Cupcake and Icecream Cookies

This is my personal set :) the one in my hand was taken before it was glued on, i decided to just affix it after the cookies kept shifting while i was trying to take a decent pic of it XD and since i love it so much, it's mine! mine! all mine!!! :D

i've listed the rest on Etsy and Zibbet :) 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/snowfern

http://www.zibbet.com/Snowfern

i have lots more to do yet, but i really hope to make some sales to cover the costs of materials for TDA 2011....boy those larger scales sure do suck up the clay fast :P

oooo and yes, i've finally listed something in playscale/YoSD :)

http://www.etsy.com/listing/72325950/playscale-miniature-cupcake-cookies-for

aaaaand...here's a group shot!

yea it's a tad plain. i think i'll use a tablecloth next time, but i do so love the table i got from Ann hee :X

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ok! enough of the promo stuff!!!
.....if you haven't already noticed it......

i made some cupcake-cookie-lollipops!!! :P :P :P these aren't for sale cos...they're mine!!! ALL MINE!!! XD of course, if any of you wish for me to make some, i'd be happy to accept commissions :) i kind of ran out of steam, so i'll list some maybe another time...

and because i'm so fond of showing off my failures, here's my practice pieces. i'd mentioned in many previous posts that i have difficulty putting together ideas, creativity isn't my strong suit so i always wind up wasting plenty of clay trying to achieve what i ultimately would try and sell. here's just a small glimpse of what i 'discarded'. my inspiration came from http://www.cakejournal.com/, she not only does beautiful work, she's super generous as well! there's tonnes of tutorials for real life cake decorating techniques, and recipes too!

you can probably tell, piping is not easy! i've blogged before here how i do it.....i keep hoping someone out there can show me an easier way to achieve the same results but...i guess i'll have to keep doing it the messy way for now.....T-T

aaand.....more failures XD these cookies are TOO HUGE! i got overly excited after receiving news of TDA 2011 opening up applications for dealer booths (see you on the 18th of June!) that i made a huuuge cookie cutter.....
......which kinda looks odd even for 1:3. :( NO MATTER. i've been meaning to make some jewellery anyway, so it'll go into my stash of cutters :D

i realize it's been a long time since i've posted WIP pics. i miss those, but i'm trying to cut down cos it makes the blog so messy bleh. NEVERMIND! here's what i used for some of the above cookies! some, i've rejected, or kept aside for use at a more appropriate time. here's the old post where i talked about how i made the cutters. instead of pie tin for the larger ones, i used 0.5mm aluminum sheets i got from the art supplies store.

see the largest one on the left? T-T haha. anyway, i made a new and i -think- better next to it. the cookies are waiting to be piped now...the cookies take 3 baking times. the first for the shapes + pastel shadings, 2nd for the 'frosting/flooding' and the 3rd for the piping. i really can't see any way around it to get the results i want. :( am i being too fussy??? the answer probably is YES *cries even harder* I'm SORREEEEE!~~~ *whiny high pitch* hahaha *winks at Steph and Susan*

i don't use any template and simply 'freestyle' it with round-nosed pliers....but cos i 'stalk' Rosey Sugar too, she recently linked to a japanese tutorial that showed how to make your own cutters!!!

http://ganz.ocnk.net/page/2

i guess if i could draw (*CRIES AGAIN*) i would be able to do better with a template and not waste so much material.....so for those who are interested perhaps you could check out the above links for more inspiration :)

=====PERSONAL STUFF PLEASE SKIP IF YOU DON'T LIKE MY WHINGING=====
gosh this has been a whiny post. PHEW! i needed to vent! well, for the past few months, i've been feeling rather poorly, and the doc has figured out why. i am now on diabetes AND cholesterol meds, so it seems my kidneys and liver are...uh....not that of a 34-year old woman. my sedentary lifestyle and poor eating habits probably has something to do with it too....i'm gonna try and get back to my swimming regime now that the meds are supposed to help with the fatigue, but only after i get over the giddiness and nausea that seems to be side effects of the meds. i'm trying not to think about it and focus on my minis, and setting up a better eating/exercise schedule. i'm looking forward to swimming again, the weather's been so good for it lately!! :D :D :D

