Miniature Raw Salmon Cuts

1:12 miniature fish merchandiser/fridge display unit. Made out of acrylic and aluminum sheets. Still WIP. I want to add a signboard in the front, and maybe more refrigeration details, and perhaps a logo/brand for the fridge.

The idea all started with these little styrofoam plates. I had been meaning to make them since discovering the vacuumform method, however material wise, it's quite a pain to obtain them locally. The craft stores mainly supply 1mm thick PVC, and although styrene sheets are available, they are pretty costly in comparison. I made these out of polypropylene folders from Popular (a local chain of bookstores) :P PP is pretty tricky to work with, when compared with styrene and PVC for thermoforming, and the working temperatures can vary depending on the fillers etc. which means alot of wasted plastic (SORRY EARTH T-T)

not sure what i'm going on about? yeah me neither. lots of technical reading and i did fail my organic chem the first time round....so....:S who knew school would teach me valuable stuff that i'd need for minis? HA HA HA

right. so also fired up inkscape again to do the graphics for the labels (and the 'grill' details on the aluminum, no tools to do that sort of precision work....) - printed on decals, each one has a different weight and price but i'm not sure if you'd be able to tell anyway :( here're the cutlets...

and then, the fillets. OH and i also learnt about the colour differences in the different breeds of salmon. I love you Professor Google :D these are more "Sockeye" salmon coloured, and the pinker/oranger ones are 'pink' and...i forgets. :S

here are my prototypes....the first few I made looked more like cooked or "Chub" salmon....
(oh and yes, that's clingfilm, 'Extra Strong' according to the label)

and the prototype cutlets, which I thought were 'steaks'... again, probably looking more like poached salmon than raw ones. the oranger fillets at the back were the 2nd run, but wasn't translucent enough for my liking though I think they can pass for raw "King" salmon maybe. it's more the colour of salmon I get at sushi restaurants.

final try, and a new, larger size too ^ ^ and no, i did not use the caning method, these were detailed individually by hand out of polymer clay. though I did cut down a few steps by moulding the rough shape first, and finished off with acrylic paints for the rest of the details.

aaand, some of you who follow my Instagram might have seen this a few days back. the molding material I used is Oyumaru, from Daiso. it's some algae-based re-useable molding material that dentists use too. it's always a little strange returning to polymer clay after working on larger items and air dry clay for the past half-year or so. BUT HOW I MISS IT SO~ don't miss the aching and painful throbbing wrists and hands from conditioning it though :S

oh and it lights up too (odd place for lighting? yeah it is, but actually meant it for the signboard)! of course, couldn't have done this without this amazing tutorial from Pepper :D :D :D (remember to click on the tutorials tag for more of her other tutes, i want to try out -every- -single- -one-.