Christmas cake

Day 14 : Christmas cake

I haven't made a real Christmas cake this year, but I have made this little one for the dolls house.

Yule Log

Day 4: Yule log

A chocolate swiss roll covered in chocolate icing. I made three different types. The messiest part was putting the icing on. I should have really done it in two parts but didn't really think it through. The icing was made my mixing transclucent liquid sculpey and brown fimo clay until it was a gooey gluey substance.

Gingerbread House

Day 3 : Gingerbread House

After the preparation boards yesterday it's only right the finished ones are shown today! The metal trays the houses sit on are 4x3cm.

Gingerbread house preparation boards

Day 2 : Gingerbread house preparation boards

These always look so pretty. However there is a lot of preparation that needs to be done before assembly. In the real world it's a case of shopping in the sweet and baking aisle but in miniature they have to be made first!

I made the snowmen, lollipops, candy canes, mints, christmas tree cookies, robin, snowman and penguin biscuits and icing ready to decorate. Then the gingerbread houses themselves and the fun began making each one individual and unique.

The marble effect boards the houses sit on are 4x3cm. I wanted these prep boards to have some of the chaos of a real kitchen while in the middle of building a gingerbread house.

Chocolate cake

I've decided to do a mini blog post for each day during December showing some of the miniatures I've made. I'll have some how to makes, some musings on miniatures and the cat might make an appearance! 

Day 1: Chocolate cake. 

Who doesn't like a slice of cake. This is a very simple cake to make and I'll tell you how!

You need - fimo in pink, white, biege, brown and translucent, Translucent liquid sculpey (TLS), brown oil paint. 

1. To make the chopped nuts - condition small pieces of white, beige and brown. Make into a thin sheet by rolling through a pasta maker and cook as per packet instructions. While warm using a sharp knife or single sided blade chop into very small pieces. 

2. Roll small balls of pink and brown fimo then roll in the 'chopped nuts'.

3. Make a cake by mixing equal brown and translucent together and shaping. The one in the picture is 3/4 inch round which would be the equivalent of a 9 inch round cake. 

4. Mix TLS with a few drops of brown oil paint to make the icing. Add to the top of the cake, add the truffles then cook. 

If you want to see this and more take a look in my etsy shop.

Fridge Magnets

I'm constantly thinking of ways to get my miniatures out there in the big wide world.  I've put food in frames and put them up on the wall and I like this idea because people who come into my house see them but they might not ask to see a dollshouse. The first ones I made were around 10 years ago and I've improved my mini making skills a lot since then and I keep saying one day I will get round to putting them together in a blog post. 

But my latest plan for my minis is a fridge magnet. I had some small round magnets in my stash and thought well why not use them for something. 

And these are the results ... each round board is 4cm across and the food is made in 1:12 scale.

Cheese wheel tower

While I was on pinterest searching for cheese pictures I came across cheese towers, or cheese 'cakes' where wheels of cheese were used as a celebration cake for example a wedding.

I had to make one of course!

Teeny tiny cheese and biscuits. 

I made some very simple crackers, grapes and figs to add to the display, then glued it all together. The wooden board I painted and sanded to give a well loved look to and all together measures 1.5 inches high. 

Miniature cheese board

After the gingerbread houses I decided to do something little different. I decided to make a cheese board, which sound easy but as with most miniatures it's the tiny details that make the difference. The colour of the mould, the texture of a crumbly Cheshire, the tiny cranberries put into a Wensleydale cheese. It takes time and I'm very happy with the end result.

Chocolate brownie.

I haven't abandoned the food side of things. I was waiting for more clay to be delivered and then I decided to buy some new cutters and I'm waiting for them now. I had been using cheap plastic plunge cutters but fimo and other polymer clays react with the plastic and eats away at it resulting in it being unusable. 

It took me a while to find a UK source. I could find plenty in the USA and a high postage to match which would have been too costly. Eventually Google led me to www.clayarond.com and have found the cutters and other fimo goodies. 

Anyway while I'm waiting for them to be delivered I made a chocolate brownie, ice cream and chopped nuts dessert. It helps the diet that it's calorie free. The plate is sat on a pound coin which is 22mm across. 

It's National Picnic Week - 13-21 June

It's national picnic week from the 13 to the 21 June in the UK the sun is (hopefully) shining, the days are long and warm, so what better way to send a few hours than going for a walk or to a park and packing a picnic to eat when you're there? 

National Picnic Week 13 - 18 June 2015 

My miniature picnic

I'm not sure on some of the recipes on the site - under the 'love your greens' section there is a broccoli frittata which sounds lovely but then the next one is for sprout kebabs which sound like the kind of thing I won't be trying even though I quite like sprouts. 

Lots of yummy goodies for the miniature picnic.

Another angle of the picnic made in one inch scale. 

For me a picnic normally involves a sandwich of some kind, crisps, scotch eggs, sausage rolls and 'pudding' which is usually a slice of cake.

The past couple of years have seen more recipes for picnic sandwiches or pressed sandwiches. These are usually bread rolls or a large round crusty loaf that has had the middle taken out and filled with all kinds of deli food Ham, cheese, pesto, tomato, mustard, lettuce, salami, beef are all layered up into the bread and then it is wrapped in foil and left overnight, Sometimes a small weight is added  to squash the loaf down. The following day the loaf is cut into slices and eaten. I've seen lots of inspiration on Pinterest and these are my mini versions - one is a round crusty loaf, the other is a baguette which has been cut into chunks.

Pork pie, gala pie, sausage rolls are always a favourite on a picnic - anything wrapped in pastry is good in my book. 

Pork pie

Gala Pie

Sausage rolls

There is also a flask of tea and some cold juice drinks on any picnic I pack. But they aren't on the picnic blanket above. By the way I knitted the blanket many years ago, it was my first attempt at knitting in miniature on tiny thin small needles and was a challenge to say the least. I haven't knitted anything since but I do have ideas that I might do one day when I have the time. 

Now I'm off to check the weather forecast and think about going to the seaside for the day with my picnic!

It's baking day...

I think it's good to add a bit of realism to a dollhouse. It's nice to have finished cakes in the window of a bakery or on a tea table but it's also good to reflect real life by having a bit of chaos in the kitchen. A work in progress so to speak. 

I've made some cake preparation boards which would be good to put into a kitchen, or on a counter in a shop. The cakes are 18mm round made from polymer clay. The icing is made by mixing transclucent liquid sculpey and fimo polymer clay to an icing consistency. It is then baked as per packet instructions. 

This peach one is an almost finished iced cake. There is a bowl of icing in the background and a knife covered in icing. 

A large wooden board has the cake, buttercream, knife and lemon slices set on it.

A small marble board with a cake being iced. 

Cake being iced and finished cake.

Strawberry cake being iced with hulled strawberries.

Cake being filled with buttercream, strawberries for decoration on board. 

Finished cake and cake being iced board.

I'm happy with the results as I find strawberries difficult to make and for some reason I always have problems with red coloured things. I didn't add a stalk or calyx to them as they are hulled ready to put onto the cake. 

All I need now is a cup of tea to go with it.