, and me too lazy to set up some decent artificial light. So of course now that I finally decided to snap a photo, it didn't turn out that great, anyway. (g) Oh well. That'll give me more incentive to take some good photos soon.

. . . Maybe? ;o)

Spirals and Slices

I'm having a hard time getting started today, but at least yesterday I finally took some photos of new items so that I can list a few more things for sale. I also took a few quick photos of other things I've been working on, just so I'd have something new for this blog.

I wrote a week or two ago that I was having fun making spiral beads, so I'll start with photos of several sets of those. There are more in different colors, but this will give you an idea, at least, of what I'm talking about.

There's nothing in these photos to use for scale, but they're all relatively small-- under an inch long, and some about 3/4 of an inch long.






It's especially fun choosing the colors for each new batch. I usually have at least one large ceramic tile covered with a variety of clay mixes-- everything from "straight out of the package" solids to hand-tinted translucents with glitter inclusions. Looking over that selection, trying out different combinations, deciding what's lacking (and then mixing up whatever that might be) is a good way to play around with colors and perfect your color-mixing skills.

More recently, I've been working on a new batch of pizza slices. I made a new pepperoni cane because I needed some bigger pepperonis for these larger slices (which are destined to become magnets). I can't decide whether I prefer the new pepperoni or the old one. Both will "do" just fine, but I ought to decide which is better, for future reference. These larger pizza slices are about two inches long:

And now I need to get up and do some housework so that I'll have time later to sit at the clay table. (I also need to work on listing an item or two. . . and spend some time figuring out the system at the new online shop!)

Top Ten on Tuesday -- Tips for Using Liquid Clay with Miniature Foods

Hey there! I'm back home after a long vacation. Not quite back in the groove, yet, but I'm getting there. ;o) My next "assignment" is getting back into the habit of blogging, so here goes!

I've suggested before that someone interested in making realistic miniature foods (out of polymer clay, at least) really ought to get some liquid clay and play around with it. Today, I'll offer a few insights that I've gathered so far in my own experiments with liquid clay in mini-making.

Top Ten Tips for Using Liquid Clay with Miniature Foods
(in no particular order)

1. Often, when working with teensy things, you'll find it helpful to cure them in stages. (That way, you'll have something to hold on to without constantly worrying about leaving fingerprints or completely squashing your carefully sculpted work.) A dab of liquid clay (hereafter shortened to "LC") acts as a glue between cured and raw clay, when you're ready to continue working on a partially cured piece.

2. Adding a little mica powder (pearl is a good all-around choice, but others can work, too, depending on the application) lends a slight sparkle to your LC mixes. This shimmer can be useful in duplicating the appearance of sugary glazes, certain gravies, and so on.

3. Know the properties of different brands of LC and use them to your advantage. Kato and Fimo liquids are clearer than TLS, so use them when you need only the slightest hint of color.

4. Another hint related to the one above-- For more transparent food items (glazes, translucent syrups, jams), tint your LC with alcohol ink, when possible. This yields more transparent colors. (Obviously, you'll also want to use a brand of LC that cures clearly-- Kato or Fimo.)

5. For opaque food items (chocolate sauce, nacho cheese), try oil paint or powdered pigments to add more opaque color. (In this case, you can use any brand of LC-- clarity is not an issue.)

6. While I generally prefer to use cheap mineral oil for mixing my icings, you can always use LC for that, too. Just mix a few drops into regular clay of the color you'd like your icing to be. Continue mixing and adding LC (a drop or two at a time, as needed) until you like the consistency of the mix. (If you get the mix too sticky, you can thicken it back up by adding more regular clay to the mix.)

7. Don't forget that you can combine regular clay and LC. A gravy made of LC can be poured over tiny "meat and veggies" (bits of regular clay in the right shapes, sizes, and colors) to make a convincing bowl of "stew". (Obviously, in this case, you'd want to use your most translucent LC and coloring agent, or else you may not see much of your veggies through the gravy, and instead of "stew", you'll get "weird, bumpy brown stuff". ;o)

8. Pay attention to sheen. Is the food you're imitating matte or glossy? TLS cures to a more matte finish than Kato or Fimo liquids. If Kato is cured at a higher temperature (or hit briefly with a heat gun), it takes on a higher gloss. (Of course, you can always apply the pc-friendly finish of your choice, once a piece is cured.)

