Doll Size Bananas

 

Watch the video here.

 

 

This week I have another really easy piece of fruit for the fruit bowl, bananas. These are really fun and easy to make.

Once again we are using the Sculpey Original polymer clay in white to make our fruit. I prefer to make most fruits with white clay and add the color with either artist chalks or with paint as I have done here. They just look so much more realistic that way. If you use a yellow clay, while it is faster the results are not nearly as nice. That tiny bit of extra time spent painting the details makes a huge difference.

The first step is to make the stems (I guess they would be called stems, the part that connects the banana to the bunch) for this we need to make a snake of clay between ⅛” and ¼” in diameter. Flatten at least one side of this snake so it is not completely round. This snake then needs to be baked in the oven at 250°F for about 10 minutes. We do this so it will retain its shape when we add it to the banana.

Once the stem snake is cooled start making your bananas. We are going to make a snake of clay that is ⅝” in diameter. Cut this snake to about 2 ¾” long. Now carefully taper one end of the snake to form the end. Add a tiny ball of brown clay (I used scrap clay for this, if you don't have any brown clay you can skip this part) Now tease some texture in the brown clay (or just in the narrow end of the banana. Use a sharp tool for this, I like to use a dental pick but a pin or a toothpick can work also.

Now start teasing the opposite end of the banana into a matching taper and add a piece of the cooked stem cane. Smooth clay up around the stem to make it look like it is all one piece.

Flatten on side of your banana, and form it into a “banana” shape. Repeat this as many times as you like.

Now bake the clay bananas at 275°F for 30 to 45 minutes. Allow the clay to cool down to room temperature before proceeding to the next step.

Once they are cooled we need to start adding some color to our bananas. Use a medium yellow color to coat the bananas and allow to dry. I used Ceramacoat in Crocus Yellow.

Once this is dry add a bit of a wash with some green paint. I used Lime Sorbet, also from Ceramacoat. You want to put this color on in very light coats to just a few areas.

Next you can add a bit of a lighter yellow to parts of the banana you want to highlight a bit. I used Folkart Daybreak for this.

Now the fun part, pick a nice warm brown. I am really lacking in good brown colors so I know what I need to stock up on when I get the chance. The ones I had were not exactly the correct color. Try to find one that has a bit of a reddish tint to it. Very lightly add some of the brown as a wash to areas of the banana. Depending on how ripe you want your banana to be will determine how much brown to add. For mine I wanted on to be fairly ripe so after I added some with a bush and my fingers I added some splatters of the brown paint by watering it down a lot and using my paint brush by tapping it. Be warned this makes a mess so protect the area around where you are painting.

If you didn't use any brown clay on the end of your banana you can use some dark brown paint to carefully paint the area you teased into a rough texture.

 

Allow the paints to dry and make any adjustments you wish and your bananas are ready. I am not adding any kind of sealer coat to these since I think that would detract from the realism of these.

As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.

Doll Size Pears

 

Watch the video here.

 

 

I love pears so much, probably because when I was growing up we had a couple of pear trees that always produced a ton of them. I remember we would go out with the tractor and a bunch of boxes and my parents and I would spend a couple of hours picking the pears every year. Then they sat in their boxes for however long it took to ripen. That part always seemed to take way too long in my opinion. Then when they were ripe we got to eat some and the rest my mom canned for us to eat all winter long.

I picked a beautiful pear at the grocery store the other day and as I was admiring how pretty it was and enjoying the warm memories I decided that it would be the perfect addition to the doll's fruit bowl. So here we are with a tutorial for pears. I hope you enjoy making this project as much as I enjoyed making the tutorial for you.

As is the normal starting place for most of my doll food crafting I took a really careful look at the pear I had on hand. If you don't have one on hand at least try to look at some good photos online. You need to work from a reference to get the details.

I am using the box of Sculpey Original that I purchased a while back. If you don't have this clay, any white polymer clay would be fine. I just like to use this one when possible because the cost per ounce is so much less and doll foods can take a bit of clay to make.

Also just like on the majority of my fruits I am using white clay and not a colored clay. I know there are some tutorials out there to make pears from either yellow or green clay. In my opinion the resulting fruit looks way too dense. With the white clay and the careful application of slightly translucent layers of paint you end up with that almost glow that the real fruit has.

Also it limits the number of colors of clay you need to purchase and by just using small amounts of the colored clays you get a lot more for your crafting money.

I did use some very tiny bits of brown clay which came from my bag of scrap clay. The scrap clay bag is a huge resource as you work with polymer clay. When you finish each project just put the leftover mixed bits of clay into a food quality storage bag and you will have a treasure trove of clay to work with in future projects.

To make our pears we are starting with a ball of clay about 1” in diameter. Don't worry about being the exact size, just close to that size. In fact if you are making more than one pear vary the size a little bit. All pears even from the same tree are not identical. Variety will make them look more realistic.

While working on this project (and most clay projects) have a container of cornstarch (the stuff from the kitchen) on hand along with a fluffy brush. I use this to dust my hands/ fingers and work surface to prevent sticking. It is also really helpful when you need to remove finger prints and other minor marks from you clay. The brush I use is a makeup brush designed to apply face powder or powder blush. Check the dollar store and you should be able to find these easily at a really cheap price. I keep my cornstarch for clay work in a tub that held some paste that I used up. You can use any container or just get a small amount in a small dish each time you work with clay.

After we form the clay into a ball we need to use pressure on one side to make the “pear” shape. Again not all pears are exactly the same shape.

The next step is to add a stem and blossom to the top and bottom of your pear. I used very tiny amounts of scrap clay for this. Any brown clay will work. Use a tool of some kind to make the divot for the tiny clay to go into and then add the tiny bit of clay. Use a sharp tool to kind of “tease” some texture to make the blossom look like it should and to add some texture to the stem. I used both a toothpick and my trusty dental pick for this.

