Kitchen Scales

Looking at the small collection of mini-treasures I have collected for my 1:12 doll-house, I noticed something... not all the objects were really true-to-scale. My biggest bug-bear was the set of kitchen scales I had bought. I had hunted around to find them in plain black, and was so pleased when they arrived through the post. BUT... if they were real, they'd be over two foot long! I just wanted a little set of scales to look nice in my dolls kitchen. The other slight problem was that I had decided NOT to have the kitchen in pine with black and copper accents, but instead to have it all white and purple. So... here's a step-by-step guide to what I did;

Everything I used to construct the scales were things I already had – I bought nothing extra.

Firstly, for the top bowl, I took a metal pie dish (1:12 scale, obviously) and glued to the bottom of this a 10mm bead cap. I used super-glue, simply because I am always worried of things falling apart, so use whatever I have that I think will be strongest. These were left to dry overnight. I also used two 1:12^th scale small paper plates glued together for the top part of the scales as an alternative.

For the next stage, other people may use a 1/2” cube of balsa wood – but I didn't have any. What I did have was 2mm grey-board (a thick cardboard used for crafting). This had a white paper covering on one side – but that's not essential to the project. I cut the cardboard into 1/2” strips, then cut these strips down to make 1/2” squares. I needed eight of these squares for the scales – but I always cut extra because I am terrible at cutting things straight, so may have need a few more :)

I glued the eight squares together, making sure that two of the sides were always perfectly lined up – well, as perfect as I could make my wobbly squares.

I then waited a good 15 minutes for the cubes to dry (leave for longer if not using a quick-drying glue). I then carefully cut a wedge from the front of the cube using a stanley-knife, and trimmed off any excess from around the rest of the cube to make it neat.

What was to become the top of the scales needed to be wide enough to fit the 10mm bead cap on... I've already made a couple that weren't quite big enough (maybe I should go and buy some smaller bead caps?)

Next, I sanded the faces of my scales so that the surfaces were all even and not too 'sharp'.

When I made my first set of scales, I cut a wedge shape out of the first piece of cardboard, glued on the following piece and then used the first piece as a guide the cut the wedge again... and did this with all eight pieces. This made the finished scales have much more defined edges, which I can't decide if I like better or not!

For the next part of the project, I cut a strip of thin paper just slightly over 1/2” wide, and wrapped this around the scales. Any bits of paper that were overlapping the edges, I chopped off with scissors. This covered the joins of the card to make the shape stronger... it also gave a smoother finish. I also made sure that the paper join or overlap was at the bottom of the scales.

Now, I am a VERY messy crafter – I have rheumatoid arthritis which means I can't really do fine detailed work... so my scales were looking pretty ropey by this stage. So... out came my favourite crafting item - ModPodge! I first painted it on the sides and the bottom of the scales, and left it to dry. After that I painted the rest of the scales. This was left to dry overnight so that it was quite hard. Then I sanded it down gently so that it looked smoother (but not a lot smoother, unfortunately!).

That's all the difficult bits over and done with!

Out with the paint (the colour I wanted the finished sales to be), and I painted the separate pieces – the underneath of the top bowl, the back of the 'dial' (or face - which is a blank brad about 1/2" in diameter), and the main body of the scale too. I waited for them to dry, and then begun assembly. I made a little hole on the front of the scale then cut down the 'legs' of the brad I used for the face, and gently eased the brad into the scale body. When I was sure it would fit properly, I removed it to apply glue so that it could be attached permanently.

Then I added the top bowl, glued it securely... and then out with the paint again! I finished the painting and let it dry.

Fitting the printed out face to the scale front was easy enough – I just had to make sure I glue it the right way up :) As I'm a bit of a ModPodge addict, I used a gloss version to give a final lacquer to the piece, doing the bowl first and the rest of the piece when the top had dried. One set of scales I finished, I roughed up the metal bits – scratching through the paint to make them look used and battered – I did this before adding the ModPodge.

For the face/dial, I was going to cover it with Glossy Accents... but had some little clear 'bubbles' I used instead. I added this when the scales were completely dried.