=====/RANT OFF======

i always feel so grateful for having discovered minis, and the places it has taken me :) thank you all for being a part of it ^ ^ *warm fuzzy feelingss* haha omg i'm so mushy today......

p.s. yes, i made the white plastic displays as well :)

work-in-progress

  1:3 vs 1:12 sprinkles XD the 1:12 ones are approx 0.6mm wide....

my hands are screaming in pain. these are just simple polymer clay sprinkles, but working with the extruder is seriously mucking up the hands, the last week was spent also mulling over how to pare down tools and requirements necessary to make basic ADC realistic foods for a workshop i'll be holding in july-aug. will post up more info on that soon!

i'm going off to enjoy the weekend :) what're you folks up to?

p.s. OHH and welcome to all my new followers! i hadn't realized i'm close to 400 now :O hrm...is it time for a giveaway when that happens? :P :P :P

Playing with Colours - Part 2

let's have a tea party!!!

but where's the tea? XD

 tarts tarts tarts!

all listed! 3 are available on my Etsy : http://www.etsy.com/shop/snowfern

and the rest can be found on my new store in Zibbet! : http://www.zibbet.com/Snowfern

these are also available here....

and these are in my Zibbet store...

 confused yet? I SURE AM. spent all morning arranging these tiny things, that the sun faded away T-T so spent all afternoon editing the photos sigh......

ANYWAY! these are available on my Zibbet too! http://www.zibbet.com/Snowfern

 ok i'll stop plugging the links XD i like Zibbet alot, not only is it free to register and list, there are NO listing fees! AND!!! no commissions nor sales fees :O

 so....i had to offer my latest on my latest fave selling avenue :)

 this pic is so sweet...looking at it i'm even surprised that i would make anything like that....

kekekeke!

now this, is more suited to what i favour. like i've mentioned before, i'm getting hooked on pink, though it's unlikely i'd wear it :X NO GLITTER YET THOUGH aieee!!!

obligatory group shot part 3 :P

ANNDD do you miss Yotsuba??? I DO! she's kinda grubby now, hehehe. the cone's small in her hand cos she's about 1:8 or 1:10....if anyone is interested in these, i'll list them on Zibbet, but otherwise i'm quite tired now....

OH YES. some updates. The Doll Affair is back!! for those interested in applying for booths, you can download the dealer form here:

http://thedollaffair.org/

I will be back with Asuka this year and we will be sharing a booth this time ^ ^ not that it's any different from last year, when we shoved our tables together heee!!! a few other things are happening at the same time too, but i'll update when things are more concrete :) oh yea, have you clicked on my facebook page yet? you can find the link on the right toolbar! ->

or here:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Snowfern-Clover/184573203156
there are clues there as to what's happening ;)

hope you liked the pics!

Playing with Colours - Part 1

i'm not very brave when it comes to colours. most of my previous more colourful works were customer requests. natural progression dictates i take it up as a personal challenge, and tried to tackle pastels first, as i find pastels hardest (for me) to work with.

well. not really, if they are pre-coloured...:P i played around with some doily designs, and as you can see from the stack on the left, i got a little too serious :X what? practice makes perfect, right??? *blinks* and also for very sore wrists....

 macarons first....cos i think they're the most 'basic' colourful confectionery.....

and played with a different meringue shape.....the purple meringue 'sandwich' in the foreground reminds me of clams though :(

 ooh looky! little Eva wants to know what smells so good! thanks Kristy!

and....made some cake/tart bases. i call them cake-tart bases cos they look like neither. XD but they're cute! or should they be cake/tart/pie bases??!?!? whatever!

i think the blackberry one needs a light dusting of caster sugar....we'll see....

thus concludes part 1 of my 'colourful' adventures :)

Tutorial: Paper Doilies

I have been spending some time at bf's office, trying to set up my website, http://snowfern.com...but since I get easily distracted, I wound up spending more time catching up to my favourite mini blogs. It has certainly been a loooong while since I've caught up to the latest mini trends, and what with two of my fave Japanese blogs (Nunu's House and Megumini) featuring beautiful lace doilies, I decided to attempt some of my own.

Of course, my attempts are juvenile compared to their works, but I thought to share what I'd learnt and figured out with the help of online resources (love you, Google!).

