Tools For Making Doll Food

 

Watch the video here.

This week I have a different type of video for you. This week we are making a couple of tools we are going to need for some upcoming projects I have planned.

I had actually been planning to do a totally different tutorial today however when I went to grab my materials to make it I realized I needed to make a new set of spacers to roll out my clay. (my old set had gotten damaged a while back) Since I was going to be making those I decided to go ahead and make another tool I have been working out that we will need soon also. And since I was making these I decided to go ahead and turn on the camera and teach you all how to make these at the same time.

So I started with the easiest one, the spacers I use to roll out clay. I like to have these on hand in a couple of thicknesses so I can easily roll out thicker sheets of clay. I make them out of craft sticks that I glue together and clamp while the glue dries to prevent both warping and spreading/shifting of the craft sticks. I just use Tacky glue for this.

You will need these in pairs since you will need one for each side of the piece of clay you are rolling out. I made a set 3 craft sticks thick on camera, this makes a spacer that is about ¼” thick. Off camera I made a pair that were 2 sticks thick, these measure about 1/8” thick. The amount and type of glue you use can affect how thick yours end up as well as the brand of craft sticks you use. Do be sure to use glue that is polymer clay safe and make sure the glue has time to cure at least a day or so before you use them the first time.

Now onto what I am calling a “grill mark tool” I have been planning to make some summer foods over the next few months for the dolls. In my mind that means at least a few of them will be things that have been cooked on the BBQ grill. I knew I needed to come up with a way to do the those all important grill marks easily. So for the last couple of months I have been thinking over how to do this. I came up with this design a while back and I am happy with how I think it is going to work.

I also spent some time debating about how to present the making of this tool to you all. I didn’t want to have to go over the how to make the tool each time we used it but also by itself I didn’t feel it would make a very good tutorial but since I needed to do the other tools also I felt the combination would be the solution. Now in future tutorials when I use either of the tools we make today I can just link this tutorial so you can find out how to create the tools.

For the grill mark tool we will need 4 craft sticks and 6 bamboo skewers. You will also need glue (I used tacky glue) some wide masking tape and some 4 squares to the inch graph paper.

Start by setting up your work surface. Tape down a piece of wide masking tape sticky side up, make sure it is wide enough to slip the graph paper under it. Cut a piece of the graph paper about 4 ½ wide and slip it under the wide masking tape. I do highly recommend taping the graph paper down once you have it placed where you want it.

Now cut the bamboo skewers down to 4 ½” long, I got two pieces from each skewer with a tiny bit of the pointed end left over.

Carefully lay the skewers onto the tape lining them up so they are centered on the vertical lines of the graph paper. Work your way across lining up each skewer with the lines so they are equally placed. Do your best to line them up and to have the ends lined up also.

 

 

Once you are happy with how the skewers are placed carefully remove the graph paper from underneath everything.

Now add glue to 3 of the craft sticks and carefully place them across the skewers to hold them together. 

 

 

Once you are happy with the placement very carefully add a weight to the top. I am using a brick from the hardware store. You could use a book or whatever is heavy enough to hold all the pieces in place. Now let it sit to dry, at least a few hours. I ended up leaving mine overnight since I got busy. You want that glue to have time to dry.

Now carefully lift the brick off and set it aside. Remove the tape from the work surface, turn the everything over and carefully remove the tape from the tool check all the skewers to make sure they all are held tight. Since both the craft sticks and skewers tend to not be completely straight you might find that you have a couple of places that the glue didn’t hold. Carefully add some glue to those spots and clamp them in place to dry.

Next I added an additional craft stick to the back of the center one to act as a handle to make this easier to use. Be sure to clamp this also until the glue at least sets up a bit.

As with the spacers allow all the glue to at least a day or two before you use it.

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.