1:12 Scale Dish Molds

Yep, I'm trying to improve my polymer clay skills again!

I had a few of these mini blue enamelware pieces that I've collected over the years.  And my cousin gave me this wooden shelf that was filled with many more pieces.  Some of the ones I had to begin with had magnets glued to the back and were meant to be used as decorative fridge magnets.

I decided to get these pieces out and see what I could do with my Amazing Mold Maker putty.  The pieces that I picked to try out this first round were a large round bowl with handles, a small pot and lid, and a smaller round bowl.

Above are my first molds.  I used small pieces of the putty to stuff into the open parts of the bowls and pan and then pressed the pieces into larger balls of the mixed putty.  The Amazing Mold Putty does not need to be heated itself, it sets up within 15 to 20 minutes.

After the mold was set I took pieces of clay and pushed them into each mold.  I then used the smaller pieces of mold putty that were set in the shapes of the openings into the clay.  I used translucent clay simply because it was the most recent one I had bought and was still very soft.  Mostly I was just being lazy and didn't want to take the time to condition my white clay.  These are my first four finished pieces - I probably shouldn't have photographed them on a white paper towel!  The Amazing Mold Putty can easily stand the 250 degree temps of my toaster oven so I didn't need to try and remove the clay prior to baking it.

Here is a little bit better view with the first coat of white paint.  You can see some of the lips of my bowls and pan aren't quite equal all the way around, but hopefully I will get better with practice :)

And above is my first set finished.  I painted the insides a color called Couscous - I love the buttery yellow color.  The blue color is called Cloudless.  I then used Mod Podge Super Gloss Brilliant to give them a sort of glazed look.  I used painter's tape to get the 2 colors on the middle bowl.  I love how it turned out and it sort of reminds me of Winnie the Pooh's honey pot!

Here is an overhead view of two of the pieces.  You can also see where I failed to protect my table and accidentally painted my table blue!

Here is a second set that I made.  I kept the Couscous color for the insides and the outsides I painted Cameo Pink.  I didn't do the yellow line around the top for this particular bowl.  Overall I think they turned out well?  The colors may not be for everyone's taste, but I think they would look really cute in a mini shabby chic kitchen :)

Mini Post-it Notes

So today while shopping for a new microwave at Target (ours went caput!) I ended up playing a game of "I spy with my mini eye..."  You know those wonderful shelves that are just as you come in the doors at Target?  The ones full of seasonal and dollar items?

While perusing these well placed aisles I spotted these adorable little mini flags :)  The first thing I thought of was mini Post-it notes.  They looked almost perfect to scale width wise, but would need to be cut down length wise.  I looked online and your standard Post-it pad is 3X3.  The sticky flags were 1/4 of an inch wide so I just cut the length to match.

I pulled out the little bulletin board that I made previously and used some stick pins from my sewing box to make tacks.  I pushed them through the cork and out the backside.  Then I used my metal cutters to snip off the pieces on the back.  Most of the tacks on my real bulletin board are colorful so you could always go back and paint the ends of your stick pens.  I scribbled a little note on one of my Post-its and tacked it up.  So cute!

Here are 2 of my little sticky pads.  I used a drop of super glue to the back edge of the flags to hold them together.  This way the pieces can still be fanned out and pulled apart as needed.

I could probably go online and find a tiny Post-it label to add to a stack of these and then wrap them in saran wrap if I end up using some of these unopened in a store setting.

I still haven't painted the border on my cork board so I will probably go back and do that next :)

Coupon Minis

This is probably one of my favorite coupon minis so far.  I actually cut this out of one of the Sunday sales ads.  I had two copies so this one has an identical front and back.  It was a bit too long so I cut from both the top and bottom to get a 1 inch label.  Most real cereal boxes range from 11 inches to around 13 for the family sized boxes.  I then used an index card (they are thicker than regular paper) to draw and cut out my box design.  The top and bottom is glued, but I even made the inner flaps to make it more realistic.  Then I cut a small piece of styrofoam out to make the box more solid.

These two were cut from an expired coupon ad.  They aren't exactly to scale as I didn't have anything to use that was the correct diameter to place the label on.  Progressive cans are a bit shorter and wider than your normal soup or veggie cans.  All I had to use was a plastic straw so these are a bit skinnier than they would be in real life.  I am hoping once they are put in a mini scene with lots of other cans maybe no one will notice!

Coupon Minis

So I decided I wanted to take another try at the Scope and Olay minis that I tried yesterday.  I went ahead and butchered 2 more coupons.  After all I looked at my coupon stockpile shelf and I have four 1 liter bottles of mouthwash, along with 1 open one in the bathroom so I won't be needing to use the mouthwash coupons any time soon.