For a last and definitely optional step sprinkle some brown chalk “freckles” onto the surface of the pear. Keep these tiny and be careful not to overdue it. I added more and larger for the purpose of the video so that you guys could actually see them on the video. You want to be very subtle here and if you don't want to do this just skip it.

Now it is time to bake our clay. For this I set my oven at 250°F and baked for 1 hour. It seems like a long time but this clay is pretty thick and we need to get it cured all the way through.

After baking be sure to let the clay cool to room temperature before going on the the next step.

Now it is time to add some color to the peel of our pears. I am using some craft acrylic paints in the video I used Daffodil yellow by Anita's with just a touch of Spring Green from Apple Barrel. I then thinned the paint down with a bit of water because I want this paint layer to be fairly translucent, you can always add more but you really can't un-paint them. After the paint dried I checked for any spots I missed and touched those up.

For the pear I had done off camera to prep for the video I used Daybreak Yellow from Folk Art with a bit of Lime Sorbet from Ceramcoat.

 

As a final finish I added a coat of Satin Mod Podge for a subtle shine.

I do love how these turned out and I hope you enjoy them too. If you make things from my tutorials I would love to see pictures of them. 

 

As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.

Doll Size Caramel Apples

Watch the video here.

 

 

This week I decided to make a something I've been wanting to do for a while, some caramel apples for the dolls. These are a lot of fun, pretty easy to make, and I think just perfect for fall.

Since we don't see the apple part I used Original Sculpey clay, I like to use this clay when possible in places where the clay won't be seen and I need a bulk of it. It does seem expensive at around anywhere from about $12 to about $20 for the size package I have. You get a lot of clay (I.75 pounds) as compared to the small blocks of Sculpey III that are only 2 oz for around $2 to $3. That means the cost per ounce for the big block ranges from around $.40 to $.75 as opposed to the 2 ounce blocks that are usually priced at around $2.50 to $3. So you can see there is a big savings if you do a lot of clay work in this scale. I didn't take sale prices into account and you may find better (or worse) prices in your area.

For this project I am using 2 colors of clay the original Sculpey (in white) and some Soft Fimo in Caramel. I also used some TLS (Translucent Liquid Sculpey), toothpicks and some Mod Podge in Satin.

I used the real caramel apple that I picked up at the local grocery store as my model. These tend to be a bit on the small side but sizes do vary. This is one of those projects where you can fudge the size a bit in either direction a little bit and it will be fine. I tried to keep the white “filler” balls about 1” in diameter or less so in scale my caramel apples are a bit bigger than my real one. I'm okay with that.

The first step is to make the filler ball and attach the stick to it. I like to use the TLS for the added security it affords me. I know the stick won't come out when I use it. These balls need to be baked for about an hour at 250°F to 275°F. I like to go with the slightly lower temperature for these long bakes, the clay will cure just fine at this temperature for this time.

After baking the clay needs to cool all the way to room temperature, this can take a while (be patient)

Once cooled roll out the caramel colored clay into a thin sheet, coat the ball with some TLS, and use the caramel clay to cover the ball. Make a tiny ball of the caramel clay and roll it into a very thin roundish shape, dip the covered “apple” into TLS and set it on the thin shape. Place on a parchment lined paper plate and bake at 275°F for 5 to 10 minutes to cure the caramel clay and the TLS.

Once your caramel apples have cooled again coat with Satin Mod Podge (or another clay friendly finish) allow to dry, trim the sticks and place in your scene with your dolls.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.

Doll Size Halloween Candy

 

Watch the video here.

Since October is just around the corner I thought it would be fun to make some Halloween candy for the dolls. This is a super easy polymer clay project that even a total beginner can handle. Part of the reason is candy comes in all sizes so if your candy is smaller or bigger than what I made it doesn't matter so much. Just make it a size that looks right to you with your doll.

I am using a total of 4 colors of polymer clay- orange, black, pearl, and translucent. For this project except for the translucent any brand of clay will be fine. I do find that the Sculpey III brand of translucent seems to work out better in this type of project.

If you don't have/ can't find pearl you can use white in its place I just prefer the pearl because it looks more “sugary” when baked.

My clay blends were: Black- 2 parts black with 1 part translucent

Orange- 2 parts orange with 1 part translucent

Pearl- 1 part pearl with 1 part translucent

(for white I would suggest 2 parts white with 1 part translucent)

Once you have your clay mixed you can start playing. Just make snakes of clay and combine them to make the candies you desire. The sky is the limit here and there are plenty of pictures online to inspire you if you run out of ideas.

For the lollipops I made I used a 7/8” circle as my target size but feel free to go bigger or smaller. Lollipops in real life come in all sizes from tiny to giant. I used regular round toothpicks for the sticks. I dipped the toothpicks in some TLS (Translucent Liquid Sculpey) to help hold them in but if you don't have any you can skip that step.

I also made some fun small hard candies both sliced ones and round balls. The balls made with the scraps are probably my favorites because they look so intricate but were so easy to do and used up some of the scrapes of the pretty canes.

After baking your candies according to the directions on your clay it is time to give them a coat of a clear finish. I used some Satin finish Mod Podge I like it because it is easy to use and clay friendly.

After that all you need to do is trim the points off the lollipop sticks and give them to your dolls.

As always I do want to sincerely thank all of you for watching my videos and reading my blog posts. It means so much to me that you are supporting me in this way. If I could ask you all to do just a bit more by subscribing to the channel and liking the videos and leaving comments. Those help more than you can imagine. Also if you could pass the links on to your friends I would appreciate it so much.