Making Doll Food Polymer Clay 101 pt 3

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This week I am going to talk about the very basic tools you need to get started working with your polymer clay. I did spend some time really thinking about what the basics are. You know those things that I feel you actually need to start work with the clay. Sure, there are a lot of other tools that are fun to work with but in my opinion if you have these items you can do a lot of fun projects.

I also made sure to pick those items that are inexpensive. I don't want you to go out and spend tons of money on tools. I want you to feel like you can pick up these items and still have plenty of money left for lots of clay.

So to start you need a surface to work on. I think a 12” by 12” ceramic tile is the most practical surface out there. You want to find one that is smooth and a neutral color. The one I have in the video has some not so smooth areas off to the one side but the center (work area) is smooth. I like to stick to a gray or beige color because then I get a better idea of the color my clay is. With tiles that are other colors sometimes they can make the clay colors look off. You should have no problem finding a tile that will work for under $2 at your local home improvement store.

Next we need to roll our clay out for a lot of projects. For this I give you 2 options. One is a real acrylic clay roller. These will cost around $10 and you should be able to find them anywhere that polymer clay is sold. My other option is an empty jar like capers come in. I like these jars because they are about the same size as a roller and they have the same straight sides. You get the bonus of having a built in area to store some of your texturing tools inside of the jar. When you get more advanced at working with the clay you might want to look at a pasta machine that can be dedicated to your clay.

Next we need to be able to cut our clay. For this I do recommend you go out and purchase a clay blade. I really haven't been able to find anything that works as well as the real thing for cutting the clay.

After you get your clay project ready you are going to have to bake and for this you need something to put it on. I almost always use the cheap un-coated paper plates. Look for the really cheap ones, they seem to actually be much better for this than the nicer ones. I occasionally bake on a ceramic tile and those are the only 2 surfaces I ever use to bake my clay on (well, almost always there is one exception we will talk about when the time comes) The tile will give a shiny surface to the bottom of you project.

And lastly a package of wet wipes, you know the kind in the baby aisle of every grocery store. If possible I get the ones that aren't alcohol free but sometimes that is all the stores have. Either type will work just fine for cleaning your tools and your hands while and after you are working with the clay. 

Making Doll Food Polymer Clay 101 pt 2

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This week we are going to be talking about conditioning your polymer clay. When you open the package of clay it needs to be warmed up, kind of like when we stretch before we exercise. Just like an athlete's body needs to warm up so does your clay.

It doesn't matter if you are opening up a brand new package of clay or if you are picking up a block of clay you used before you need to condition it every time you work with it.

Don't worry, it's really easy. Just work with it in your hands to make it more pliable. Depending on the brand and age of the clay this process can take a while. Some brands (Fimo) take longer and so does clay that has been around a while.

If your clay is really cold and or hard try warming it up a bit. I usually tuck the package into a item of clothing against my skin for a while. Body heat can do wonders for getting you clay ready to work.

Now if you have some really hard or dry clay and you have been trying for a while and it just isn't coming together some of the clay manufacturers have products that can be added to help with the process. If you are really desperate and want to get the clay softened quickly add just a drop or two of oil. You can use mineral oil or vegetable oil for this. Remember I said a drop or two. Don't add much just a tiny drop and try to work it in.

Now what if you have the opposite problem and the clay is too soft. Yes, this does happen, some of the brands are very soft and hard to work with. For this take a plain sheet of paper and lay the clay on it for overnight. In the morning you should see an “oily” stain on the paper and the clay should be a slight be firmer.

Now you may be asking why would we want clay that is harder, of more correctly firmer? When you are trying to make items with really fine details you need a firm clay. You just can't get the details to stay with a soft clay. On the scale we are working with for the 18” dolls this is not as big of an issue as it is with my dollhouse miniature work.

I hope this information was helpful, let me know if you have any questions. 

Making Doll Food Polymer Clay 101 pt 1

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Ever since I posted the very first polymer clay tutorial on this channel people have been asking me to create a series of tutorials on the basics of working with polymer clay. I finally got around to it, so welcome to week 1 of Polymer Clay 101.