Hey, presto! a finished set of kitchen scales that actually fit my dolls house! So... they're not perfect – but I'm no artisan, just a crafter and a 'hobby-ist' :)

Variations:

I used a larger brad for the top of the scales, and have also added a fancy brad to make a base. I guess I could also make a square or round cardboard base? Maybe for another day :)

On the original scales (above), the 'face' is made from a punched circle of card with embroidery thread wrapped around it and painted (with my purple nail varnish). It was glued onto the base with a stack of very small punched circles.

Egg Shells

I have been fascinated by the little touches many artists add to their miniature scenes... the most amazing are little broken egg shells. So... of course I had to give it a go too :)

Firstly, I mixed polymer clay: 1 part light brown, 2 parts white, 3 parts translucent. I rolled this well-mixed egg shell colour on number 4 of my pasta machine (1=thinnest, 7=thickest).

Next I rolled out some plain white clay on a number 1. I did try a half and half mix of translucent and white, but this didn't really work as well as the white on it's own. I laid the white onto the egg shell brown, and once again put this through the pasta machine on number 1. I don't have a photograph of this, because my camera refused to take a picture...I begged, cajoled, and eventually swore at it - but it just didn't like my egg-shell clay rolled out. Anyways...

Next, I laid out the clay and cut circles out of it. I used the plastic cover that protects the end of a new paintbrish - just a little plastic tube that is not quite 2/8ths of an inch in diameter (just over half a centimetre).

I did remember to dip the cutter into a little cornflour (or baby talc) as I used it to stop the circles from sticking to it.

The spare bit of clay that is from around the little circles... I don't discard that. I bake it when I bake the finished eggshells, and then I can use it to make little pieces of broken shell.

I then had to find something with a rounded end... small enough to model an egg shell around...

The end of a paintbrush worked nicely - though later I used an orange stick that I lightly sanded to a rounded end. Once again I remembered to dip the end into cornflour EVERY TIME before I used it to model an egg shell.

Carefully, I picked up a piece of egg shell clay, and placed it onto the end of the paintbrush, white side onto the surface and the brown side outward facing. Cool fingers were a help at this point, as warm hands stick to the clay :) Very quickly, I molded the clay around the end of the paintbrush.

Next, I simply flicked the formed shell off of the end onto a baking tray - I used a silicone loaf tin (which I burned the first time I used polymer clay *lol*). The edges of the shell were quite jagged and rough already - but if I wasn't happy then I'd use my nail or a sharp knife to cut into the edge BEFORE I took the shell off of the end of the paintbrush.

Then all I had to do is bake according to the clay manufacturers' instructions, and I have wonderful little egg shells for my miniature home. Not all the egg shells were perfect (unless you're a genius, really lucky, or a perfectionist  I don't think anybodys eggshells would be)... but most were be fine :)

I can't wait to use these on a preparation board... baking cupcakes probably... :)

Waffles!

Another uber-easy tutorial on making waffles... I'll try not to waffle on (ooh... bad bad joke *lol*)

First things first... make a template out of scrap clay using the reverse side of a blade/knife (the bladed side makes too thin score lines) and quench it after baking (immediately after removing from oven, drop in iced water for a minute). I'm not 100% sure if the quenching makes a difference - though I have been told it makes the cooked clay much tougher and harder. The photo shows the template in a centimetre ruler - just over 3/4 of a centimetre square.

You'll need to lightly coat the template with a dusting of cornflour to stop it sticking to the clay.

Roll out some pale tan coloured clay - I rolled mine on a number 4 on a pasta machine (mine goes from 1=thinnest to 7=thicker) and press the template knobbly side downwards into the clay.

Don't let the cornflower build up between the ridges - use a dry, stiff brush like a toothbrush to clean it - but remember to flour it again before using it to press into the clay.

Separate the templates on the clay - just roughly cut around them using a blade - CAREFULLY!

Now neaten those edges. You want to leave just a narrow edge around the pattern of squares - about the same thickness as the ridges between the sqaures.