I mixed some green clay with translucent and then flattened it to a width that I thought would be appropriate for the bottle.  I then laid the Scope bottle that I cut out of the coupon on top.  I used my razor blade to cut around the picture and remove the excess clay.  Then I baked the clay at 275 degrees for 15 minutes.

Here is my clay bottle with the label added.  I was a bit anxious to share my pictures so these were taken before I took an emery board and smoothed out all of the edges of the clay to make the bottles look more rounded.  I also added clear nail polish to make the bottles shiny.

I used a piece of white clay mixed with translucent to make the Olay bottle as well.

Although my cottage bathroom isn't completely finished I thought I'd pull out some pieces just to see how the bottles might look in a mini scene.  Above is the Olay body wash sitting on the edge of the tub.

And the Scope bottle sitting on the edge of the sink - so cute!!!

Coupon Minis

I cut this iPhone mini out of a Best Buy ad.  I looked up the specs online and one of the most recent versions is 6.5 inches long by a little over 3 inches wide.  The picture is a bit bigger and would make the phone 7.5 inches in 1:12 scale, but I think once it is sitting out in a mini scene no one will notice but me.  I used a couple of layers of cardstock to make the phone wide enough and glued all of the pieces together.

The Best Buy ad also had a picture of an iPhone case so I cut that out and added it to the back.  I added a bit of clear nail polish to make both sides shiny as well.

  

In the middle of all of this mini making I got extremely frustrated with my new ruler.  It's a really nice sturdy metal one, but for some odd reason the manufacturer put a strip of cork down the middle on the back of the ruler.  I guess it was just another way to raise the price a bit and to make it look fancier, but it is completely impractical.  A ruler has to lie flat and straight to make accurate measurements.

So I took a razor blade and sliced the cork off of the back.  Instead of throwing it away I decided to make a mini coarkboard for my cottage.  I used skinny sticks and my Easy Cutter to cut the 45 degree angles and then glued everything together.  I think later on I may paint the border a pretty white :)

Coupon Minis

In the Dollar General ad there were all kinds of picnic supplies - paper plates, Solo cups, and cutlery.  This paper plate was perfect, with nothing else around it to obstruct the circle.  I cut it out and added some nail polish to make it shiny.  I then traced the circle onto an index card and cut out a bunch of tiny circles.  I then bent them all around the edges with my fingers to give the effect of a lip on the plate.  The dinner sized paper plate that I have at home measure 10 inches.  This mini plate in 1:12 scale would be a 9 inch plate so it worked out pretty close.

I used a dot of glue between each circle in order to hold them all together and then I wrapped the entire bunch in saran wrap.  The pictures look a little weird, but the paper plates look really cute in person.

This also gave me the idea of using my 1 inch circle hole punch to make some mini plates with cardstock.  A 12 inch plate may be too wide to be realistic so I may have to look for a 3/4ths inch circle hole punch the next time I go to the craft shop.

Coupon Minis

This tiny Pringles label was cut out of another sales ad.  I looked up the dimensions of a Pringles can online and it said the can was roughly 10.5 inches tall with a 3 inch diameter.  Once again if my math is correct that would be 7/8th of an inch tall and 1/4th inch wide.  The width worked out to be just about the size of a standard hole punch.  I started out making lots of tiny punches out of an index card, but it nearly drove me crazy so I gave up and decided to look for something else that would be approximately the right size.  I have plenty of scrap wood dowels, but all of them were too wide.  I finally found one of those long erasers that go into mechanical pencils that was just about perfect.  I cut it down to size and then wrapped the entire thing in a piece of green construction paper with a dot of glue to hold it in place.

I also had an empty Gatorade bottle on my desk so I cut off a piece of the clear plastic and used the hole punch to make a clear top for the can.  The real Pringles cans have a lid that hangs over the edge just a bit so I used my scissors to cut a thin circle around the hole I made with the hole punch.  I then glued both of the pieces to the top of the can.

The label was a bit too long, but once I cut off a bit from the top and the bottom I was able to fit the entire picture onto my can.  I then used clear nail polish to paint the entire can and make it shine a bit.  Of course the sides and back are just plain green paper, but once the can is set on a shelf in a mini scene then you won't be able to notice.

Now I just need to learn how to make polymer clay chips!

