Monday 25 August 2014

How To Make Bread and Butter

When making miniatures getting texture into the clay is quite important to make it look more 'real'. I tend  to use semolina to make bread look more realistic.  




1. To make slices of bread mix an equal amount of translucent and white and add in a touch of ochre to lesson the whiteness. Add semolina to the clay until well mixed.

2. Squash the clay down into a square log around 1cm square which is about the size of a standard white loaf of bread.

3. Use artists pastels to give the outside some colour for a crust. Scrape a knife along the pastels to create a dust and then use a paintbrush a lightly build up colour around the log. 

4. Leave the log to firm up for a couple of hours or you can put it in the fridge for a little time. This resting time is important as it lessens the distortion of the clay when it's cut up. 

5. Slice the clay into slices a couple of mm thick. 

6. To make the butter add some liquid sculpey or liquid fimo to some butter coloured clay and mix together. The mix has to be firm enough to spread onto the bread slice but not runny enough to be like icing. In the picture above the butter mix was a bit runny and more like melted butter rather than spreadable butter. 

7. Cook the clay as per packet instructions. 

Monday 18 August 2014

Strawberry Tarts

Yesterday I spent several hours sat on my sofa making a strawberry cane from polymer clay in order that I could make some flans and tarts today. It takes time and patience to make a good cane - I know from past experience that if I rush cane making the result is sometimes not quite as I would like.

There is also the have I mixed it enough/not enough/opaque enough/translucent enough etc etc. These thoughts always go through my head especially when making anything red like strawberry and tomato canes and there is a moment of anticipation as I cut the first slices from the cane to see that it's all worked out alright. 

It doesn't help that I'm using some old clay which can also affect the result. But after very patient mixing and baking I had a whole heap of strawberry slices. I didn't take any pictures of the process as I didn't think about it at the time, however I do have pictures of the finished tarts I made today! 







What A Start!

It's been less than a month since I decided to start selling my minis again and I feel like I haven't stopped! It's not that I ever really stopped making as I continued to do things for my own collection but I did stop selling.

The break has done my some good because I have a renewed energy and creative burst which has had me working on several new items. 

I'm selling on etsy, the shop name is Magenta Minis, link on the right. Below is a selection of the current items for sale.