9. If you want a "thick shine" on a piece-- more dimension than you can get with Varathane or Future-- you might try a clear brand (Kato or Fimo) of LC. This could be useful for the suggestion of a little water on top of a pot of veggies, for instance. (You could also use epoxy resin for this, but if you're like me, you may prefer to stick with clay as much as possible. I am going to try resin, one of these days, but honestly, I'm a little scared of the stuff. (g))

10. Don't forget your artist's pastels (or other powdered pigments). Those same powders that make your loaves of bread brown so realistically can be applied to cured LC to add a touch of toastiness. (You'll need to seal the powders in with a pc-friendly finish, if the piece will be handled or worn, as in jewelry.)

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I am becoming more and more enamored of liquid clay-- not only for miniature-making, but in other polymer clay projects, as well. The more I see of the stuff, the more amazed I am by the possibilities.

Various & Sundry

A little bit of this, a little bit of that. . .

First-- a little extra information on the faux ceramic technique. (If you've looked at the Polymer Clay Web forum thread on this topic, this won't be new.) I'm still learning how the Kato Liquid works, compared to TLS. One thing I've always heard (and have proven to myself to be true) is that if you hit the Kato Liquid with a heat gun or embossing gun after curing (or bump up the temperature in the oven, briefly), you'll bring out the greatest clarity. It's pretty amazing how well that works. It takes a little while for me, using my little embossing gun, so be patient. Just keep moving the heating tool around, and eventually you'll see a big improvement. Once it starts to happen, it's fast.

Well, anyway, I knew about the heat gun improving the clarity. What I didn't know is that it also changes the finish of the Kato Liquid. I've done a comparison of pieces cured normally and those that I've given the "extra heat treatment", and there's a definite difference. The "extra-heated" ones have a much shinier finish than the others. (I hope this doesn't mean that I've been under-curing the others. . . I'll have to recheck my oven's temperature, just to be on the safe side.)

Here's a photo that (kind of) shows what I mean:

All of these pieces have a Kato-based glaze, but the top two were heated with a heat gun, while the bottom two were not. (The bottom two have more of a sheen than you can tell from this photo, but it's much softer than the shine on the other two.) I think both effects are attractive; it just depends on whether or not you want lots of shine.

___________

While looking around at Parole de Pâte the other day, I was very impressed by this entry. It's been put through a translator, from French to English, but those translating programs leave something to be desired. The translated version refers to powder (Pearl-ex) and resin. Based on the comments, I think they really did use resin (two-part epoxy, such as Envirotex Lite) for the clear coating over the powders, though at first I wondered whether the translating program got that part wrong. (I thought maybe the French word for resin tricked it, as so often seems to happen with these programs.) In any case, I decided to use Liquid Kato, as I'm more familiar with that medium and knew I could get it pretty darn clear with a heat gun.

There's still the slightest bit of a haze in one or two parts of this heart, but it's not bad at all, and I might be able to get it to go away, if I gave it a little more heat. (You could probably also eliminate this problem by doing two thinner coats and clarifying between them.)


It's a simple technique, but the result is very nice. I'm going to have to give this one another try. :o) (And don't forget to follow that link and look at the photos on the other site. They're gorgeous!)

___________

There's another (more recent) topic on Parole de Pâte that also interests me. It's a new take on Jennifer Patterson's "Hidden Magic" technique. Very pretty!

___________

A few days ago, a customer asked me if I "do pizza". Not yet, but it had been on my wish list of mini foods for a long time. I'd been drooling over Milo's mini pizzas only days before-- we got pizza over the weekend-- and now comes this question. . . It must be fate, right? ;o) I decided to give it a try:

There are a few more mini pizza photos on my flickr.

