Hot Dogs for the Dolls

This post has actually been hanging out on my hard drive for over a year, I just hadn't posted it yet. I had originally written it to be published in a different place but that offer fell through so I just put it away and forgot all about it. I had the thought when I tucked it away to post it as a blog but I felt it was just a bit on the difficult side since I hadn't posted any (or many??) polymer food tutorials at the time on this blog. So I saved this and managed to forget I had it. Then a couple of days ago someone on one of the many doll groups on Facebook mentioned that she wanted to make some hot dogs. Aha! I thought I have a tutorial for that. Since summer is fast approaching I figured it was the perfect time to post this.

Yummy hot dogs just in time for summer weather!!

I will warn you this is a rather long post but it is broken up into segments. So you can do as much or as little as you want. A lot of the parts of this tutorial will work with other foods too.

There is no video for this but I did take a lot of photos so hopefully they will guide you . Remember if you have questions be sure to ask me. I have several ways to get in touch with me. 1- You can post as a comment right on the blog. 2- you can use the contact me button on the right hand side of the blog page. Or 3- you can like my Facebook page that is dedicated to 18” dolls and ask me there. (here is that link) 

Buns

For the buns we are using only 2 products  soft pastels (I am using a set of inexpensive “Artist Loft” brand from Michael's Craft Store) and some Model Magic clay from Crayola (you will find this in the kid's crafts section of your local craft store)

We start by rolling out a snake of clay that is 5/8” in diameter (I like to use a circle template to check the diameter), we then cut this into 2” lengths. Each of these pieces will be a hot dog bun.

Now round off the ends of each piece of clay with your fingers and slightly flatten the bottom. In the end you want each bun to 2” long, about ½” tall and about ¾” wide. It doesn't have to be perfect just so each of you buns is about the same. Now I like to make my hot dog buns in pairs just like the real ones come in the bag from the store (at least they do where I live) so I gently press the buns together in pairs. Be sure to store the remainder of your Model Magic in a sealed bag (I use a freezer weight zipper bag) with all air removed from the bag. Stored this way the rest of the clay will last between a few weeks and a few months depending on the temperature of the area it is stored.

the three colors of chalk

Next we are going to make the buns look baked, we do this with the chalk pastels. I like to use an eyeshadow brush (I get them from the dollar store) but you can use anything you like to apply the chalk (your finger, a cotton swab, paint brush, whatever works best for you) We only need 3 of the chalk colors for the buns: the yellow ocher color ( a golden yellow) a

showing the three steps of the shading

rusty brown and a medium to dark brown. Use a knife blade to scrape off some of the yellow ocher color chalk onto your work surface and apply to the tops and bottoms of each bun pair. Try to keep a small white area around the middle of the edge. When all the buns have the yellow chalk applied scrape a bit of the rusty color into what is left of the yellow chalk on your work surface. Mix it together a bit and apply some of this over the buns concentrating on the top and bottom not so much on the sides. Try to make the colors blend together so it looks natural. Now repeat with just a tiny bit of the darkest color of chalk. Keep your touch very light on this step because you don't want the buns to look burned. If you decide that you got too much dark on the buns scrape off a bit more of the yellow ocher color and apply it over the dark areas to blend a bit.

ready to dry out

Now your buns need to sit and air dry for about 24 hours. When they are dry you can pull the pairs of buns apart (if desired) and cut them open with a sharp craft knife.

Hot Dogs

For the hot dogs we need the following polymer clays:

Fimo- Sahara ( 1 part)

Fimo- White (2 parts)

Fimo- Ochre (2 parts)

Fimo- Mandarin Orange (2 parts)

Fimo- Black (just a tiny pinch)

Premo- Pomegranate (1 part)

Mix all the colors except the black together and then add just a tiny pinch of the black at a time to get the correct color. The purpose of the black is tone down the color not to make it darker. It is best to have either a real hot dog on hand to compare the color to or at least a really good picture for reference.