This link taught me the basics, and how to make plastic templates, but I am still figuring how best to utilize them:
http://www.theartfulcrafter.com/paper-pricking.html

This one I found extremely useful too, for the variations in hole sizes:
http://www.gemscottage.com/Projects-Paper_Piercing_Tips.html

The basic principles hold for pin pricking in miniature, scaling down means scaling down the needle sizes, thickness of papers and learning how best to hold the mini papers, which meant I had to fiddle about for about 4 days at the office before coming up with the following tutorial. Please remember that these are simply recommendations by me, and how I work. I will greatly appreciate comments and suggestions on how to further improve these techniques :)

OK! Time for the tutorial!

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PREPARATION WORK

I initially thought it would be costly, what with P*rgamano tools (a famous paper piercing tool brand) costing upwards of USD$10 per tool -_-" That and the needles were a little too thick for 1:12 scale. SO I MADE MY OWN! woot woot! And you can too, so simple!

Craft knife

Needle (stainless steel)

Clipper/Wire Nipper

Clip the needle to about 1inch, or shorter. Be careful so it does not fly into your eye, or elsewhere to be discovered only when someone steps or sits on it :X hold on to both ends, and try and avoid hurting yourself.

 My Daiso craft knife cinches together rather snugly, so the fine needle is held rather well in the centre of the crosshairs.

However if your craft knife is like this older one I have, then simply position the needle off to the side, making sure that it is snug and will not wiggle too much.

There you have it! your own needle tool :D You can also use thicker needles to vary the size of the holes, or if you're up for it, put a few needles together in a row or pattern for triangles or crosses. Play around with it!

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YOU WILL NEED:

1-inch scalloped edge punch (pictured is EK Success brand from a scrapbook store)

OR

1-inch circle punch (pictured is Carla Craft from a scrapbook store)

OR

Circle template (pictured from Daiso)

Pin pricking tool

Low tack adhesive tape

Scissors

Packing material (the translucent foam sheets used to pack plates in) or other 'soft' material to provide padding to prick into

Cutting mat

Paper, 80gsm printing paper, or 70gsm pastel coloured papers 

Save the above pattern onto your computer, or print it directly off your browser onto 80gsm paper (or of your choice).

For this cake doily project, print it at its original size. This pattern was made to use with a 1-inch scallop paper punch that I have (shown below), but can also be used with a normal 1-inch circle punch.

Fold the paper. I folded it till about 5cm widths. Keep folding until you get a 'fan'.

Place the folded 'fan' onto the padding material, and work on a cutting mat so you don't ruin your table :P

Use your other hand to hold down the papers, and your main hand to prick through the design perpendicular to the table. 

You can hold the paper up to the light to check if you've missed any holes (you can see this pic for example, I missed one dot).

Finished!

Admire your work! :P ok but seriously, I would recommend punching the papers 2 at a time if your punch is blunt like mine :X You can sharpen your punches with aluminum foil (or google for how to care for your punches). I did, but I sorta ruined them when trying to punch plastic (don't do it :~( )

Align the design to your punch. PUNCH!

If you don't have a punch, then use your circle template, and draw a circle, and cut using scissors.

WAIT! Don't throw away your template yet! You can continue using the same piece of paper and template to make more! Simply stick a piece of low tack adhesive tape onto a section of paper further down (up?) and keep going!

You can also vary the design by omitting or adding more pricks to the template :)

Or, align the scallop edged cutter a little differently, to get a different design!

I have made a few other designs, and will offer plastic templates up for sale if anyone is interested :) Will update soon-ish!

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TIPS:

- Insert the needle into the papers vertically for neatest results

- I personally find that a piece of low-tack, clear adhesive tape makes it easier to prick through the template without the sharp needle 'snagging' onto the paper

- Try not to align the design too close to the edge of the paper, especially if you are using a punch

- Do not use too many papers (folds) at one time, you might snap your needle and hurt yourself

COPYRIGHT STUFF:

You may use the above doily template for both personal and commercial projects. Please do not distribute or modify the doily template. If you wish to share this tutorial, I would appreciate links back to this post http://snowfern-clover.blogspot.com/2011/03/tutorial-paper-doilies.html but it's not absolutely necessary. Please do NOT copy or modify this tutorial in any way, thanks for reading :) 

I hope you have found this tutorial useful, comment if you have! :D :D :D