It was rather time-consuming. Miniatures often are, particularly when they're comprised of detailed layers-- and of course I had to figure everything out as I went along, so that took some time. But it was fun, and I definitely see more mini pizzas in my future. :o)

Oh, and for those interested in size, each slice is roughly an inch long. Way too big for 1:12 scale, but ok for "Barbie scale" (assuming that your Barbies like large slices of pizza). Since they have eye pins sticking out of them, I suppose it's obvious that they're really meant more for jewelry than doll houses. (g)

___________

A talented miniaturist

I was just taking some time to look through some of my contact's recently uploaded photos, over at Flickr. I don't do it very often-- especially if I haven't uploaded anything, myself, since that's about the only time I'm on that site-- but every now and then I make the time. It's always a treat to see what everyone's been up to. There are so many beautiful, inspirational works of art and craft on that page!! Much of it rivals the nicest work I've seen published in books.

You don't have to have an account (free or paid) to browse the photos, so if you haven't already checked it out, now's a great time. (Same goes for if it's been a while since you were there. There are new photos every day.) I'm sure the other photo-sharing sites are wonderful, too. I ought to look around some of them, myself. . .

One person who's work just blew me away today was minicaretti. She focuses primarily on miniatures, and that's what you see in her Flickr photostream. (She also has a blog. It's written in Italian, but as always, you can get a lot just from looking at the photos.) I know that at least some of her work involves polymer clay, but she may also use other materials. From what I gather, serious miniaturists (the type who make things in scale) are very resourceful and use whatever best imitates the "real thing". This can result in a polymer piece topped with or displayed next to something made in resin, etc.

If you have a minute, go take a look. Some of these foods are so realistic, you'll have a hard time believing that they're miniatures. You'll probably be hungry by the time you're through. Don't say I didn't warn you. ;o)

Books about making miniature food

If you're in the market for a book about miniature food-making, here are a few options you might want to check out. (Follow the links for detailed tables of contents and more information.)

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Making Miniature Food and Market Stalls, by Angie Scarr

This book is one of my latest acquisitions. I enjoy looking through it just for the joy of seeing how polymer clay (and a few other odds and ends) can be magically transformed into miniature food. The projects in this book include fruits, vegetables, cheeses, baked goods, meats, and seafood-- followed by a section on making market stalls and miniature crates for displaying the foods.

Incidentally, Ms. Scarr is British, and a few of her food choices demonstrate that, I think. For instance, there are pork pies, crumpets, hot cross buns, black pudding, and kippers-- all of which I, at least, associate with the UK.

One more note-- I was surprised to find that there's quite a bit of caning in this book. These are very interesting techniques that can be adapted to fit a variety of other foods, too.

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Making Doll's House Miniatures with Polymer Clay, by Sue Heaser

As the title implies, this book focuses on doll's house miniatures-- not just food-- but there are plenty of mini food projects in there, including baked goods, vegetables, fruits, desserts, a roast lamb dinner, and more. This is an ideal choice for someone with an interest in miniature-making in general. Have a doll's house to furnish? Then give this one a look!

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The Polymer Clay Techniques Book, by Sue Heaser

Don't buy this book expecting loads of miniature food lessons, but it's a good choice for beginners or anyone who wants an overview of a large number of techniques-- and there are a few helpful tips for making mini foods. If I remember correctly, there's information about using inclusions and artists' pastels to add realism to miniature food.

Been slacking... again...

...And yet again it's because I feel guilty for not having done things I need to do!! (This is becoming a bad habit. Maybe I need to take a hiatus from custom orders, as they tend to leave me frozen like a deer in the headlights! A little prodding now and then does me some good, but maybe I need a break from it.)

Despite my absence, I have been doing things-- clay-related things-- but I've been holding them back out of guilt. Well, no more. It's time to make an effort to get back into the swing of things.

So-- starting with a little effort--

Here's a mini hot dog I made a while back:

I think I've already decided that mini hot dogs are not my favorite thing to make. On the other hand, maybe I just need a break from the minis.

This hot dog is only about 3/4 of an inch long-- but that's still gigantic by some standards. I don't see how the 1/12th and 1/24th scale people do it. I suppose there's less need for some of the fiddly details when you're working on such a small scale, but still!