After the colors are thoroughly mixed and you are happy with the color it is time to make some hot dogs. The first step is to roll our clay into a snake that is about ¼” in diameter. Cut this snake into pieces just a tad shorter than your finished hot dog buns. It is best to wait until the buns have dried for a day since the air dry clay does shrink a tiny bit (more sometimes than other times) and the polymer clay will remain the same size once baked. Once you have cut one that you are happy with use it to measure off the remaining hot dogs. Cut as many as you want for your scene.

step 1 before we start rounding the ends

Now simply use your fingertips to round the ends of the hot dogs, this requires a gentle pinching motion. Just be patient with this step it is really easy once you get it. It just takes practice and can seem a bit clumsy the first few times. This is a technique we use a lot with clay though so take the time to get a feel for it.

step 2

finished end

Once you are happy with all your hot dogs bake them according to package directions. 

The Toppings

Feel free to make/use as many of these as your dolls desire

Relish

showing clay before mixing

For the relish we are using 2 colors of polymer clay: Moss from Sculpey III and a translucent (I'm using Fimo but for this any brand will do)

and after mixing

Mix about 1 part Moss to 3 parts Translucent until thoroughly combined. This mixture is going to look much lighter in color than it will once baked because of the translucent clay in the mixture. Roll out thin, I use my pasta machine for this but you can do it with a roller just get it thin. Now brush the top with a good coat of green pastel chalk, I actually scrape the chalk off directly onto the top of my clay and use my fingers and a brush to spread it around and work it slightly into the top of the clay. Now just use a clay blade to cut thin strips of the green clay and move them to a baking surface.

clay ready for the chalk

you will need about this much chalk

chalk application finished

strips cut

If you have some yellow and red clay on hand it is a nice touch to add some tiny bits of these to your finished relish. If you want to do this take just a tiny bit of each color and chop them up finely and add to the baking surface.

Onions

For the red onions you only need some translucent clay (I am using Fimo but just about any brand will do for this) After conditioning a rolling out thinly brush the top surface with a combination of purple and bright (hot) pink chalk pastel. I simply scrape both colors of chalk together on my work surface and then mix with the brush before applying to the top surface of the clay.

Now just cut into thin strips just like for the relish and bake according to clay instructions. 

After baking set all of these strips aside until you are ready to assemble your hot dogs. You will also need some Clear Gallery Glass paint when you are ready to assemble.

Ketchup and mustard

I use Scribbles 3-d fabric paint for these items on most of my polymer clay foods. They work well and don't need to be baked. They do require some time to dry however.

To Assemble

Now that all of our components are baked and cooled it is time to assemble some yummy hot dogs for the dolls.

You will need to mix up your relish as needed. To do so simply chop the strips of baked clay into little bits and mix with Clear Gallery Glass paint. (other brands of glass paint should work also) and use a toothpick to spread the relish mixture where ever you want it. You might also want to mix up some extra to put into a bowl for “serving” Just remember that once the Gallery Glass sets up it is permanent so it can't be made ahead and put on later.

For Mustard and Ketchup simply use some 3-D fabric paint, I prefer the Scribbles brand. It comes in many colors and I have a large collection of them because they are so useful in so many ways when making doll food. For the mustard just pick a good yellow and if your dolls want some ketchup pick a good red one.

Now cut up the onion strips into tiny pieces and add them on top of the ketchup and/or mustard. The paint should hold them just fine.

There you are some yummy hot dogs with yummy toppings all ready for Summer eating for the dolls. 

Doll Size Fried Chicken

Watchthe video here.

I decided to make some more food this week so the dolls can eventually have a nice balanced dinner. I thought some fried chicken would be a nice complement to those carrots we made last week.

Again this week I am using some of the Original Sculpey, the clay portion of this project really isn't going to show very much when we are done so this clay works fine. Also since it is soft it forms the pieces quickly with virtually no conditioning of the clay.