Coupon Minis

I'm having so much fun with these coupon minis that I decided to make a few more today!  The Scott paper towels label was an ad cut out of either the CVS, Walgreens, or Rite Aid ad - I don't remember which.  I measured a roll of paper towels I had at home, which was exactly 11 inches tall.  I then converted that to 1:12 scale and cut pieces from my roll.  If I'm doing my math right each piece was 15/16ths of an inch wide.  My paper towels are the select a size kind so it took 2 paper towels cut to the right width to make each mini roll.  I really wanted one of those tiny black straws that they put in your drinks at the bar, but I couldn't find any so I used the middle of a q-tip for the paper towel roll instead.  It doesn't give that nice see through the middle look like real paper towels, but it worked for this try.

I used a dot of glue to hold the strip of paper towels on the q-tip and then rolled it up between my fingers.  I also used a dot of glue hold the end of the strip in place once it was completely wound.  I also used a bit of glue to hold all 6 rolls together once they were finished.  

I glued the label onto the 3 front rolls and then wrapped the entire thing in saran wrap.  It works much better than the plastic sandwich baggies I used last time.  I think they turned out adorable!!!  My favorite part may be the tiny bar code on the front :)

Coupon Minis

I am a couponer, don't laugh.  I am one of those people that you see who has one of those big binders to organize all of my sales ads.  I don't think I've ever shared pictures before, but I have a large industrial metal shelf that I use to stockpile all of the stuff that I get from couponing.  I don't have enough money to coupon the way I'd like to so most of the stuff I have was free with a coupon or cost $1 or less.  Things like shampoo, soap, toothpaste, mouth wash, etc.  I have enough shaving cream to last for years...

Anyway, every time I go through my coupon book I notice that there are all of these miniature size pictures of products.  Not all are quite to 1:12 scale, but they are very close.  I've started scanning some of the pics into my computer so that I can resize them later and print them out on cardstock.

Right beside the Snyder coupon were all of these tiny little potato chip bags.  I cut them out and I think I could crinkle the page up just a bit to make it look realistic.  Since I always buy 2 newspapers I have both front and backs for these bags.  The newspaper page is shiny so it already has a more realistic look to it.  And if they are hung up on a chip stand in some mini scene then it shouldn't matter that the fronts and backs are the same.  I could also crumple up some paper to stuff down inside before I glue the two sides together.

I cut this Scott tissue label out of an ad and decided to see if I could use it to make a mini.  I then used pieces from a real roll of toilet paper to make 9 tiny rolls.  I put the label on top and used a clear plastic sandwich bag to wrap it all up like the ones you see in stores.

These pictures are not to scale, but these are a few of the coupon ads that I have scanned in so far.  These toothpaste boxes are double packs, but I think they could easily be folded in half that way if they were sitting on a shelf or a sink you could see both the front and the top.  I could use cardstock to make the other half of the box or use a small piece of basswood to make them solid.

The fruit snack boxes could be made more realistic the same way.  And if they are sitting inside a shelf then you would only need to see the front anyway.

I could fold up a piece of red construction paper and add this label to the front.  Then I could use Mod Podge to put a shiny coat or use saran wrap to make it look more like plastic wrapping.

These tiny battery packs were on a coupon that had already expired.  I need to cut the edges off a little more closely, but I think with a piece of thick cardstock added to the back these could be hung on a store shelf.

This is a first sloppy try off adding a Scope cut out onto a piece of matboard.  It made the mouth wash more 3-D and helped it to stand.  I think I could also use green clay to shape a bottle and then glue the label on to the front.

The Olay bottle is made with cardstock to make it stiff, but I could also use white clay and shape a bottle to make this more realistic as well.  Then I could paint the top of the the clay yellow to match the lid all the way around.

I love these Irish Spring bottles.  I think this will be the next mini I will try and I plan on trying the clay bottle option on these.

The salad dressing bottles aren't very clear after scanning so I may just cut the original out of the coupon since I have two anyway.  I have seen perfect salad dressing bottles sold on miniatures.com that are just this size.  If I was better with polymer clay I could make my own bottles with Easy Cast epoxy to make clear bottles to add the labels to.

And tiny Yardley soaps.  All I would need is to fold a small box out of cardstock and add labels to each side.

So many new things to try!

DIY polymer 1:12 scale cupcakes - I'm at it again!

 

I love polymer clay miniatures.  And one day I will be able to make ones as lovely as the ones I see on Pinterest and Greenleaf.  Above is a pic of my most recent try!

