Doll Size Onion Rings

Watch the video here.

This week I thought it would be nice to make something to go with those burgers we have been making for the dolls. Since I have already made a tutorial on regular fries I decided it should either be curly fries or onion rings. I got out my clay and made some of each. Then I just couldn't decide which one to make the tutorial for this week. I posted a picture of both on my Facebook page and put it up to a very informal vote. The onion rings won so that goes up this week. Next week we will make the curly fries. Both projects are super easy and only require some white clay (any brand will work)

So for the onion rings we do need some round clay cutters in sizes ranging from about an inch in diameter down to about ¼” in diameter (my smallest one is actually 3/16”.

Just roll the clay out and cut rounds with the largest cutter then cut rings out that working from largest to smallest cutters. It is so much easier to work in that order, going from smallest to largest is just a lot harder for some reason.

Bake these rings and allow to cool.

Now the magic happens and for the magic we need some Amber Gallery Glass paint and white sand. Now just work in layers like I showed in the video.

There you have it! Onion Rings!!!!

Doll Size Red Onion Slices

Watch the video here.

I got a request to make some red onion slices for the burgers, so that is today's project.

This is a super easy one it just takes quite a bit of clay.

For the white part of the onion I am using a mixture of Fimo Translucent White with an equal amount of Fimo white. I think any brand of white would work but the Fimo Translucent is a bit different from the Premo. If you use another brand of translucent I think you might need to use a touch more white. The qualities in the Premo that made it perfect for the tomatoes would work against us in this project.

For the red portion of the onion, which of course is really purple not red we need a nice reddish purple. I used Scupley III in Violet because it was the closest to what I wanted. A color a bit darker would be a bit better. Just make sure that the purple you use has a red tint to it not a blue tint.

Just follow the steps that I did to make the cane. I wish I had made my center cane (or core) a bit smaller. Mine turned out to be a little be large in the finished cane for my liking. You can learn from my mistakes on this project.

Another mistake I made was to partially bake the cane before slicing. In the small scales (like the dollhouse scale I usually work in) this works really well. For this larger cane it really didn't help and I think made slicing a bit more difficult. So when you make this just freeze the cane for about 30 minutes and then slice and bake.

I didn't have enough clay to start over and I decided to keep the mistakes in rather than cut them so you can see that I make mistakes and have to work with them sometimes.

Slice the cane as thinly as you can to make the slices look real.

Cut up any scraps and bake them too. They look great in salads and on pizza. I especially like the ones that I wrapped around the dowels to bake. They will look great in future projects. 

Doll Size Pickle Slices

Watch the video here.

This week we are making some pickle slices for the dolls to add to those burgers we have been working on. I decided to go the simple route this week, we could have made a much more complex cane complete with the seeds but I will save that for a future project. I looked at the pickles in my fridge and although you could see the seeds they really weren't that visible.

I know we have used a lot of colors of clay the last few weeks although I have tried to keep it to a minimum. This week I worked really hard to use the same yellow, green and translucent that we used on the tomato slices. They are beautiful colors and we should get as much use out of them as possible.

For the base green mixture we first need to mix together:

2 parts Sculpey III in Lemonade (yellow)

with

1 part Premo Spanish Olive (dark green)

Once this mixture is well combined you need to mix

1 part of the green mixture

with

8 parts Premo Translucent

Combine these really well.

Now make a short fat log, roll out a tiny bit more of the dark green as thin as you can possibly get it and wrap that around the sides of the log.

Now start reducing your clay cane. At the largest I wanted my cane to ¾” in diameter and at the smallest ½” in diameter. I decided to make mine cane range through all the sizes in between by making kind of a cone shape. This gave me a large assortment of finished pickle slices. Make your cane into a rounded triangle shape and chill in the freezer for about 20 minutes.

Once the clay is thoroughly chilled we can cut it into thin slices. I did try to use the wavy blade but it was a bit too big to be in scale and it made it really hard to get thin slices. So I switched to my regular clay blade.

Once you have you have all your pickle slices cut it is time to bake them. I always bake mine on a paper plate. This time it was at 275 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 minutes.

Since pickles are wet we need to add a coat of gloss to them. This time I am using Triple Thick mostly because I wanted to use a paint brush to apply it. In the end it worked out much better which I will explain in a moment.

Once the clear glaze was dry (and I had already uploaded the video to my computer and plugged my camera in to charge the battery) I decided that the pickle slices looked a bit bland. I decided to take my own advice and add just a touch of yellow food coloring (from the kitchen) to more Triple Thick and added a coat of this to the pickle slices. I also added a small pool of this to the container that I put the pickle slices in for display. Just keep in mind this will adhere them permanently to the container.

I think these look great both in the dish and on the burgers!

So what other toppings do you like on your burgers? What are the dolls missing? I was asked to try to make some red onion slices so I am going to try and work on that this week and see if I can come up with those. What else do we need???

Un-boxing Ashlyn

Watch the video here.

Today I have a different kind of video and blog for you. I purchased one of the new Wellie Wishers from American Girl and decided to un-box her on camera. I love to watch un-boxing videos so I thought I might as well film as I opened.

If you aren't familiar with the Wellie Wisher line of dolls they are the newest addition to the American Girl family of dolls. They are being marketed to slightly younger girls (age 5 and up) than the traditional American Girl dolls(age 8 and up).

There are 5 dolls in the collection currently. I have no idea if they plan to add more later but I do hope so. The site describes each doll's personality and they have a range of colors of skin and hair. They are all very cute and it was hard to make a choice but I had a particular role in mind for this doll.

The dolls measure 14 ½” tall so they are smaller than the traditional American Girl dolls. They are also have a younger appearance to both their faces and body shape than the larger dolls. These two features also mean that they will look perfect as younger siblings in our doll collections.

They feature a completely hard body as opposed to the soft body of the larger dolls. I saw a few photos of dolls that people had gotten that had large gaps in the side seams of their dolls. Mine seems to be fine in that respect.

I think this doll's hair is her best feature, it is sooooo soft and silky. It has beautiful highlights too. Although that face is almost too cute to believe.

The price of $60 is high for a doll in my opinion but compared to the $115-$120 price tag of the larger dolls it seems almost reasonable. Currently (through the end of July 2016) they are offering free shipping on the Wellie Wisher dolls so that helps a bit.

As for delivery time for me I ordered on June 27^th and it arrived to my post office late in the day on July 7^th. Keep in mind we did have a holiday during the shipping too.

Now onto how this doll will fit into my doll family. This blog post is the last time you will probably see/hear her referred to by the name Ashlyn. This doll is now named Maria, and she is Jeremy's little sister. I had been wanting to get a little sister for him since the beginning but the doll I had planned to get is no longer made and I was never able to find one.

I took some pictures of Maria and Jeremy side by side so you see how they look together. I think they are going to make wonder bother and sister. Don't you?

I did get one outfit completed for Maria before she arrived and I love the way it looks on her. I have a couple more outfits cut out but didn't get time to finish them in time for the blog.

Both pieces are made from patterns from Pixie Faire.

The top is from the Trendy T-Shirt pattern which is a free pattern on the site. I made this one pretty much by the pattern. I did do my favorite finishing technique on the edges.

For the shorts I actually used the Piccadilly Pjs pattern bottoms. I simply made a guess where to cut them off and added a cuff the legs. I love how they turned out.

I need to get busy sewing for this little dear so she can have a few changes of clothing. Then you will see her here on my blog in some Allison's Journal posts very soon.