My first attempt at polymer clay cupcakes!

I feel like I am in art class!  I am having so much fun playing around with polymer clay today.  This is my first attempt at mini cupcakes so it's not the greatest, but now I can definitely see why people make these.  They are fun to make and I have so many different ideas for them!  At the bottom of the post I gave all the links that I used for reference.

First I used Sculpey Mold Maker.  This stuff is soooo cool!  It was $9.99 at Hobby Lobby, but I had one of those wonderful 40% off coupons.  You cut a piece of this stuff out big enough to fit whatever shape you are trying to mold.  As per Casey's tutorial (link is at the bottom) I used connector caps for electrical wiring.  I got a bag of assorted sizes at Lowe's for about $2.50

I pushed the caps into the mold just far enough to get the shape of the bottom of a cupcake.  I used the two smallest size connector caps.  One size I think will be for cupcakes and the smaller one I will use for muffins.  You bake the mold in a 275 degree oven for 20 minutes per 1/4 inch of thickness.  Some people say not to use the same oven that you cook in, some say it's okay.  It' really up to you - some people have those small countertop ovens and use those for clay only.  I used an old flat pan that I didn't care to get clay on and I sprinkled it with cornmeal to make sure the mold wouldn't stick.  20 minutes was the perfect amount of time for my size mold.

I already had some Sculpey at home, but got a few more colors at Michael's yesterday.  They were on sale 4/$5 so I thought that was pretty decent.  I used a tiny bit of tomato red mixed with a ball of white and kneaded it together until it turned a pretty shade of pink.  I also used a tiny bit of hazelnut mixed with white to get a tan cupcake sort of color.

I found out that you need a little extra of the tan clay sticking up out of the mold - it just makes it easier to get the clay back out and you can always cut the excess off afterwards with your xacto knife.  I rolled the pink clay out into a long ribbon and swirled it on top (sort of like soft serve) to make icing.  I then used a tiny bit of red on top to make a cherry.  Also I used a toothpick and my fingers to just sort of tweak the cupcake into a shape that I liked.

And into the 275 degree oven went my cupcake.  Don't you just love my 1970's oven?  I do believe that was probably the last time it was cleaned.  Kindly overlook the recyclables in the background - they're piling up for a trip to the bins this weekend.  Since the cupcake was so small I only left it in the oven for 15 minutes.  Clay directions vary - Sculpey says 15 minutes at 275 for 1/4 inch thickness while Premo says 30 minutes.

After the cupcake was cooled completely I cut a tiny circle out of tissue paper.  The kind that you use when wrapping a present.  I laid the tissue paper over my original mold and then pushed the finished cupcake back into the mold.  I let it still for a couple of minutes and then the paper came out nice and crinkly like a muffin cup.

And here's the finished product!

And a side view.  Cute, huh?  I think I'm going to be doing a bit more "baking" so that I can practice and get better!

And now for all of the links that I used for reference.  Each one of these is extremely useful and I thank the writers for posting them.

First is a blog post from Casey

http://caseymini.blogspot.com/2009/01/whats-up-cupcake.html

This second one is from a series of youtube videos by ilyaToni.  She makes "junk food" polymer clay charms for necklaces, etc. but her methods can definitely be used for 1:12 scale minis.  She has some great tutorial videos including one for a strawberry cane so definitely check her out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw_U79_TvSg&feature=related

This next one is about making little paper cups for cupcakes, muffins, etc.

http://miniatures.about.com/od/dollshousefood/ss/paperpastrycase.htm

This one I haven't tried yet, but it's a tut for mini roses for polymer baked goods.

http://miniatures.about.com/od/polymerclay/ss/rosehatcake.htm