Creating realistic miniature foods

Though by no means have I given up my interest in all the other beautiful and enjoyable applications for polymer clay, I have been focusing lately on making foods-- mostly miniatures, but the occasional life-size item comes up now and then. I'm even getting a few questions (through flickr, mostly) about how I make my miniatures, so I thought I'd write (for my own benefit, if nothing else) about some of the things I've learned so far about making realistic miniature foods. This is not to say that I consider myself to be some sort of expert. (g) Just that I've picked up a few hints and made up some of my own along the way, and these are things I've found the most useful, so far.

Tips for Making Realistic Miniatures

For the most realistic miniature foods, you need to hone your skills of observation. Pay close attention to every aspect of the food's appearance. If it helps you, take notes that you can refer to when you're working with the clay.

Unless you've seen a food so often that you can picture it clearly in your mind's eye-- and even then, actually-- you'll probably do well to locate a good, large photo of the food. It's best if the photo shows the food larger than life-size, as this enables you to notice things you might otherwise overlook. Cookbooks are wonderful resources. If you have a sample of the actual food, use it as a model. If all else fails, look on the Internet. (I use the "Images" feature at Google, myself.)

When translating food into clay miniatures, the following are some of the characteristics you'll want to be aware of:

• Scale. If you're making dollhouse miniatures, you'll want to make them in the appropriate size. Dolls and dollhouses are made in a variety of scales, such as 1-inch-scale, in which one dollhouse inch corresponds to one foot in real-world measurements. If you're making miniatures that will be used for jewelry or other applications where they won't have to fit a specific scale, this is less important. However, you'll still want to consider something I'll call, for lack of a better term, "internal scale".
• Internal Scale. Say you're making a miniature hamburger. To make it fairly realistic, you'll want to make each component (bun, burger, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion) in corresponding sizes-- as well as you can. You don't want a slice of cheese that's far too large for the burger, for instance. Unless you're purposely skewing the internal scale to give the piece a whimsical flare, try to keep the internal scale of your piece uniform.
• Color. Getting just the right color can be tricky, but it's crucial to the creation of many realistic miniatures. From time to time, a color may be perfect right out of the package, but more often, it's not. Some people have more trouble than others with mixing colors. If you know you have problems in this area, I suggest a visit to Maggie Maggio's Smashing Color blog. There, you'll find tutorials to help you learn more about the principles of color-mixing with clay. Otherwise, I suggest lots and lots of practice. Start with small proportions of clay, so that if you end up with a color you hate, you haven't "wasted" much. (Also, remember that until it's been cured-- and sometimes not even then-- no clay should ever be considered "wasted". I'll write more about scrap clay sometime down the road, I hope.) Always mix tiny portions of dark, strong colors-- like red-- into lighter colors-- like white or yellow. It only takes a bit more of red to darken the mixture a little more, but it can take a great deal of white to lighten it back up. Keep records of colors you love or find useful. (Actually, I never do this myself, but I know I should. Instead, I usually try to reserve a bit of the color and mix to match it. This works, but it's more time consuming than if I just figured out the "recipe" and wrote it somewhere.)
• Shading. Similar to color, shading is a vital part of realism-- particularly important for fruits, vegetables, and breads. Take a look at a photo of a peach, for example. The colors on one piece of fruit can vary widely from golden yellows to dusky rose. Few things created by nature (or baked in an oven, for that matter) come out in one uniform color, and so if you try to make a peach all in one color, it won't look realistic, no matter how perfectly you shape or texture it. Shading in clay can be accomplished in a few ways. The first is the Skinner blend. You can also apply powdered colors (such as mica powders, make-up, or chalk pastels) to uncured clay. (Uneven application of a range of shades usually provides the most authentic results.) Acrylic paint (either unaltered or thinned with water) or water-based finishes tinted with acrylic paints can also provide shading.
• Shape. Obviously, if your miniature doesn't have the right basic shape, it won't look like the original. Getting that "right shape" can take some practice. Try making the shape with scrap clay until you perfect your technique. Experiment with different ways of doing it until you find one that works. Books, videos, and on-line tutorials can teach you some of the tricks of the trade. I suggest starting out with something that isn't too difficult to sculpt. For instance, a simple round cookie is an easier shape to master than a Thanksgiving turkey. Fortunately, because so much food is itself imperfect (each apple a slightly different shape and size, each taco a bit different from the next), your miniatures needn't be perfect, either. Shape can also be purposely exaggerated. For example, my mini cupcakes are a bit unrealistic in the hugeness of the cupcake tops.
• Texture. It didn't take me long to realize that texture is one of the key elements in making realistic miniatures. If you don't get the texture right, your minis won't be at all convincing. The texture of foods can vary greatly, so it's important to note the textures you see in your example or photo. Is it almost perfectly smooth (like the skin of an apple)? Is it dimpled (like an orange)? Is it bumpy? And if so, are the bumps uniform or irregular? Once you've identified the texture(s) in your food, you can begin experimenting to find just the right way to replicate that texture. I suggest taking a lump of clay-- scrap or whatever-- and trying different textures. Put one next to the other to compare them. Layer one texture over another (by applying two or more tools to the same piece of clay). Build up your arsenal of texturizing tools. (I've written about this before.) Use brushes, crumpled paper and foil, stamps, texture sheets, needle tools, ball styluses, sandpaper-- whatever you see around you (that isn't to be used with food) that looks like it might make an interesting texture. You can also create texture by mixing things into the clay body. Semolina, spices, seeds, and partially cured (then crumbled) clay seem to be popular choices for bread and cake mixtures. To create softer clay (for whipped creams, etc.), clay is sometimes given a few drops of diluent, mineral oil, or liquid clay.
• Shine. Can you imagine an apple without its shine? Many foods don't look quite right without a touch of shine. Sure, you can tell what they're supposed to be, but a little gloss can be the difference between "good" and "great". Notice whether your food needs some shine (based on the photo or real life sample you're using). Is it a high shine or just a bit of a sheen? PC-friendly finishes come in at least three sheens. Personally, I use just two-- high gloss for "very shiny" and matte for "kind of shiny". Of course, minis can also be buffed by hand or with a power tool, like other polymer clay items, but often they aren't a convenient shape for buffing. When adding shine to your miniature foods, be careful not to overdo it. Something that wouldn't normally be shiny in the real world probably shouldn't be shiny in the realm of miniatures, either. A controlled application is the key to success.