Since our chicken pieces are going to be covered in “batter” and fried the shapes can be really simple. I did have some fried chicken on hand earlier in the week to use as a reference. I measured those pieces and got my shapes figured out. I then made a batch of chicken to test out my sizes. I left one set of the parts at the just baked stage so I can keep those for future reference. I will put the 4 pieces in a zippered plastic bag and label them so that next time I want to make the dolls some fried chicken I can use them instead of going to the work of getting the real thing. (although I still might have to eat more in the name of research....)

To get the hollow shape of the breast just use some aluminum foil to hold the clay off the baking surface. This foil can even be kept with your reference pieces for next time.

After the pieces are baked a completely cooled it is time to get messy. Pour out some Mod Podge into a small container, try not to get too much because you are not going to be able to put this back into the container when you are (it will get sand in it) Next put some white sand in anther container, I am using some sand I got in the local garden center near the potting soil, it is meant for potted cactus and such. I do recommend using some disposable gloves for this step because this gets really messy. Also be sure your work surface is something the Mod Podge is not going to stick to like a ceramic tile (like I work on) or parchment paper. Now thoroughly coat each piece of chicken in the Mod Podge then coat it with the sand. You need to get this coating as complete and even as possible. Check it after is starts to dry and add more Mod Podge and sand if needed.

Now the hard part it has to get completely dry! I am talking at least overnight. I am waiting for about 24 hours on mine. If you don't allow this step to get completely dry it will come off in the step. (trust me I know this from experience)

Now take a small amount of a golden brown craft paint- I am using Golden Brown by Ceramcoat. Add enough water to the paint to make a very thin wash (almost equal parts) and using a very soft brush slop the paint/water mixture on your chicken pieces. You will know you have the water/paint ratio correct when the color wicks out when applied to the surface and gives a good color. If it is too thin it will wick out but not leave enough color. If it is too thick it will just sit there.

When the paint is completely dry check to make sure you haven't missed any spots and touch up the color as needed. A sealer coat is up to you. If your chicken will be handled a lot or played with I would use a matte finish sealer to coat it.

That's all there is to making a big platter of fried chicken. 

Doll Size Carrots

Watch the video here.

I told you last time we made food that we would make something a bit more healthy to offset all that candy we have been making for the dolls. So this week we are going to take an in-depth look at how to make carrots. I am starting out with some whole carrots from the grocery store. My store doesn't carry the ones with the tops attached so those will have to be a future video.

In fact this time I am trying to keep this simple since I know a lot of you are just starting out with polymer clay foods. I will show you some more advanced versions of carrots in the future.

The first thing I had to do before I could start filming was to get my clay into condition. I had taken a quick look in my box of orange clay a few days ago and saw that I had an almost complete block of Sculpey III Orange. I didn't check it any further which I should have. I took out the block of clay today to start filming and found that this block of clay was really hard and crumbly. This is unusual for Sculpey since it is usually way too soft but it does happen. It was probably a block of clay that has been in my stash for a long time or else was maybe not shipped originally under the best of conditions.

I knew that I really didn't want to go to town today and that I really wanted to get this video filmed so I set to work getting this clay useable. I didn't film the process but I will tell you what I did so you can do the same if you ever need to. My first step in conditioning clay that is hard is to cut it into slabs that will just fit into my clay roller (pasta machine) I then run them through many times. If the clay is really hard and dry it usually crumbles and breaks up, I just gather it back together and keep repeating until the clay starts to hold together. I then continue to roll it over and over until it softens up. This clay finally held together but even after a lot of rolling it wasn't softening up. And even worse when I set aside some of the clay that I had been working with to work with some more by the time I got the second batch starting to come together the first batch was hardening up again.

So on to step two: I gathered up all the clay put it into a plastic sandwich, squeezed the air out and sealed the bag and then put the bag inside my clothing against my body. The heat of the body is just right to warm up the clay and many times this will allow me to work the clay back to normal texture.

After I felt the clay was warmed up I again ran it through the clay roller. It was better but not soft enough and it was still hardening up when allowed to sit.

On to step three. I rolled out the clay in small batches and added just a bit of Translucent Liquid Sculpey (TLS), just a bit you don't want to make frosting you just want to soften the clay a bit. I worked this through the clay until it was really well combined.

