Doll Size Hamburger Buns

Watch the video here.

This week we are continuing our ongoing project of creating hamburgers for the dolls by making some hamburger buns. I love making breads of all kinds out of Model Magic from Crayola. This air dry clay remains a bit on the squishy side when dry to it is just fun to use for things like bread.

For this scale I am making the buns in two pieces rather than one piece and cut them like I do with the smaller scales. To begin portion your clay out in balls that are 1” in diameter and an equal number of balls that are ¾” in diameter. By starting with slightly different sizes of clay balls we can make the buns more in proportion, keeping the top bun a bit taller than the bottom.

When you form the bun parts try to keep the diameter the consistent throughout the project. Remember real buns are all about the same size in the package. For the bottom buns use the smaller balls of clay and try to make them fairly flat. For the top buns try to make the tops a bit domed just like the real thing. I am forming these on a piece of sandpaper so that it will texture the inside part of the buns.

Next we need to add some color with chalks to make our buns looked baked. This is a fairly easy procedure and one we use a lot in making doll foods. Just be sure to start with the lightest color (the yellow ochre) and work up to the brown. I like to use an eyeshadow brush for this rather than a paint brush. I find I have better control with the eyeshadow brush.

Now allow your buns to dry at least over night. I did find that mine were not all the way dry on the sides that had been against the sandpaper. So flip them over and allow them to set up a while to dry that side too.

So there we are, we now have some buns for the hamburgers. 

Doll Size Condiment Bottles

Watch the video here.

This week we are making some of those cute condiment bottles for the ketchup, mustard and mayo just like I used to have when my older kids were little. They were sure a lot easier to take with when we ate outside in the yard or had a picnic somewhere.

Since the shape of these bottles is so simple they are easy to replicate with paper and wood. If you have ever made any paper beads the technique I am showing you should be somewhat familiar.

The first step is to create the nozzle for our bottles. For this (after trying several ideas) I decided that using a bamboo skewer from the kitchen was going to be the best option. I didn't want that long sharp point so I used my pencil sharpener to make a more gradual blunt point. This then becomes the center of our bead.

For the bulk of our bottle I used 1 strip of regular printer paper cut 11 ½” by 2 1/8”. Wrap this around the skewer really tightly using some Mod Podge to secure it. Follow this with 4 strips of the same paper cut 2” by 11 ½”. Keep the cylinder as tight and straight as you can. Keeping the bottom flat is the hardest part of the process.

When you have finished wrapping the paper around the skewer give it a good coat of Mod Podge and let it sit long enough to completely dry. Overnight is probably a really good idea.

When they are dry use some sand paper or emery boards to smooth everything up. Spend more time on yours than I was able to on mine. I really needed to finish up quickly so I could get this video up on time. Take you time and get yours a lot more even.

Follow up with a good coat of craft paint and a clear finish.

If you are feeling especially creative you can add a cute design to the side of your bottles. Or just leave them plain like mine.

Doll Size Burger Patties

Watch the video here.

This week I am showing you how to create some burger patties from polymer clay for the dolls. This is actually part one of a multi-part series. I decided that it would be nice to offer some longer projects that require several parts by dividing them into a series rather than one long video.

The meat mix for the raw patties does look really complicated but if you stick to the ratios it is easy to do. Here are the amount for all the color mixes I used in the video:

Raw patties:

mix 1

1 part white

1 part translucent

(note the brands really don't matter on this one since these clays are comparable in all brands for this use)

mix 2

2 parts Premo Pomegranate

1 part Premo Alizarin Crimson

(note you can use other brands but you will have to find very similar colors to get the same results)

mix 3

2 parts Sculpey Tan

1 part white (any brand)

1 part Premo Pomegranate

½ part Sculpey Elephant Grey

4 parts Premo Ecru

just a touch of Sculpey Sweet Potato

For the cooked burgers:

use mix #2 from the raw burgers

Premo Raw Sienna

As far as making the meat mixtures the longer you spend chopping the snakes of clay and the finer the texture you get the better they will look. This is especially true of the raw patties. The cooked ones are a bit more forgiving since we coat them with the Gallery Glass and sand for a cooked look.

So I hope you enjoyed this project be sure to check out the Facebook group to get the latest information on blog and video posts.

And remember if you make one of my projects be sure to send me a photo. I want yo see what you making.

Next tutorial will be another part of our burgers.

Doll Size Crackers

Watch the video here

This week I am showing you how to make some crackers for your dolls. These are loosely based on some crackers I remember having as a child. I have no idea of what they were or even a solid memory of what they looked like. This project is just based on a very vague memory. But you could use another color of clay and a different shaped cutter and make a totally different (but just as cute and yummy) kind of cracker for your favorite dolls.

I used equal parts of Premo Ecru and Sculpey Beige clays to get a mixture that I felt was what I was looking for. I recommend using the colors of clay you find and play with mixing colors to see how they mix together. You could also find a clay in a color that is close to what you want and call it good.

I mixed in some black sand because these crackers I am remembering had black pepper in them. I remember that because I don't like black pepper and I loved these crackers. My mom was so surprised when I ate so many of them. LOL

Whatever shape you choose to cut your crackers in try to make them around ¾” in size to look right for the dolls.

Whatever color or shape you make them I know your dolls will love them! 