First I feel like I should say that I bought my first block of polymer clay around 30 years ago so I have been playing with this clay for a while. The things I am going share in this series, just like my other tutorials is based on my experiences from working with the product.

If you have questions on what I covered in the video be sure to ask. 

Doll Size Cinnamon Rolls

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This week I thought it would be fun to make some cinnamon rolls for the dolls to enjoy. These are really easy but a bit on the messy side because of the liquid polymer clay.

For the bread part we are just using an off white color clay. Mix any white polymer clay with a little bit of beige polymer clay, just enough to “warm up” the color. The idea is you don't want a bright white color, slightly off-white looks more realistic.

For the “cinnamon” mixture I just mixed some Transparent Liquid Sculpy with some of the two darker colors of chalk we always use for our baked goods. (the brown and the reddish brown) You will have to play around to get the right color.

Then assemble the cinnamon roll like I did on the video. These are super easy to make.

I used a bit of the liquid clay to adhere the roll to the craft stick to make it easier to handle. That way my fingers stay a lot cleaner and the roll doesn't get smashed by my holding it.

Since the rolls are rather thick you do want bake them long enough to get all that liquid clay baked. I recommend 275 degrees for about 15 minutes.

For the frosting use a 3-D type fabric paint in a white. This stuff takes while to dry so be prepared and don't touch it for several hours.

Doll Size Garlic Bread

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This week I decided to show you how to make the dolls some garlic bread to go with that spaghetti we made last week. This is a really easy and quick project and really fun to do.

If you want specific clay recommendations for the bread check out my Basic Bread video on my channel.

Basically you need an off-white color polymer clay for the bread and you get that by mixing white and beige. Add something for texture this time I used white sand because it was already on my table but for the basic bread tutorial I used cornmeal.

Form a loaf that is about 1 ½” wide and ¾” tall in a basic oval shape. We don't need to freeze this one because we actually want this bread to be slightly flattened. So we are using that tendency of the clay to help us.

Use your chalk to add the crust color and slice in kind of thick slices.

Texture your slices and bake according to the clay directions.

For the “garlic butter” I am using a yellow transparent glass paint. Just lightly brush it onto one cut/textured surface of your bread slices and allow to dry.

That really is all there is to it. 

Doll Size Spaghetti

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This week I decided to get out one of my favorite clay tools, the extruder and show you how to make some spaghetti for the dolls.

A clay extruder is a great investment if you are going to make doll food from clay, but if you are patient you could roll the snakes of clay by hand and get a similar effect.

For the clay I just used a very soft off white clay with a touch of a very soft yellow clay to warm up the color.

After baking the clay to make sauce I just mixed some Tomato Spice color craft paint with some satin Mod Podge and some sand to create some tomato sauce for the top. A sprinkle of finely grated baked white clay adds the final touch of Parmesan Cheese. 

Doll Size Gardening Supplies

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The last few weeks (since I finished up the fireplace) I have been trying to get a project to work for a tutorial. I wanted to make a fireplace screen to sit in front of the fireplace. I have lost count of the number of times I have made the project and ended up throwing the results in the trash. It just won't work out the way I want it to. I am hoping to be able to figure it out at a later date.

Now it is time to move on to other projects.

This week I decided to get out a kit I got from Ann over at Paper Minis a long time ago. I think I purchased this when she first came out with it. I have been meaning to make a tutorial of it for well over a year. I just never got to it. So this is the time, we are finally getting some weather that is trying to act like spring is on the way. The local garden centers are filling up with stuff so I figured the dolls should get into a spring mood too.

Like all of Ann's kits for the 18” dolls this comes on a CD so you can print it out as many times as you need to.

I used just some regular weight high quality bright white printer paper for everything except the cover of the catalog. That page I printed on a “photo project” paper. It is slightly heavier than regular paper and prints really well.

This (like all of Ann's kits) is a super fun project and it turns out so darn cute. I am looking forward to doing some photo shoots with the dolls using the pieces I created today