Here are a few more tips for making miniature foods with polymer clay:

• Use liquid clay. Sometimes liquid clay is just what you need to make a convincing miniature. Liquid clay makes excellent syrups, sauces, and gravies. I recommend buying a translucent liquid clay, because you can always tint the translucent clay to whatever color or opacity you need, but if you have opaque liquid clay, you can't make it translucent. In addition to the liquid clay, you'll want something to tint it with. Oil paints mixed into translucent liquid clay makes it opaque. (I use a cheap set my husband bought years ago and never used. So far, they're working great, despite their cheapness.) For translucent color, I like alcohol ink. Powders (powdered pigments, artists' chalk pastels, mica powders) can also be used to tint liquid clay. Keep in mind that if you use shimmery powders to tint your liquid clay, the clay will also take on a shimmer. This can be used to your advantage in some applications.
• Be open to trying different brands of clay. This isn't something I've done much myself, as of yet, but it is something I'd suggest for your consideration. Each brand of clay has its own unique properties. For instance, some are softer than others. Generally speaking, the softest clays are not as strong as the firmer ones. (This may not be an issue if you're making decorative miniatures that won't be put under stress. ) The softer clays are easier to condition (and whip into frosting-like consistency), but this also means that they don't hold patterns for caning as well as firmer mixtures do (and they may distort when sliced). Keep these differences in mind. You may find that one brand of clay works well for one project, while another brand is better for the next.
• Use clay softeners. As I mentioned earlier, a few drops of clay softener (or my personal favorite-- mineral oil) allows you to whip regular clay (of whatever color you want) into different stages of softness. It's messy-- no denying that-- but it makes an excellent frosting.
• Bake in stages. I've learned this from experience-- and since read it, too. Baking things in stages makes miniature-making much more enjoyable. Not everything needs to be cured in stages, but don't be afraid to try it if you think it'll make things easier for you. I cure things in stages primarily when I find that trying to do everything in one step leads to unwanted fingerprints in my clay. I don't like wearing gloves, but neither do I want fingerprints all over the place in my miniatures. Sometimes I can put the miniature down on my baking surface and leave it there while I work on it, but other projects require more handling. In those cases, I pre-bake one part of the project, let it cool, then hold onto the hardened portion while I work on the rest of the miniature. Also, sometimes it's just more convenient to pre-bake little bits and pieces (such as candy sprinkles) that I'll be applying to raw clay. (Applying soft clay to soft clay requires more care-- so that I won't squish something or leave unwanted texture-- than applying hard clay to soft clay.) When adhering raw clay to cured clay, it's a good idea to use a tiny bit of liquid clay or diluent as "glue" to help strengthen the bond between the two.
• Pay attention to opacity. This refers back to the part about finding the right color and shading. ("Opacity" refers to the degree of light that shines through something. A closed book is completely opaque, meaning that no light shines through it. Now, if you were to open the book and hold just one page up to the light, you would see light through it. A single page of paper has less opacity-- and therefore more translucence-- than a whole book full of papers.) Many foods, you'll find with close observation, are not completely opaque. The maple syrup I use on my mini waffles is translucent. It has a brown color, but you can still see through it somewhat, down to the little squares of the waffle. If I were to use an opaque brown mixture for the syrup, it would no longer resemble maple syrup. Instead, it would look like chocolate sauce-- an interesting alternative, but not the one I want. Keep opacity and translucence in mind when making miniature foods. Try using different amounts of translucence in your miniatures-- not only with liquid clay, but also with solid clay. Tinted mixtures consisting largely of translucent clay usually cure to more vivid colors than they appear before curing, so you may want to bake small pieces of a color before committing to it.