Now the clay was almost back to normal but still a bit hard for what I wanted to do with it. It was close to the texture of Fimo Classic, if you are familiar with that clay you know how hard I am talking.

I didn't want to add any more TLS because I didn't want to make the clay sticky. So I grabbed a block of Translucent Sculpey III that was sitting on my table and worked that in really well. I used probably 1 part Translucent to 4 parts Orange clay. I knew this would make the clay more translucent but it won't affect the color of the finished clay.

So that is how I was able to save the clay and get the carrots done with it. In case you are wondering the above process took me about 45 minutes.

Now it was time to make some carrots. I decided to start with the whole carrot just as it came from the store. I used the orange clay and rolled it into a snake a bit larger than I wanted the finished carrot to be. I then cut that into a piece a bit shorter than I wanted the finished carrot to be. I did most of the rolling to shape the carrot from one end and made it into a “carrot” shape. I used a round clay cutter to mark the stem area and then roughed up the clay within this area a bit. This is supposed to represent the stems that have been cut off.

I used the back of my clay blade to make some very light, very thin lines on the carrots. I used a couple of colors of chalk to add some color to the outside and bake the carrots at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

I used some dark brown and some green paints to give the top portion some color.

Now we get to make some carrot “coins” and some carrot sticks. This is really easy and starts with a simple “bulls eye” cane. I made the center of my cane with some Sculpey III in Sweet Potato because I wanted to keep this simple and I wanted the center to show up in the finished carrots. In the future I will show you how to make a more detailed center cane inside the carrot cane. Over this center I added two layers of the same orange clay that I rolled out on the thickest setting on my clay roller. The important thing to remember is to not let the ends of each layer overlap, you want them to just meet where where they join. Then carefully reduce the diameter of the cane until it is the correct size.

If you are making carrot sticks cut off about 1” of the cane and cut it into 4 sticks lengthwise. If you want to make “coins” wrap the cane up really well and put it in the freezer for about 20 minutes. This will make it easier to cut off the slices without flattening the cane too much.

Again bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.

Since I usually only use carrot sticks raw they are ready to go now. However the carrot coins have a couple of options. You could leave them as is and the dolls could enjoy them raw as a snack but I bet the dolls would like a nice bowl of glazed carrots to go with dinner.

For the glazed carrots we need a bowl, the one I am using came from one of those sets the party stores carry. I think they think they are for real people to use at appetizer parties. I think they are perfect for the dolls to use for side dishes for dinner.

Since I really didn't want to sit here and make enough carrot slices to fill the entire bowl I am first going to show you how to make a filler for the bowl. I am using some Original Sculpey but you can use whatever clay you want to. I always have some of the Original Scupley on hand for stuff like this. You could also use scrap clay or even some air dry clay. The problem with air dry clay is you would have to wait for it to dry. If you are using a polymer clay be sure to line the bowl with plastic wrap so you can get the block of clay out without distorting the shape too much. This also protects the plastic of the bowl from the affects of raw polymer clay.

Now is the time to decide if you want a serving spoon in your finished bowl of carrots. If so you need to make a spot for it now before we bake the false bottom. I used the handle of a plastic spoon that probably came with the set the bowls were in. I used a cutting tool to remove the bowl of the spoon, I only need the handle for this project. After cutting the handle free from the rest of the spoon use it to make a hole where you want it to be when you finish. Remove the handle and wipe all remnants of clay off of it.

Now bake you false bottom for about 20 minutes and allow to cool.

Put this baked clay lump back into the plastic lined bowl and paint the top with some orange craft paint. I decided the first color I chose was too bright so I added a yellow toned paint to help mute the color a bit. It doesn't have to match the carrot slices but it does need to blend with them.

After the paint was dry I glued the base into my bowl and the handle into the base. I like to Beacon 527 glue for polymer clay, over the years I have always had good luck with it.