Now use the edge of you blade to gently push the sides in - all four sides.

You should end up with something looking like this:

Dust this with chalk pastels - a pale orangey-brown.

If you're stacking some up on a plate, just leave them at this stage and bake (arrange on oven-proof plate before baking). If you want to show the waffle being served, add two tiny squares of pale yellow (for butter) and drizzle over some liquid clay with a little bit of caramel-colored chalk pastel added.

After baking, when they're all cooled down, hilight the sauce and butter with a bit of gloss.

All done!

Hot Cross Buns

Well, it is Easter time... and I'm not good at making exact shapes like easter eggs - certainly not miniature teeny tiny choccie rabbits and the like! So... my choice was hot cross buns.

It's easy-peasy to make a few... so here's my take on how to make them:

I first rolled out some clay that was leftover white that had been mixed with brown and yellow, so it was perfect for this. I used the protective cover from the end of a small paintbrush to cut out pieces of clay that were all the same size.

I did try to flatten and shape each circle I'd cut out... but then discovered that it was much easier to roll each piece into a circle and then flatten is a little.

I placed six of the flattened circles together in two rows of three and then brushed some pale brown chalk pastels over the top.

I rolled out a mega-thin snake of both black and brown clay (you could just use one or the other) and cut off the smallest of pieces to stick over the buns - this is the sultanas and raisins.

Using liquid clay (I use Fimo Liquid Deco Gel) and adding chalk pastels of white and a very little of mustardy-yellow, mix well. The whiter you want the cross to be, the more pastels you add - or mix liquid clay with white clay if you prefer. I used a cocktail stick to very carefully paint lines over the buns to make a cross onto each one.

With a sharp razor (and being VERY careful... I like having ten fingers *lol*) separate the buns into single items.

Now I used a pin to texture each side of the buns that was attached to another - these bits were whiter than the rest of the bun, so it was quite easy to see what needed to be attacked with the pin :)

Bake according to polymer clay manufacturers instructions... and Voila!... hot cross buns for your dolls house!

Ravioli!

Okay, this is my take on 1/12th scale ravioli in sauce - and it's actually pretty easy!

Firstly you'll need some 7-count plastic canvas (aida). '7-count' just means that there are 7 little square holes per inch of the plastic. This isn't essential - but you'll need to be able to make little even squares of polymer clay by eye if you don't have this piece of kit (or something like it). So, take some pale creamy-coloured clay and roll it out (I used the largest number 7 roller on my pasta machine). Place your 7-count plastic canvas over the clay and press down lightly. I used the edge of a long blade to press down inbetween each row of squares so that I would get even bumps coming through the canvas.

Take off the canvas and you should have nice, even little squares of clay. Now you have to cut those little squares into individual, stand-alone bits of clay... each one with a teeny tiny edge.

Now take a cocktail stick and carefully press down the edges - leaving the raised square in the middle alone (if you can - just keep it even).

Press the middle lightly with your finger, and if you need to flatten the edges again, do so.

Now you'll need a bottle cap - one from a toothpaste tube or a bottle of glue - it has to have the serrated-like edge to it. Press the edge of the bottle cap carefully into each side of your mini ravioli to create a wavy edge.

 It's that easy! Okay, so you have to make them individually one by one... but it's possibly the easiest food I've made from polymer clay.

But there's more... Stack up your individual ravioli onto a plate...

Then take one more piece and cut out a corner of it.

Poke a cocktail stick gently into the edge you've just made to make a little hollow... you can discard the little corner you've cut off.

Take a tiny bit of brown clay and poke it carefully into the gap you've made.

Add this piece to the top of your plate with the filling showing.

Now you'll need some liquid clay which you'll mix with a tiny bit of orange and red pastel shavings. Using a toothpick, spread this across your plate of ravioli - avoiding the 'bitten' piece because you don't want to cover that up. Then just bake in the oven (as per manufacturers instructions on the polymer clay packaging) and, when cooled, add a little gloss to make it look shiny and delicious!

See... told you it was easy :)