I think that should do for now. ;o) If you have a tip you'd like to share, please leave a comment. :o)

A mini feast (for the eyes) ;o)

I'm definitely in a "mini phase"-- meaning, not a phase of short duration, but a phase in which I'm obsessed with miniatures. (g) I'm sure I'll eventually move on-- or back-- to something else, but for now, I'm revelling in the minis!

So-- some of what I've been doing lately:

I've made two types of "sunny-side-up" fried eggs--

One more fragile type for post-back earrings:

And one sturdier type for "dangly" earrings:

I made some non-jewelry mini biscotti (dipped in chocolate) for the same great lady who suggested that I make Pop-Tarts:

Then I finally got around to making the ice cream sandwiches I've been thinking about for a while. (I haven't had an ice cream sandwich in a long time, but making these made me hungry for one!)

I think I made the waffle before I made the ice cream sandwiches, actually... So far, I've only made one. Next time, I think I'll make the pat of butter a bit less translucent-- but in some ways, I like it like this... I want to make pancakes, too, but when I played around with it the first time, I wasn't happy with the results. I think I have a better idea, now. Who would think that a pancake would be harder to do than a waffle?! (Well, in clay, I mean.)

My last "big" experiment was a mini hamburger. It took me a while to make-- partially because I was figuring it out as I went along, but also because there are so many components to a burger, compared to most of the other minis I've made.

There are things I can do to improve the realism of this piece-- with the lettuce and tomato, in particular-- but if you're making things to sell, you can only put so much time and work into something before you have to charge more than anyone's willing to pay for a "cute little pendant".

Anyway, for a first try, I was pretty pleased with my mini burger, if I do say so myself! ;o) Now I'm looking forward to trying it again-- maybe a double cheese burger next time-- and I also have some ideas for hot dogs... :o)

And of course I'm still making a cupcake now and then:

I've been working on "glittery" cupcakes, with glittered icing. I like the looks of glitter, but it's such a pain to work with-- especially at the clay table. If you don't clean up every little speck of it (which is, let's face it, nearly impossible to do), you'll be finding glitter in your clay where you didn't want it. (You can do the glitter work away from the table, but if you aren't careful, you'll still end up bringing it back to the clay, on your hands.) The other thing I hate about glitter is how hard it is to get it stick well enough to the clay that it won't just brush off later-- and getting it thick enough. You almost have to seal it (meanwhile being very careful not to contaminate your sealant bottle with glitter, in the process) and apply it in multiple layers.