I've been using Sculpey's mold maker and although it works, it's not my favorite.  The clay holds shape well, but after a while it hardens and is pretty much impossible to use.  Also even when it is pliable it is very hard to bend enough to remove items once the mold has set and bits of clay always seem to stick to the bottom.  I've watched quite a few tutorials online and I've seen some really good reviews for Amazing Mold Putty.  Unlike Sculpey's mold maker you only have 3 minutes from the time you combine ingredients before the clay begins to set up.  With Sculpey you can mold and remold you clay as often as you want before you bake it to set the mold.  Amazing Mold Putty comes with 2 different plastic containers and requires that you mix equal portions of each.  You have to mix very quickly and place whatever you are trying to mold in the clay within 3 minutes.  Then depending on the thickness it takes 15-20 minutes for the mold to set - no baking required.

(Oh and I used a 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby to buy the Amazing Mold Putty!)

Above is my finished mold.  It is extremely pliable and the clay slides in and out with absolutely no sticking so far.  With Sculpey I always had to use flour to get my molded items back out of the clay.

Once again like other tutorials out there I used an electrical end cap to get the general shape of the cupcake bottom.  One thing that I didn't do according to the instructions was to leave the item inside the clay until it was completely set.  I think this is why my cupcake bottoms are a little smaller than I intended them to be - as the mold sets it shrinks just a bit.  I only had one end cap to work with so next time I will either just make a single mold and leave the cap inside or I will use a slightly bigger end cap that way it won't matter if the mold shrinks a bit.

Here is my wonderful new Black and Decker toaster oven.  I received a gift card to Target as a graduation gift and at first I thought I'd just buy something that we could use for the house, but I changed my mind and got something just for myself!  We already have a toaster oven, and while it is a bit older and not nearly as nice looking as this one I didn't really want to cook alot of clay in it.  Supposedly the clay is non-toxic, but I still worry about fumes.  And this toaster comes with a knob for temperature setting that my old one doesn't have.  I also bought an oven thermometer so I could test the temp and be sure I was cooking my clay correctly.  The clay cooks at 275 degrees for 15 minutes.  I add time as needed.

These are my first 12 cupcake bottoms.  You can see how the bottoms are too small here.  The edges look a little weird too, but I think once paper liners are added you won't be able to see it as much.  In the top picture you can see the icing that I added to the cupcakes.  I used Mod Podge Collage Clay, which is pretty much the consistency of icing.  I used a #14 icing tip and closed the prongs tighter together with pliers so I could get a smaller string of icing.  The collage clay air dries and with pieces this tiny it only took a few minutes to completely dry.  I found someone online who makes and sells 1:12 icing tips so I am tempted to buy one just to see if it works any better.  I expect I'll be practicing my technique quite a bit!

Sand Covered Mason Jars

 

I keep seeing these really great links on Pinterest for mason jar crafts.  One that I really love is from an etsy shop that coats the jars in sand for wedding ceremonies and other occasions.  I've always wondered how exactly they did that and after spending 2 days cleaning up our second bedroom (better knows as my craft room) I decided to dig out some of my supplies and give it a try.  The etsy shop jars look like they are made with a very fine sand so they look smooth on the outside.  Mine turned out a little different.

I used Mod Podge as it pretty much dries clear and a large paint brush.

And I had an entire bag of craft sand from Micheal's.  It's really chunky pieces so it's a little more like crushed seashells instead of regular beach sand.

I coated the jar all the way around with the Mod Podge and then rolled the jar through the sand in a tin pan.  There were still plenty of spaces to see through the jar so after it dried all the way I coated it completely again and rolled the jar a second time.  Above you can see the jar with a candle inside so light does still shine through.

Then I started thinking that maybe the jar would look pretty if there was a little more color to it.  I usually don't like to do any crafts with my blue ball mason jars as I love them so much just the way they are, but I've seen some beautiful crafts done with them as well.  I'm lucky to have quite a few as I collect them and my Mother buys them for me whenever she finds them at yard sales or at the flea market.

For this one I just coated and rolled the jar one time.  That way more of the blue can be seen, especially with a candle lit inside.  I kind of like the way both of them turned out, the clear jar with the double coating more so, but I'm not thrilled with either one.  I think the first jar would look neat if I bought some thin brown netting (like you see hanging off of boats) and wrap the jar in it.  And then maybe add something like a starfish tied with twine around the lid.

Actually while looking at the pictures I have an entirely new idea that I will probably wait to try out tomorrow.  After all I've removed Mod Podge from mason jars covered in glitter with just soap and water before so I may start over with these.  I think I may try the blue jar and coat about the bottom 1/3 with a double coat of sand so that it gets that really nice thick sandy look and leave the top portion blue.  Who knows?  Maybe with the temperatures being in the teens around my area I am just dreaming of the beach?