Doll Size- Sliced Cheese

Watch the video here.

This week I am going to show you how to make some simple sliced cheese for your dolls from polymer clay.

This is a super easy project and you get to practice measuring out the clay too.

The first step is actually to decide how much clay you want to label as “1 part” this will determine how much cheese you end up with. It also allows you to make one slice or hundreds of slices. The proportions of clay colors stay the same.

First we will make some cheddar slices. I based the color on the color of my favorite brand of cheddar. If you favorite brand varies in color feel free to adjust the colors of clay to reflect that.

The basic formula is-

8 parts white (I used Fimo)

2 parts yellow (I used Fimo Sunflower)

1 part orange (I used Fimo Tangerine)

You can use the brand of clay you have just try to get colors as close to what I used as possible. I think all the brands of clay have these colors (by different names) in their lines.

I cut my cheese squares to 1 ¼” because my slices of cheese in my fridge were 3 ¾” a very easy size to translate to 1/3^rd scale.

Since I needed a larger baking area than my normal paper plate would have provided I baked on some parchment paper on a large tile. Without the paper between the clay and the tile the bottoms of each piece would have been shiny after baking.

For the Swiss cheese the process is clay mixture is as follows:

8 parts translucent (I think I used Sculpey III, not sure they are all in the same bag)

2 parts white (I used Fimo)

½ part yellow (I used Fimo Sunflower)

The process for this one is almost the same as the cheddar you just have to add the holes. I used a combination of some clay cutters and my ball stylus. You can add as many holes you want. I have to watch myself on this step, I tend to get carried away and add way too many.

Both kinds of cheese are baked at 250 degrees (Fahrenheit) for about 5 to 10 minutes.

Now wasn't that easy???

I think we had better make the dolls some crackers next week to go with this cheese. 

Doll Sized Marble Cutting Board

Watch the video here.

If you also follow my dollhouse miniature tutorials this is going to be a very familiar project for you. I decided to post the cutting board to both places (with the obvious needed changes for scale) because I think it is such a fun project.

We are using clays in the grey, black and white family to make our marble but there is an entire rainbow of possibilities out there. Have fun and make you marble any color you want. It can either be realistic or a fantasy color combination. Just have fun.

I like to start with mostly a white/translucent clay mixture. (2 parts white to 1 part translucent)This is the clay that I use the most of and it can be any brand of clay. Today I think both of these happen to be Premo (I used what was already out on my clay table) This is the case no matter what other colors I am using.

Next as far as the amount of clay used is a gray, and I was so happy when gray clay came back to some of the clay lines. Today I am using Sculpey Elephant Gray, I love this gray color because it is slightly cooler in color and but still very neutral so it goes with almost any other color.

Color number 3 is Fimo Pearl White, I like to use this because it just adds a tiny bit of glow to the project. I can't say it sparkles but it just looks so pretty in a marble as long as you don't over do it. A small amount goes a long way.

And lastly I like to use just a tiny bit of black. It will blend out to almost nothing, really it usually becomes a dark gray but I always feel something is missing without it. This time I decided to use some Premo in Twinkle, Twinkle. It has some wonderful gold and silver glitter running through it. I was a bit nervous about it but my gut told me it would be wonderful and I was right! I love the tiny sparkle it gives. Not enough that you notice it all the time just a when the finished board is moved a certain way you see it for a second.

Marbling is fun but you do need to patient. Just take your time and work slowly. You don't want to blend the colors together you want they to still be streaks of their own colors, like the veins in the real marble.

After baking you have the option of buffing the top surface to give a gentle sheen. This is totally optional but I felt it was worth the time. The little piece that I did as an example took me about 20 minutes to get the way I wanted it. I did that while watching a Youtube video so the time felt like it went pretty quickly.

Doll Size Tacos

Watch the video here.

This week I decided to do some more with that tortilla chip clay we mixed up a couple of weeks ago. If you missed that video you can see it here.

So this week we are making some tacos. I know that probably everyone has a different idea of what should go on the taco as far as toppings. I chose the items I did for two reasons. They are close to what I would put on a real taco and I thought they would look really cool in the doll size. Also I got to show you a couple of new techniques for working with clay in the process.

You can of course change the topping to whatever you want.

For the meat you can use any brown colors of polymer clay. I do recommend using a light brown/tan and a dark brown. We want to have the contrast so we can add more interest to the project.

For the cheese again use what you have but if you can find Sculpey Sweet Potato it is a fantastic cheese color. Just grate the raw clay like you would real cheese.

For the lettuce I like to use a white/translucent mix along with 2 or 3 various green clays. Just marble them together. Again it makes it way more interesting and realistic than just one color of green.

It is the little touches that make our projects look more realistic.

The “tomatoes” were added simply because I had the cooked clay on my table and I love how they look. I did add a bit of our “lettuce” to help hide the TLS it just makes them look more natural.

Do follow the baking instructions for your clay. I however do usually bake my clay at a slightly lower temperature than on the package. I find that my clay looks better this way. Temperature is our enemy not how long we bake our clay. These did bake for 15 minutes since they are fairly thick.

I had thought about baking part way through like I do on a lot of larger projects but I wanted to keep the taco shell unbaked until I was through filling it. I was worried about it either closing at the open top if I baked it before it was full or breaking it trying to get more topping inside of it had it been baked before completely filling it.