Ugh! Glitter!! I'll be happy when the glitter cupcakes are done! (g)

Fortunately, not many mini foods require glitter. ;o)

Pop-Tarts in miniature...

Last week I got my first-ever request for a custom order at my Etsy shop. :o) I was a little bit nervous about it, at first, since the person wanted something I'd never tried before-- miniature Pop-Tarts-- but it turned out pretty well, I think. The customer is wonderfully friendly, and she seemed happy with the pop-tarts, at least (and isn't that what really matters, anyway?). She's even thinking about requesting more custom work, down the road, so I count the whole experience as a success! :o)

Here are a few more photos of the mini pop-tarts...

My first effort, white frosting with colorful sprinkles:

Next up, "chocolate" frosting with white sprinkles:

And a different view of the three together, including the last of the set, with pink frosting and colorful sprinkles:

After I finished making that order, I played around with a couple more ideas for the mini pop-tarts. First, I made a couple of smaller ones with wire loops, so they could be charms or pendants. (The originals were each about an inch long and had no wire loops, as the customer wanted to turn them into magnets.) Then I tried making a slightly larger one (about 1 and 1/4 inch long) to turn into a brooch. That's this one:

I need to make myself try something new more often. I mean, it's not a huge stretch from my sugar cookies to these pop-tarts, but it's still one more thing I can add to my repertoire. Now I just need to figure out what the next small step should be... ;o) I've been wanting to try hamburgers, so maybe later in the week I'll give that a go. The worst I can do is make a little scrap clay, right?

Delicious mini foods in clay!

If you're as infatuated with miniature foods as I am, you need to visit Iris Mishly's blog. She has a great post with links to several mini-food related websites-- some of which were totally new to me.

It's such fun to admire these wonderfully realistic works of art. :o) I haven't had a chance to go through all of the pages in their entirety, but I've already picked up a tip from one of them. Let me see... Which one was it...?

There.... It was on Betsy Niederer's page of tips and tricks. She writes that instead of using cornmeal or semolina (which I've been looking for off and on, to no avail) to add texture to your mini foods, you should use partially cured and crumbled clay. (The cornmeal and semolina can degrade over time, and as you might imagine, that's not good.) I don't think I would've thought of that on my own, but it makes perfect sense. I can't wait to give it a try!

Also on Betsy Niederer's page-- Go here and just look at those hotdogs and fries. I'd swear they were real if I didn't know better. Her work is stunningly realistic. Of course, it's also meant to be art, so I'm sure it takes a lot of time to do. I also wonder whether or not certain pieces would be "wearable"-- or if they have unsealed chalks and things on them that would rub off if handled too much. Still, it's beautiful just to look at, and I think I'm getting some ideas for how to improve my attempts at mini food jewelry.

Thanks, Iris, for the inspiring links! Just what I needed to jump start my will to "go mini" again! :o)

Mini Cookie Earrings

Over the weekend, I decided to play around with earrings.

To start things off, I made some mini cookie earrings to match the pendants I've been making. There are mini sugar cookies (pictured below), mini chocolate chip cookies (also pictured below), more mini sugar cookies (in a slightly different style, but there are no photos, yet), and mini peanut butter cookies.



For the mini chocolate chip cookies, I slightly altered my style from the mini chocolate chip cookie pendant I made earlier. Instead of using "pointed" chocolate chips, I flattened them out. I think I prefer the pointed chips, but the flattened ones are probably more realistic, since I think the chocolate chips would probably melt in the oven.



I also tried my hand at miniature cupcake earrings. I think I can improve them with a little tweaking here and there. Working in miniature made it harder for me to get them just the way I wanted them. Maybe making slightly larger miniatures-- say, for pendants or cell phone charms-- would be a bit easier.

This was also my first time to use a polymer clay icing/frosting. It worked very well (apart from being messy), and I'm looking forward to trying the frosting on some other miniatures. Cakes come to mind, of course, and possibly cookies, but I can't think of much else that needs that precise texture...




There are more photos of these particular miniatures at my Esty shop. :o)

Making earrings is fun. :o) Of course, you do have to make two items that are reasonably similar is size, shape, etc., but that's not so hard, and with mini foods, it's ok if they're slightly different, since real food varies in shape and size, too.