Monday, March 9, 2015

Lemons for 18” Dolls




This week we are going to create a simple cane that will allow you to make some very detailed lemons and lemon slices for your doll scenes. I love to make canes from polymer clay because they allow me to quickly make some very detailed patterns. In this case we start with a cylinder of the same translucent yellow/translucent clay we used to make the lemon bars. We add some of the white/translucent clay (left from our apples but in truth this is the most used clay combo in my workshop) and we quickly create something that will amaze you.

Once again I am going to send you to the produce department to get a real lemon. It really does make a difference! Really look at that lemon, hold it, touch it, really study it. Get some clues as to the color of the peel and the real beauty of a piece of fruit. They are really pretty and really just simple shapes.

Now by working from a simple cylinder and cutting it into wedges adding some white/translucent clay to act as the membrane in the fruit and adding a thin cover of yellow clay we already have something that loosely resembles a lemon. The magic is that when you reduce the size of that cane it compresses and gives even more of the impression it is the real thing.
For our 18” friends we want to reduce that cane to about 5/8” diameter but if you wan to give Barbie some lemons just keep going until you have a diameter of about 3/8” or so. (With my dollhouse miniatures I go down to about 3/16”)


Gently round the end of the cane easing that yellow coating to cover the end. Then slice off enough to give you a nice size lemon (about ½” will do for this scale) then close the other end and shape it into a lemon shape. The beauty of having a lemon right there with you is you can look at it to compare the shape.

Now add some texture by rolling your lemon shape on a piece of 60 grit sandpaper. A couple of taps with a toothbrush will just help it out a bit.

On a cane you will notice you have to go in a little bit to get a nice clear pattern, once I had my first whole lemon cut off the end I was down to the point where the design looked great and from there until I reach the far end I can make sliced lemons or just slices of lemon.

I like to keep some canes of polymer clay made up and on hand for when I need them. They seem to be easier to get a good result by starting rather large and then working down. Just keep the canes (un-baked) in a zipper type storage bag somewhere where they won't get smashed. It is a good idea to protect them from getting too hot too. Then when you need some more lemons or slices of lemon for something all you have to do is slice off what you need and bake them as needed. I like to keep my canes just a bit oversized for the scales I will want to use them for then by the time I have them rolled down to size the clay is usually conditioned and ready to slice.

On the bright side the canes are a lot easier to slice if they have set up at least a day from when you create them before slicing.

This time I did a little experiment. I took a ball of the yellow mixture just a bit smaller than I wanted the finished lemons to be. I then coated it with a very thin layer of the white mixture followed by an even thinner layer of the yellow I was using for peel. I was able to make wedges of lemon from this.

When the lemons are all baked off I like to coat the interior areas with a thin coat of Triple thick, this allows them to look wet. This step (and all the rest that follow are really optional)

Next I like to coat the outside of the peel with a thin coat of yellow craft paint. I do like the way the color looks when the paint is layered over the clay. It is more interesting than either by themselves.

I like to follow up with a coat of the same Future floor finish we used on the apples a couple of weeks ago. 

 

Just think of all the places you can use some lemons, cut lemons and lemon slices.


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