Now make sure how many slices of carrot you will need to cover the top of your painted clay. After you make sure you have the amount you need add some Gallery Glass paint in the colors- Crystal Clear and Amber to the carrot slices. Stir this together really well so all the slices are coated and then pour the mixture onto the top of the painted clay base in the bowl. Spread the carrot slices around to cover the top of the painted clay. Be sure work them around the spoon handle so it looks like it is just stuck in the bowl.

Now the hard part- the Gallery Glass paint needs to dry completely.

The last thing I want to make this week are some baby carrots. I know we eat a lot more baby carrots than regular ones. They are just so easy and I am sure the dolls will want some to stock the fridge for snacking.

Since baby carrots are a slightly different color than regular carrots I mixed the two colors we used for the carrot canes to make the color I wanted. Then it is as easy as rolling out a skinny snake (about 1/8” in diameter) and cut it into ½” pieces. Then round off the ends flatten slightly if you want to and bake.

clay rolled in paper

scrapping clay off paper

After I had the video all done I realized it would be cool to have some “carrot peels” to use in staging a photo I had planned. So I will give you a look at how I did that too. First I took just a bit of my orange clay and ran it through my pasta machine starting at #1 (the thickest setting) and working all the way to #6 (the thinnest setting) This made the clay really thin but not as thin as I wanted so I grabbed a scrap of printer paper and placed the thin sheet of clay on the paper and folded up the paper to entirely cover the clay on both sides. Make sure you have enough space around the clay on the paper that it doesn't come out the sides. I then ran it through that same #6 setting once more. By adding the two layers of paper I made the clay incredibly thin. I then brushed the same chalks I used on the first batch of carrots on one side of the sheet of clay and used my clay knife to scrap it off the paper and onto a paper plate for baking. After baking I used my clay knife to chop up the thin sheets into mostly strips.

on plate ready to bake

baked , chopped and ready to use

So now the dolls have some healthy carrots to snack on and some glazed carrots to serve at dinner time.

A Perfect Day For a Hike

When Chelsea and I got up this morning we decided it looked like the perfect day to go on a hike. I called Molly to ask her if she wanted to come along with us. She was so excited she said she would be right over.

Michael overheard us talking about our plans while we were getting some breakfast and he invited himself along too. Then he remembered Jeremy was already on his way over so we decided he can come along too. It really is more fun when we all do stuff together anyway.

You know I was a little worried when Chelsea came to live with us that she wouldn't fit in with our friends but there really wasn't anything to worry about. She just makes everything more fun and all our friends love her.

Anyway we decided to pack some small lunches and Molly got here just as I was cutting up the apples. I was already done with the carrots and Chelsea had gotten out some bottles of the juice mom picked up at the store a while back.

Chelsea found some lunch bags so we could carry our lunches in them. Molly was getting the package of sandwich bags out of the cabinet just as Jeremy arrived.

Jeremy and Michael were worried about what we had packed but were glad to hear we had apples, carrots, sandwiches and some cookies along with the juice bottles.

We only had a couple of back packs so we decided that we would take turns carrying them on our hike. We all had on sturdy shoes. So we set out to hike on a nearby trail.

We haven't been on this trail since last summer so it was a bit overgrown and there were some new things to see. We took our first break when we found a nice place to sit. Molly and Jeremy had been carrying the backpacks until then. Molly said hers was getting too heavy. Chelsea and I decided we wanted to snack on some of our carrot sticks to help out. Molly said that wasn't enough and took off her backpack so someone else could carry it for a while. Michael got elected to take her backpack for a while.

We walked for a while more before Michael started to complain that he was tired. He sat down on a large rock and wouldn't get up even when Molly put the backpack back on. He insisted his feet were sore. At least there it was a really pretty spot.

 After a while we convinced him to go on. We were all really glad we did because we found a new place that we hadn't been to before.

There was a new small trail and when we followed it we found a large flat area with some big rocks and wonderful views in all directions.  We decided it was time to sit down and drink our juice. We actually ended up eating the rest of our food here before we headed back home.

I sure hope we get to hike again soon, this was so much fun. And it felt really good to get out in the fresh air and get some good exercise. The five of us are going to have sooooo much fun this summer I can tell already.